Conservative councillors at Nottinghamshire County Council have issued a warning to the Government after Reform and Labour councillors pushed ahead with submitting Option 1B for local government reorganisation at last Thursday’s Full Council meeting (20 November).
Nottinghamshire County Council’s Conservative Leader of the Opposition, Cllr Sam Smith, has written directly to the Minister for Local Government, setting out what he describes as the “deeply damaging and irreversible consequences” of the proposals being submitted by the Reform-led Nottinghamshire County Council, several district and borough councils, and the Labour-run City Council.
Cllr Smith warns that Options 1B, 1E and 1Bii would carve apart the historic county of Nottinghamshire, strip away some of its strongest tax-base areas, and leave the remaining county – particularly the north – facing higher pressures, reduced resources, and a permanent financial imbalance.
“These proposals tear chunks out of Nottinghamshire,” Cllr Smith said. “They’re taking away the parts of the county that bring in the most money to fund council services and leaving behind the areas with the highest service demand. It just doesn’t make sense. If this goes ahead, every household across Nottinghamshire will end up paying more in council tax and receiving worse services in return.”
In his letter, Cllr Smith highlights that the areas earmarked for transfer into an expanded Nottingham City include Broxtowe, Rushcliffe and Gedling – areas that currently provide a stable and vital contribution to the county’s finances. Losing them from the county, he warns, would hit children’s services, libraries, adult social care, rural bus services and SEND support hardest.
He added: “This isn’t progress; it’s a reckless move that breaks up our county. Nottinghamshire’s rural character and countywide services matter. Pushing our rural and semi-rural areas into a city-focused authority is wrong for residents and wrong for the future of Nottinghamshire.”
Conservative councillors at Nottinghamshire County Council continue to advocate for Option 2, the model originally put forward under the previous Conservative administration. This option retains Nottinghamshire’s current boundary, protects vital services, and avoids the £8 million disaggregation costs associated with Reform’s preferred models.
“Option 2 keeps our county whole,” Cllr Smith said. “It protects our tax base, our rural communities, and our Green Belt. It provides stability and safeguards services. Most importantly, it avoids wasting millions on bureaucratic restructuring when that money should be spent on frontline services.”
Cllr Smith has requested an urgent meeting with the Minister for him and fellow Conservative county councillors to make clear to the Labour Government that the proposals now submitted do not have countywide support and would cause long-lasting harm to Nottinghamshire.
“I am urging the Labour Government to look carefully at the damage these local government reorganisation proposals would cause,” he said. “We can explore modest and sensible boundary discussions in future if we have to – but dismantling Nottinghamshire is not the answer. We owe it to residents to protect the integrity, identity, and financial sustainability of our county.”
Conservative county councillors are calling on the Minister to recognise that a balanced, viable alternative exists, and to ensure Nottinghamshire’s future is not reshaped without full consideration of the risks and long-term consequences.
