Beeston could end up with a smaller council to help “protect” its cultural identity due to government plans to merge local authorities.
The Labour Government’s LGR plans have been shrouded in debate and criticism since they were announced in December 2024, with some council leaders routinely voicing concerns about their potential impact on services.
Nottingham City Council’s preferred option for LGR, which it put forward to the Government, whereby parts of Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe would form a bigger city area, has previously been called a “land grab” by some local politicians.
However, it appears that in Broxtowe, an attempt could be made to “protect” and “conserve” part of the borough’s identity and assets.
This could include Attenborough, Beeston, Chilwell and Toton getting their own town council and has since been expanded to include Bramcote.
Town and parish councils are the first tier of local government. Unlike in two-tier and unitary authorities, councillors do not receive an allowance, and these authorities have local powers over certain community amenities such as allotments, parks, community centres and public toilets.
These south Broxtowe areas currently do not have a smaller authority representing them, whereas areas such as Eastwood, Kimberley and Stapleford already do.
Cllr Cullen said: “A town council can own those assets. They can be transferred. Broxtowe Borough Council could transfer the community centres to a town council to safeguard them from being lost to the community.”
Cllr Cullen says her “fear” is that these types of assets could be lost when these areas are absorbed into a new, enlarged Nottingham boundary if the new authority chooses to sell them in the future.
She continued: “There are quite a lot of allotments in Beeston. They could be safeguarded from housing development… I think we’ve got to put something in place, at least. It seems like a tiny amount we can do. To me, anything you can do is something.”
At present, Cllr Cullen’s proposal is to ask for permission to carry out a governance review.
This would be needed to determine whether a town council for the area is warranted, but it requires 10 per cent of people on the electoral register in the area to sign a petition to trigger the review.
If a review found that a new town council was feasible, then a plan for where it would be based and how many councillors it would require would follow.
Cllr Cullen says a new town council could help to “hold onto the identity” of the area, which is set to merge with Nottingham, along with parts of Gedling and Rushcliffe.
She said: “I feel like people will know they still belong to the area. It’s not just a part of the city. We’re not just a suburb of a city; we’re a town in our own right. I think that’s important.
“It’s about holding onto the identity of the area and safeguarding some of our assets from being swallowed up by a big super council.”
Broxtowe Borough Council leader Milan Radulovic (Broxtowe Alliance) says that such a move could help “conserve” and “protect” an area’s identity, heritage and culture.
He said that he believed Beeston alone was already of sufficient size to warrant its own town council, separate from the other identified areas.
This is because the town already has something known as the Beeston Special Expense precept, which appears on council tax bills and goes towards the upkeep of amenities such as allotments. This could easily be transferred to a new Beeston Town Council.
He said: “Beeston has its own cultural heritage and strong background. It would protect its identity. If it doesn’t, it could be lost within a larger authority, but it could have a say over things happening in its own town.
“We could look at whether people in the other areas wish to pursue this… They would have tax-raising powers and be responsible for managing things in their own area. Surely that’s what democracy is all about, giving powers right down to street-corner level.”
Borough councillor Helen Faccio (Lab), who represents Attenborough and Chilwell East, said: “At a time when local government is being reorganised to ensure the big services, such as social care, housing and transport, work better for residents, my focus is on ensuring the best outcomes for residents in Chilwell, Toton and Attenborough.
“I hear from residents all the time that keeping taxes low is a priority, so the cost and value of any additional layer of representation would need to be well evidenced.
“Local councillors should be concentrating on giving the communities we represent a strong voice on the new unitary authority by feeding in residents’ views and ideas while the details of how it will function and deliver services are being worked out. I urge my constituents to continue to get in touch and do that.”
Cllr Cullen plans to begin gathering residents’ signatures this week.
By Lauren Monaghan, Local Democracy Reporter