Local Government Reorganisation- It’s simple

Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) is an opportunity to improve delivery of our local services and undo mistakes made when the City was split from the rest of the County 30 years ago. But  unfortunately it seems the process is being undermined by people on all sides of the political spectrum. I wrote a long blog on this in April but things have moved on since then.

Local leaders have spent a fortune coming up with two unworkable proposals for LGR, neither of which has much local support. I feel that they have done this in large part for their own political ends.

Discussions have been dominated by the argument that “Rushcliffe doesn’t want to pay the City’s debts.”, but this is very misleading. For example, here in Rushcliffe, around 80% of our council tax already goes towards supporting services in other areas, such as Mansfield and Ashfield. So the real question is: would you prefer to contribute to City facilities we regularly use and benefit from, or to areas 20 or even 30 miles away?

The City’s financial challenges stem from higher levels of need, a smaller council tax base, and relatively low central government support in recent years. The reason Rushcliffe is not in debt is largely because we pay more council tax per household than anywhere else in Nottinghamshire. (Some people at Rushcliffe Council will tell you we have a low council tax rate, but that is the charge per band D house.. we have lots of band D houses, whereas the City has mostly band B houses so on average people living in the City pay much less). Yes the City Council has made mistakes but who doesn’t? We all know that it is easier to sort out mistakes when you have money than when you don’t.

Because some politicians from all parties have used LGR to defend their own positions or score points, rather than engage with the complexity of the situation and propose workable solutions. The result is that we are being told we have to choose between two bad options:

• A new unitary authority combining Nottingham, Broxtowe, and Gedling, with a second new unitary authority for the rest of Nottinghamshire; Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, Bassetlaw and Rushcliffe. This is known as 1b.
• A new unitary authority combining Nottingham, Broxtowe, and Rushcliffe, with a second new unitary authority for the rest of Nottinghamshire; Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, Bassetlaw and Gedling. This is known as 1e.

People arguing so strongly that “we don’t want to be with the City” risks placing Rushcliffe residents in a largely rural council dominated by the north of the county. If that happened, West Bridgford would be the only suburban area, and quite reasonably, services would be shaped to prioritise delivery in the most needy rural areas and small towns, rather than in West Bridgford and the rest of Rushcliffe.

Given a choice between these two bad options, I would chose 1e as this would give us a say in decisions that already affect us — from redevelopment projects, to facilities and services many of us use in the City. Right now, when people ask me about the layout of Trent Bridge or changes at Broadmarsh, I have to say, “sorry, that’s nothing to do with us.” More importantly maybe, if we end up with option 1e, will we retain access to City facilities? Will we retain access to Robin Hood transport cards? They cannot be used in most of Hucknall now.

To be clear, I don’t believe either of these options is good. Both have been shaped by narrow political interests. I think we need a single Nottinghamshire-wide council that covers both the current City and County areas, with parish and town councils delivering truly local services within it. This is the way things used to be and it recognises that most of Nottinghamshire is a single economic and cultural area. An immediate benefit is the reintegration could be gradual without the disruption of rapid reorganisation of services. I wrote about this before.

If you share this view, why not suggest it in your response to the Local Government Reorganisation consultation?

This is my view and not the joint view of either the Rushcliffe or the Nottinghamshire Labour Groups.

Since I wrote this the City have proposed for replacing the City with a new council representing the urban area of Nottinghamshire. I would still prefer a single Greater Nottinghamshire, but failing that, this urban/rural split is probably the best option as far as I can see.