Bassetlaw council leader brands county's unitary authority bid a ‘land grab’

Councillor Simon Greaves said the proposal was an attempt by the council to avoid getting ‘clobbered’ during the county elections in May next year.

This week the council revealed plans to ditch smaller authorities such as Bassetlaw and seven others in the county.

Instead, all district and borough councils - including Nottingham City - would become one authority - which the county council says would deliver ‘more prosperity for all’.

The county council say the move comes ahead of a Government White Paper calling for regional devolution - which is expected to be published this autumn.

However Councillor Greaves fears the scheme is a bid to ‘railroad everyone into agreeing their plans and avoiding democracy’.

Fearing the rushed plans will leave districts with just a few weeks to come up with counter-proposals he said: “It’s worrying because you cannot realistically prepare proposals about the future of local services which have been in place for over 40 years in a few weeks.

“We have a lot of different areas - including a large city - with many different permutations and they have to engage everyone about that.

“We need to talk about options for the future and you cannot do that meaningfully in a short time.”

Simon also fears a unitary authority would leave Bassetlaw at the back of the queue when it comes to investment in the future.

He said: “This is a large and diverse district with struggling local communities and there is real poverty.

“We’ve worked hard to bring jobs and opportunities here because this is an area that needs investment.

“There’s an awful track record of Bassetlaw having to fight twice as hard for investment - the agenda has always been to put more money into Nottingham and everywhere else.

“I don’t believe Bassetlaw would get its fair share under this arrangement.”

In a letter to the county council co-signed by the leaders of Ashfield and Broxtowe councils Coun Greaves is demanding the opportunity to develop ‘alternative proposals’ over the coming year.

He wrote: “If we’re hurried into a response that is driven by a dash to meet an election deadline, taxpayer's money will be wasted on an adversarial process as we pull apart the county’s case and consider our legal positions.”

Nottingham County Council say next week their policy committee will sift through a report outlining financial challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

They say a unitary local government offers ‘a more financially efficient means of preserving and delivering effective public services and securing a sustainable recovery from Covid-19’.

In a statement leader Kay Cutts wrote: “I believe that unitary local government for our great County will deliver better services that everyone will be able to access more easily; better value for money for every Council Tax payer, and more prosperity for all.

“The current system of local government in Nottinghamshire is out-dated, cumbersome, wasteful and costly.”

Thank you to all who support local journalism with a print subscription. The events of 2020 mean trusted, local journalism is more reliant than ever on your support. We couldn't do it without you. Please subscribe here https://www.localsubsplus.co.uk/ so we can keep campaigning on your behalf. Stay safe.