Nottinghamshire County Council accused of 'sheer arrogance' over silence on super council proposals

The proposals – put forward by the leadership of Nottinghamshire County Council – are due to be approved next week, despite opposition from the leader of every other council in Nottinghamshire.

There are fears thousands of council key workers could be made redundant.

A moratorium on speaking to the county’s media outlets about the scheme has been imposed by those at the top of the council.

A detailed list of questions about the plan today has been met with: “No comment”.

It comes after an interview which had been planned at the start of this week was abruptly cancelled.

It means serious questions – about a plan which would have serious implications for thousands of lives and livelihoods – are going unanswered by Nottinghamshire’s elected politicians.

While opposition leaders are queuing up to attack the proposals, no-one is being put forward to defend them.

One opposition leader said the refusal to answer any questions showed ‘sheer arrogance’ from the Conservative leader of the council, Kay Cutts.

The plan – which some fear would involve hundreds of key workers being made redundant during a recession – is being pushed by Conservative-controlled Nottinghamshire County Council.

They say it would simplify services and save £27 million a year at a time when council finances are under pressure.

Speaking at the time of the original proposals back in 2018, Coun Cutts said a super council would ‘simplify and improve services’.

She said at the time: “I am not doing this for a bit of fun, I’m doing this because we are running out of funds for services we deliver.

“I’m not having a game with anybody.

"I’m having a serious conversation with serious grown up people about how we are going to fill the gap.

“So far, all anyone has said to me is ‘I don’t agree with this I don’t agree with that, I’m going to vote against it’, but no-one has said to me ‘I’ll tell you where you can find the money’.”

Critics say a global pandemic is not the right time to be embarking on such a complex and disruptive project, and that it would erode decision making.

The leaders of every other council in Nottinghamshire signed a letter this week to the Government opposing the plan.

The leaders of councils which might be axed altogether have said they were not even informed of the plans ahead of the event.

A public consultation held two years ago found only three in ten Nottinghamshire respondents supported the plan, and 42 per cent of council staff thought it should happen.

Now, the public is not being given answers about how the plan would affect them.

Among the questions being asked are: Will the approximately 11,000 people who work for different councils in Nottinghamshire be made redundant during a recession, will the taxpayers be allowed to decide whether they want the scheme to go ahead, via a local referendum, will residents in northern parts of the county be well-served by a council so distant from them, is a pandemic the right time to be focusing on local government reorganisation, how much will the new scheme cost and how long will the changes take?

When questions were put to the county council, on behalf of the residents of Nottinghamshire, it replied: “No comment.”

Coun Jason Zadrozny is the leader of Ashfield District Council, and a county councillor for the Ashfield Independent party.

He said: “Nottinghamshire County Council’s silence is staggering.

"During the pandemic our council worked its socks off for local people.

“Front-line workers at Ashfield District Council put their lives at risk to continue to provide services.

“We were the only council in Nottinghamshire to provide a full bin collection service and how are our workers rewarded?

“By being informed, second-hand, that their jobs are at risk.

“Kay Cutts is showing sheer arrogance and quite frankly a disrespectful refusal to answer key questions to the 11,000 council workers across the county.”

Coun Alan Rhodes, leader of the Labour group on the council, said: “Good leadership involves having a clear vision.

“It also involves the ability to listen to other views, act in a collegiate way and behave pragmatically to achieve a satisfactory objective.

“Unfortunately the approach being taken by the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council is not good leadership.”

Asked how much of the decision not to engage with the media or other councils had been made by Kay Cutts, he replied: “All of it.”

The current plan was shelved at the last minute in 2018.

At the time, key meetings about the proposed super council were held behind closed doors, until details of the meetings were leaked to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The county council is now expected to approve a plan on Wednesday, September 16 to write to the Government asking to proceed.