Concerns local government reorganisation debate ‘misleading’ public as Nottinghamshire County Council members, including Newark and Bingham councillors, reported over conduct

There are concerns debates on a planned shake-up of council boundaries have been “misleading” the public.

One council deputy has now formally reported four councillors over alleged breaches of the code of conduct when speaking on the topic during public meetings.

It comes as all nine councils in Nottinghamshire have been discussing and drafting plans to redraw their boundaries, under the Labour Government’s proposals for local government reorganisation (LGR) as announced in December 2024.

At the moment, council services in Nottinghamshire are delivered under a two-tier structure. Nottinghamshire County Council oversees county-wide services, including social care, education, and road maintenance, while several smaller district and borough councils are responsible for more localised services, such as waste collection and leisure centres.

Nottingham City Council operates as a unitary authority, providing all council services within the city.

Under the plans, all nine existing local authorities would be abolished to create new unitary councils with a higher population of residents. The Government says it is hoped this would streamline services, prevent overlap, and save taxpayers’ money.

The deputy leader of Labour-run Nottingham City Council, Ethan Radford, says discussions over the most significant shake-up in local government in 50 years have been marred by factual inaccuracies.

A frequent message seen doing the rounds is that the planned reorganisation is a “city council takeover” — when in fact the authority, as it operates, would cease to exist, and an election to select who sits on the new one would be required.

It is just one of several factual inaccuracies said during public meetings, Mr Radford told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

In September, he sent a letter to four Nottinghamshire County Council councillors — Conservatives Sam Smith and Neil Clarke, who represent Newark and Bingham respectively, Broxtowe Independent Group’s Steve Carr, and Broxtowe Alliance’s Teresa Cullen — asking that their statements be retracted and corrected.

However, many of them have stood by their statements, prompting Mr Radford to formally complain to their monitoring officer for investigation.

“Whatever party you’re from, honesty in public office isn’t optional, it’s a moral duty,” he said.

“If you assert something as fact you should be willing to back it up with proof, otherwise you’re just making things up and misleading people.

“These councillors have had over a month to give the facts that prove what they said is true and they haven’t. It’s a shame that because of that, it is now going to cost taxpayers’ money because the councillors don’t want to hold their hands up and admit they got it wrong. Their residents deserve better than that.

“They should come clean to residents and back up their words or retract. It’s that simple.”

Mr Radford’s complaints relate to what the councillors said at a Nottinghamshire County Council Full Council meeting at Oak House on September 2.

A number of the statements complained about relate to Mr Smith, Nottinghamshire County Council’s opposition leader, who said the new city unitary authority created under LGR “will not be a new authority”, that the city council has been “bankrupt not once, but twice”, that Nottingham Castle is closed, that “community centres and libraries are closing”, and that the city is in “overwhelming debt”.

These have been rebutted by Mr Radford, but Mr Smith says the “facts remain that Labour-run Nottingham City Council is in financial difficulty”.

Regarding statements made by Mr Clarke, the letter says he was inaccurate to suggest the city council is “closing leisure centres” and “closing libraries”. Mr Radford said one leisure centre has closed — John Carroll — but other centres, and no libraries, have been closed.

Mr Clarke is further cited as having said that, under LGR, money would be “diverted to pay off the city’s monstrous debts, which in itself will prompt an increase in council tax for those taken over” — which has been rebutted by Mr Radford.

In a response to the LDRS, Mr Clarke said he would not be entering a “ping pong match of comments” with Mr Radford.

“I would have thought he would be better placed to spend his time and energy trying to fix the broken finances of the city council and protecting services to his residents, rather than attacking financially stable councils like Rushcliffe,” he added.

Mr Carr’s statements — which have again been rebutted by Mr Radford — relate to the city “wanting” Broxtowe Borough Council’s housing stock, worth an estimated £750m.

Mr Carr said he would not be adding anything, except that the word ‘alleged’ should be used.

Ms Cullen’s statement, that “the city is not paying off its debts by working hard and earning more money — it’s selling off its assets in a fire sale”, was also raised by Mr Radford as being inaccurate.

Mr Radford says that since 2021 the council has paid off £298m of its debt — and that money from selling assets “are only a minor contributor to that, our cash management has been the major contributor.”

“The council’s asset disposal strategy has been in line with CIPFA guidance: disposing of assets that are surplus to our requirements — which does not constitute a fire sale,” he said.

Responding, Ms Cullen said: “In true Labour style, Mr Radford is trying to bully his critics into silence.

“Mr Radford might not like me calling their actions a fire sale, but I’m born and raised in Nottingham, and when someone is flogging assets to pay for their debts, that is exactly what we call it.”

Reform’s Mick Barton, leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, has also spoken out against claims that reorganisation is a “city council takeover”, adding: “We shouldn’t let it get messy. We shouldn’t let it get political.

“There isn’t going to be a city council. It is a nonsense. Someone has got to pick the names yet. The city name is going. I think put it out to schools and let the kids pick it. They are going to be the ones here longer than me. I just want to make sure it is delivered properly.”