Urged to unite over services
Co-operation is needed between town councils if they are to be given more responsibility.
That is according to Southwell town councillors who hope to work with Newark Town Council and Ollerton and Boughton Town Council to have responsibility for services such as planning and maintenance of green areas.
These services would be devolved or delegated from Newark and Sherwood District Council or Nottinghamshire County Council.
County councillor Mr Bruce Laughton told Southwell Town Council that only the three town councils in the district had expressed an interest in having power devolved to them.
Mr Roger Dobson said the Southwell working group should not be discouraged from pursuing the issue.
He said: “I think this initiative is an excellent one and I would like to praise the working group for pursuing it and I hope they won’t be put off by obstacles put in the way by Newark and Sherwood.
“It’s been said that many parish councils are not interested but they are much smaller so the scale is totally different so of course they won’t be interested.
“I think a town the size of Southwell is absolutely ideal, not necessarily for devolution, but certainly for delegation.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult to provide the finance for us to run whatever services we think we can but we should not be put off.”
Mr Brendan Haigh said the three town councils should work together.
He said: “It was useful to hear that the only real interest is coming from ourselves and the other two town councils, Newark and Ollerton.
“I think there would be some merit in working with these town councils because if we do this on our own frankly we are not going to get very far.
“It may be that there is no common ground but it may be that we should explore it.”
The chairman of Southwell’s delegation and devolution working group, Mr Malcolm Rose, said it was likely to be a long time before any extra responsibilities were given to the town.
Members agreed to contact Newark and Ollerton and Boughton about the issue.