Mayor's Column: Opportunity knocks everywhere and I am confident Mansfield is on the way up

​This year’s draft financial settlement from central government and the National Insurance increases have left the council worse off by around £300,000; making balancing our budget deficit over the short and medium-term ever more challenging.

We are up to the task and will succeed, but maintaining services with less money is extremely difficult.

The Government is also embarking on a fast programme of local government reorganisation.

The English Devolution White Paper, published just before Christmas, significantly impacts all the district councils in two-tier authorities like Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

The white paper advocates the creation of unitary authorities with populations of around 500,000, replacing existing district and county councils.

This is with the aim to improve efficiency and accountability by reducing the number of politicians and focusing on delivering better services for residents.

Although this is a laudable ambition, the concern is that local democracy will be greatly reduced. This is why it is so important that Mansfield has a strong voice, and we are vehemently opposed to the creation of a super-sized authority covering the whole of the county with a population of over 1.2 million people.

I have already and will continue to meet with the leaders of adjoining districts to formulate proposals focusing on place and identity, maintaining local democracy, and the funding and financial viability of any new authority.

The Government’s proposals, which aim at establish mayoral authorities with enhanced powers over housing, planning, and transport, are even more complicated for Mansfield, as we are already part of the East Midlands County Combined Authority (EMCCA), which already has many of these powers. This was set up under the previous government with a regional mayor, Claire Ward, elected in May 2024.

We are hopeful that the substantial financial investment of £38 million annually into the East Midlands region over the next 30 years through EMCCA will be the catalyst for economic growth, job creation, and infrastructure development, benefitting the residents of Mansfield.

Additionally, the £1.5 billion that was promised for transport investment should improve connectivity, reduce congestion, and enhance the efficiency of public transportation systems.

I attend regular audit, and governance and standards meetings at EMCCA to scrutinise their strategic policy-making decisions to promote and influence from a Mansfield viewpoint.

In the meantime, I will continue our brilliant partnership working with the Mansfield Place Board, the Mansfield and Ashfield Business Network (MABN), the Mansfield Business Investment District (BID) and our team at the council to deliver our many regeneration and housing projects.

The £18.6m Centenary Road project now has building contractor Mercer on site, aiming to deliver 77 high-quality, eco-friendly, and affordable council homes.

The same contractor will be able to complete the next phase of the 22 council properties being built at Bellamy Road as soon as the fit-out of the new shops is completed.

The £8.8m Future Tech and Skills Exchange development at West Notts College’s Chesterfield Road campus is progressing well. It is scheduled for completion in the summer, providing state of the art teaching facilities for 300 students delivering level three and above qualifications on STEM, construction, engineering and digital subjects.

Opportunity knocks everywhere with Mansfield’s new homegrown Chief Executive taking up his position at the beginning of February and Mansfield BID’s resounding victory vote bringing in a new five-year term, I am confident Mansfield, despite the ever-changing political times, is on the way up.