Local government reorganisation: Let's make the right choice
Decisions on the biggest shake up of local government in 50 years are to be made in the coming months, so it is really important that you have your say in what your priorities are for the new organisation.
You can do this by completing a short 10 minute consultation online, via the link www.lgrnotts.org, or complete a paper copy that is available at all our libraries or the Civic Centre.
So, you may well be asking the question, why change and why now? The facts are that after a decade of cuts in funding to local government, an ever-increasing demand for public services, the investment required for our neglected roads and building infrastructure, and the cost of adult social care, the current model is not financially sustainable.
The current 2 tier structure, where NCC are responsible for highway maintenance, education, waste recycling and social care, and the Districts responsible for planning, housing, regeneration and place shaping, waste collection and parks, isn't an efficient way to run services. There are too many areas of overlap of responsibility, and it is a confusing system for the general public. Residents quite rightly want one accountable body for all their services and not be passed from ‘pillar to post’ when they have queries.
Some people have challenged me, stating I have changed my position, but this isn't correct because I am still working to ensure local democracy is at the heart of the new administration. The previous proposal, put forward for several years, was for the County Council to impose their idea to take over and run all the services for the whole of Nottinghamshire without the Districts having a say on how it would be run. The so-called ‘Super Council’, which has been rejected by everyone except the County on several occasions in the past, and again now during this year's initial optioneering viability assessment carried out by an independent consultant.
The current reorganisation process is different, in that all the 9 existing local government structures, the 7 Districts, Nottingham City and the County Council will be abolished and everyone will have a say in how the two brand you Principal Unitary Councils will be set up.
My focus during the many meetings that we have had to reduce the 8 to 10 initial different proposals, has been about what’s best for Mansfield and it’s neighbours in central and north Nottinghamshire. The aim to keep communities together with a connection, culture and history. Besides the new unitary needing to have a sensible geography with good transport and digital connectivity, it also needs to be large enough to have an operational road maintenance network and allow opportunities to make efficiencies in running services by virtue of scale. When you consider the two remaining options, we are asking you to give your opinion on, it is obvious, just visually, that option 1E, the combination of Mansfield, Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Newark and Sherwood and Gedling, is the closest match, 5 communities with similar challenges to join together. If you asked the ‘average person’ in the street from Clipstone, Rainworth or Blidworth, what place they identify with, I am sure they would say Mansfield. The current historical boundaries that on paper divide us, don’t make any sense. There are no historical or cultural connections with option 1b,where Rushcliffe replaces Gedling, and it fails on sensible geography and transport connectivity.
Mansfield, Bassetlaw, Newark and Sherwood and Gedling have already shown how they can work closely together in partnership, by putting the option 1e to their full council meetings, where the pros and cons were debated, and they received a political mandate to proceed as the preferred option.
It's up to you now, the Mansfield public to give your opinion, so we can move forward together, united.
Mayor Andy Abrahams