Mayor's column: How will the winds of change affect Mansfield?

We now have a new Prime Minister, who was previously the Mayor of Manchester and has strongly advocated for giving power and decision-making back to communities.

We also had the Government announcement about the first major reorganisation of local government in 50 years.

Mansfield is going to be part of a 550,000 population of new North-East Nottinghamshire unitary, which is made up of Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Newark and Sherwood, five northern wards from Gedling, five from Broxtowe, and seven from Rushcliffe.

This means that from April 2028, there will be two unitary councils representing the residents of Nottinghamshire as part of the East Midlands County Combined Authority (EMCCA).

Like neighbouring counties such as Derbyshire and Leicestershire, hundreds of district councils and city and county councils across the country will be replaced by new unitary authorities.

I know these new different organisations must sound very complicated, but all of these changes are part of the Government’s bigger project called devolution.

So, what is devolution and how will it affect Mansfield's residents?

Devolution is a process of moving decisions on how money should be spent and what services to deliver from central Government (Whitehall and civil servants) to local communities.

There are numerous examples in which the devolution principle was already put into action for Mansfield and Warsop.

Our plans to build 43 council homes on the White Hart development is one such example, where there is common alignment in policies to achieve local priorities.

The Government, via Homes England, is allocating £4.3m (subject to approval), East Midlands mayor Claire Ward £1.075m and the remainder is being funded by the council’s housing revenue capital investment account.

This is a true example of partnership working to deliver for the community's needs.

Our mission to build affordable homes and reduce housing demand on a difficult, abandoned, old industrial and commercial site is supported by all three organisations to make the construction delivery viable.

For the White Hart development, the council purchased the site from the private sector, who had not brought a scheme forward for decades.

This is what devolved powers look like.

The government's Pride in Place Impact Fund has been set up to allow communities, supported by the council, to make the improvements that residents want to see in their neighbourhoods.

This will result in £1.5m of capital being invested across all parts of the district in community hubs, improvements to park play equipment, measures to combat anti-social behaviour, and improvements to the environment of our town centre.

All these projects will be delivered within the next year.

We are currently setting up a Neighbourhood Board, so that the £20m Pride in Place government funding, which is to be allocated over the next 10 years, can be shaped and eventually controlled by our community and voluntary organisations, who know the needs of their community the best.

I will continue to put the residents of Mansfield first within whatever Government administrative organisation we operate under, and I am optimistic that Mansfield will prosper as part of a new unitary organisation.