OPINION: Mick Barton's Nottinghamshire County Council column
It has been a busy time since the celebrations of Nottinghamshire Day.
I hope you all did something nice within your favourite places in the county, enjoying the days of the good weather as we settle into autumn.
We are busy with the highways review, many of you will have noticed the turnaround in some of your local roads.
The work has really started now to resurface some of those roads that have needed attention for a long time.
This is only the start, you will be seeing further works all around the county to improve the roads and do not worry there is plenty more coming.
Reform is working hard to ensure that our pledge is carried out to see the highway improvements implemented.
We are also now working on the efficiency review.
A group has been set up to review and challenge every aspect of the council’s spending.
We are looking at all aspects of the authority to see what we can do better without affecting services, only enhancing the way they are run.
This is a thorough piece of work that will endeavour to make the council much more efficient and effective.
The LGR decision has just been taken through full council.
We have been elected by the electorate, which means making difficult decisions and this has definitely been the case in opting for an LGR option.
This is a policy of the Labour government after successive failed attempts by the Conservatives over the last 10 years. Reform is making the decisions that will meet the government’s requirements.
Our focus is on creating new councils that will deliver better services at a lower cost for the people of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.