City councillor hits back at ‘factual inaccuracies’ made by Broxtowe county councillors
Two Broxtowe members are among four Nottinghamshire county councillors who have been asked to retract statements about Nottingham City Council that have been described as “factually inaccurate”.
Coun Ethan Radford (Lab), the city’s deputy leader, says ‘a number of factually inaccurate statements’ were made by four councillors – including Coun Steve Carr (Brox Ind), and Coun Teresa Cullen (Brox All) – at a the county council meeting to discuss and vote on Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) at Oak House in Hucknall on September 2.
The two other councillors singled out by Coun Radford were Conservative pair Coun Neil Clarke (Con) and Coun Sam Smith – the Tory group leader.
Coun Radford has written to all four councillors asking that corrections be issued.
He said: “I feel this is a matter of correcting the public record as these statements were made in the council chamber and were minuted and broadcast.
“I am keeping this strictly to statements that were made that are factually inaccurate, not statements that are matters of opinion.”
In his letter says Coun Radford says that, during the meeting, Coun Carr, when talking about Broxtowe Council’s housing stock, had said: “They’re worth £750m as an asset.
"That’s what the city wants, that’s why they’re so keen to take Broxtowe.”
Coun Radford said the council would be prohibited from using housing assets and their monetary value for anything other than housing – including to address financial problems – because of the legal HRA ring-fence.
However Coun Carr responded that the city council had before breached the HRA ring-fence, and added: “That is precisely what they want to do.
“I will not be retracting that comment.
"The city council should had concentrated on their own finances first and they should not be lecturing other authorities.”
The letter also says Coun Cullen’s statement, that ‘the city is not paying off its debts by working hard and earning more money – it’s selling off its assets in a fire sale’ – was factually inaccurate.
Coun Radford’s letter adds: “Since 2021 the council has paid off £298m of its debt.
"Capital receipts from selling assets are only a minor contributor to that, our cash management has been the major contributor. The council’s asset disposal strategy has been in line with CIPFA guidance: disposing of assets that are surplus to our requirements – which does not constitute a fire sale.”
Responding, Coun Cullen said: “The city has made use of tens of millions of pounds in Exceptional Financial Support, raised by selling listed buildings, industrial units, and car parks.
"It is perfectly legitimate for Broxtowe residents to be worried about our assets being sold off if we are forced to join the cash-strapped city council.
“As for the debt, are we really supposed to believe that a Government that has slashed disability benefits and cut winter fuel allowance will forgive hundreds of millions of pounds in council debt?
“Coun Radford was appointed to his role by the Labour Party, not Nottingham residents.
"This is clearly a desperate attempt to try and save face while his council and Government fail to deliver for the people who elected them.”
In his letter, Coun Radford also states that Coun Smith had said the city council had been ‘bankrupt not once, but twice”.
Coun Radford says this is factually inaccurate.
He said: “A council cannot technically go bankrupt in the same way a company or individual can, and instead, the chief finance director can issue what’s known as a Section 114 (3) notice, when expenditure in any given year is greater than the council’s income, meaning it cannot set a balanced budget as required by law.
“This Section 114 (3) notice was issued in November 2023 by the city council’s finance director at the time.
“However, the term ‘effectively bankrupt’ is typically used as shorthand.”
Coun Radford said the first notice in 2021, issued under the separate Section 114 (2) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, related to unlawful transfers of money from the authority’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA) – made up of council tenants’ rent money – to the general fund – which is used to pay for other services.
This notice was not a declaration of effective bankruptcy, and related to unlawful expenditure.
The letter also asks that Coun Smith retract a number of other statements, including one relating to the tram network, which he described as ‘bankrupt and useless’, and that the council has ‘overwhelming debt’.
In the letter, Coun Radford said: “The city council is not overwhelmed by its debt.
"In 2021, the council imposed a voluntary borrowing cap.
“At the time our debt was £941m.
"To date, we have paid £298m, bringing it down to £643m – an overall reduction of a third – and £158m of this is HRA debt, money borrowed for our housing stock.
“That leaves our general fund debt at £485m.
"Nottinghamshire Council’s draft accounts for March 24-25 show the county with a debt of £469m.
"When you compare like-for-like debt between the city and the county, there is a three per cent, or £16m, difference.”
Responding, Coun Smith told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The facts remain that Labour-run Nottingham City Council is in financial difficulty.
“Community centres have closed and more are at risk of closure, which is something the council’s Labour leadership warned in a press article dated March 18.
"The average band D council tax in the city is higher than the average in Gedling and Broxtowe and the Government will not write debt off as part of LGR.
"This risks every resident in the expanded city area and remaining county area paying higher council tax and receiving less services.
“We therefore must work together on new LGR options that protect services, saves money that can be invested into better services and keeps communities together.
"That can’t be achieved by placing two whole districts, Gedling, Broxtowe and/or Rushcliffe, into the city.
"It could, however, be achieved by reviewing boundaries and the city expanding slightly into the urban parts of the county that border the city.”
Regarding statements made by Coun Clarke, the letter says he was inaccurate to suggest the city council is ‘closing leisure centres' and ‘closing libraries’.
Coun Radford said one leisure centre has closed – John Carroll in Radford – but no other centres, and no libraries, have been closed.
Coun Clarke has been contacted for comment.
Coun Radford added: “The repeated use of factual inaccuracies risks breaching the Nottinghamshire Council councillor code of conduct by bringing the county council into disrepute.
“There is a requirement for all councillors to comply with the Nolan principles which are the ethical standards that elected officials are expected to adhere to.”