A dispute has broken out between councils across Nottinghamshire over plans to redraw boundaries and create two new local authorities.
Nottinghamshire County Council leader Mick Barton (Ref) shared a video statement on social media stating the authority had “hardly” been involved in a public consultation exercise over council shake-up plans.
However, a separate group involving several other councils has hit back and said his statement was not true, with all nine councils involved in the process – and Cllr Barton having chaired the meeting during which the consultation process was agreed.
The Labour government’s proposal to reorganise local councils, introduced last December, has been contentious from the start.
The Government has argued it could “create more efficient and effective local government”, streamlining services and making cost savings for residents – at a time when many councils have been going effectively bankrupt due to soaring service demand, over a decade of austerity-led funding cuts, and inflated costs.
Concerns have been raised about some boroughs and districts joining the city due to its past financial woes, but city leaders say the situation has since vastly improved.
Councils across the city and county have been discussing their preferred options over the last few months, with plans to submit these to the Government by November for review.
An independently-run survey recently ran for six weeks, asking residents for their thoughts on two preferred core options: Option 1b and option 1e.
Option 1b would see a new unitary authority created combining Nottingham, Broxtowe, and Gedling, with a second new unitary authority for the rest of Nottinghamshire; Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, Bassetlaw and Rushcliffe.
Option 1e would see a new unitary authority combining Nottingham, Broxtowe, and Rushcliffe, with a second new unitary authority for the rest of Nottinghamshire; Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, Bassetlaw and Gedling.
City residents were also asked a supplementary question about a boundary review, after city leaders suggested only taking in urban sections of surrounding boroughs, rather than the whole area.
It received around 11,000 responses.
However on Wednesday (October 1) a fresh row broke out over the consultation, with the Reform-led county council and Conservative-ruled Rushcliffe Borough Council claiming the results of the survey were irresponsibly “rushed” out.
In a video Cllr Mick Barton, the Reform leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, went further to claim the process “was done by the Bassetlaw council in Worksop, and the city, and some other districts within the county – Labour-run districts, I will add.”
The video was published on social media by the county council. In it Cllr Barton continues: “We wasn’t involved in that, hardly at all.
“We are very disappointed with our engagement within it. Just to let you know [it was sent out to one million people], the population of the county, 58 per cent have gone back and said they don’t want reorganisation at all. That is the one thing that stands out for me.
“That sends a message out to me that we need to look at it. But we are still going to get on with our 1b option.”
Cllr Barton said his group’s preferred option – 1b – “will deliver” for residents, but emphasised the county council will be holding its own consultation in the next couple of weeks.
However all but one of the remaining councils including Bassetlaw, Broxtowe, Gedling, Mansfield, Newark and Sherwood, and Nottingham city – but excluding Ashfield – say the statement made by Cllr Barton is “not true”.
The councils say the engagement exercise was “a jointly commissioned, independent exercise and paid for by all nine councils.”
They say Nottinghamshire County Council was fully involved in the exercise, and that Cllr Barton had himself “chaired the meeting in which the approach was agreed.”
The county council made reference to the consultation on its own website on August 4, and again on August 22, which demonstrates its involvement, the councils add.
The seven councils asked that the report was published in the interests of transparency, but Nottinghamshire County Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council argued “its publication now does not provide the full analysis or the full data and with such a short amount of time to consider the report”.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands councils had agreed not to publish the survey results in full after Nottinghamshire County Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council said they didn’t want it shared.
However, after Cllr Barton’s video was shared on social media, the report was then published in full.
Some of the seven councils say the results show the creation of a new unitary council covering Bassetlaw, Mansfield, Newark and Sherwood, Ashfield, and Gedling – and another covering Broxtowe, Nottingham City, and Rushcliffe – was the public’s preferred option.
This is known as option 1e – which Rushcliffe Borough and Nottinghamshire County Council has previously publicly rejected.
A press release published by Mansfield District Council on October 1 says around a third of all respondents viewed a north and south arrangement as the best available solution to Government plans to reorganise the nine councils across Nottinghamshire.
Meanwhile the county council and Rushcliffe Borough Council say the key findings highlight that fewer than 30 per cent of residents see the advantages of any restructuring – and in some parts of Nottinghamshire over 70 per cent feel very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with services as they stand without the need for change.
The LDRS approached Cllr Barton for comment, and asked him to confirm he had chaired a meeting to press ahead with the consultation.
He said: “We agreed to do it together, but this report isn’t good enough for our residents, and to rush it out before we can do it justice is disappointing.”
Cllr Barton added: “I said I’m really disappointed with the work Bassetlaw District Council and [Nottingham] City Council did for us all regarding the consultation.
“We had less than 24 hours to review the full report. The report does not give a full analysis of the full data. The consultation only reached 11,000 – that’s less than one per cent of the population.
“That’s why I said we need to keep consulting with residents. We are still fully committed to reaching the November deadline for putting the best proposal forward for residents. We will continue to work with other councils in a constructive way.
“The two main options on the table are 1b and 1e. No final decision’s been made yet.
“I’m very disappointed with how they have rushed to put out the report without taking the time to let us fully understand what residents are telling us.”
In Nottinghamshire, local services are currently delivered under what is known as a ‘two-tier’ council structure.
Nottinghamshire County Council runs services such as social care, education, and road maintenance, while several smaller district and borough councils are responsible for more localised services, including waste collection and leisure centres.
Meanwhile, Nottingham City Council operates as a unitary authority, meaning it provides all council services within the city boundary.
Under the plans, all nine existing local authorities would be abolished to create new unitary councils, covering a higher population in a bid to reduce costs, overlap, and duplication.
The Government is expected to make a final decision in March 2026, and they say the new-look councils will be established in 2028.
The consultation results can be viewed in full here: https://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/media/nsdc-redesign/documents-and-images/news/2025/october/Nottingham-and-Nottinghamshire-LGR-Engagement—Final-report.pdf
