The deputy leader of Gedling Borough Council has said slammed plans to spend £270,000 on preparing a case for creating a ‘super council’ in Nottinghamshire – calling it a ‘shocking waste of taxpayers’ money’
Cllr Michael Payne told Gedling Eye it was ‘utterly unacceptable’ that Nottinghamshire County Council are proposing to spend up to £270,000 on external support for the preparation of the case for their idea of a ‘super council’ for Nottinghamshire.
The proposals being put forward by Nottinghamshire County Council would see a unitary council being created that would result in all small local authorities being abolished.
He said: “This is a shocking waste of precious taxpayers’ money at a time when Nottinghamshire County Council is cutting frontline services left, right and centre.
“In our own local area Cllr. Kay Cutts and her team at County Hall plan to press ahead with the closure of our vital local care home – Leivers Court. It’s also been over a year now from the devastating fire at the Rolleston Drive site owned by the County Council; there have been warm words but little to no action by the county council to make good use of the site.
“Today’s news of the proposal to spend over a quarter of a million pounds on this costly vanity project to create a super council for Nottinghamshire is shocking and utterly unacceptable – it must be halted immediately.
“It’s time the Leader of the County Council focussed on the day job rather than wasting taxpayers’ money on an ill-thought-through power grab by redrawing boundaries for local government in Nottinghamshire.”
Nottinghamshire County Council yesterday revealed it intends to spend more than a quarter of a million pounds drawing up the plan, known as a business case, for the ‘super council’
It estimates that the costs of creating the business case include £50,000 on ‘independent financial validation’, £190,000 on consultation, and between £10,000 and £20,000 on legal advice.
On the timetable released, it says councillors will be given an update in November before a full report is presented in December.
If approved, there would be a formal public consultation between January and March. A final case would then be voted on in May.
Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Cllr Kay Cutts said there was a pressing case for change in the way local government is organised in Nottinghamshire.
She said: “We are faced with significant financial challenges and the need to live within our means, so it is only right that we do our bit to eliminate waste, bureaucracy and inefficiency in the provision of local government services.
Gedling Eye approached Nottinghamshire County Council about the proposed spend.
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire County Council said: “The total cost to prepare the case for change document is expected to be £270,000 of which £190,000 would be spent on community consultation and engagement.
“The total project costs represent just 0.05% of the County Council’s overall £495.9m total budget and are a fraction of the estimated savings local government reorganisation could deliver. ”
Cllr Cutts responded to our request for a response about the closure of Leivers Court.
She said: “Earlier this year we signed off plans to double the number of ‘housing with care’ units to 500 over the next three years in Nottinghamshire, which will provide an alternative to residential care for older people and will increase to 1,000 homes by 2025.
“The plans to close the Council’s remaining Care and Support Centres were agreed in February 2015 under the previous Labour administration.”
Cllr Payne is now calling on local people who are against the plans for a ‘super council’ to sign a petition calling on Nottinghamshire County Council to keep their ‘Hands off Gedling’
He said: “If you haven’t yet signed our petition to tell Cllr Cutts ‘Hands Off Gedling’, then today she’s given you 270,000 more reasons to do so.
“Join our efforts to stop this bonkers plan in its tracks before more of your money is wasted.”
You can sign our petition here: https://www.change.org/p/leader-of-nottinghamshire-county-c…
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