Nottinghamshire’s nine local authorities are heading for a monumental shake-up by 2028
Lauren Monaghan and Local Democracy Reporter
21:39, 20 Nov 2025Updated 21:41, 20 Nov 2025
Mick Barton (Ref), Nottinghamshire County Council’s leader(Image: Joseph Raynor/ Reach PLC)
Reform-led Nottinghamshire County Council is set to submit its preference for a Nottingham, Broxtowe and Gedling merge.
Nottinghamshire’s nine local authorities are heading for a monumental shake-up by 2028 which will see the current two-tier structure in the county – with responsibilities split between district and borough councils and an upper county council – scrapped to create fewer unitary authorities responsible for all services.
The Labour Government announced these plans for English councils back in December 2024, and Nottinghamshire’s authorities have been deliberating various options, primarily looking at two new unitary authorities being created for the county, including some form of Nottingham city boundary expansion.
In early September 2025, Nottinghamshire County Council cemented its stance that one unitary merging Nottingham with Broxtowe and Gedling and another unitary containing the rest of the county was its favoured option for reorganisation.
In a full council meeting on Thursday (November 20), the County Council formally approved the authority would submit this option – which it worked in collaboration with Rushcliffe Borough Council on – as its preference to the government by November 28.
Supporting the plan, Councillor Neil Clarke (Con), who is also leader of Rushcliffe Borough Council, called it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to “rewire” government for people and services.
He said it includes potential ‘neighbourhood committees’ being made within the proposed unitary, which would have “real influence” over area priorities and funding, along with quick and seamless council actions.
But the re-shaping plans were met with criticism from opposition councillors.
Cllr Teresa Cullen (Brox Alliance) said: “In Broxtowe, 12,500 residents responded to a [separate consultation] survey, that’s ten times more than the nearest number that have responded to any other survey in the entire Broxtowe history – 71 per cent said no to any option that joined Broxtowe with Nottingham city.”
Cllr Cullen called the government’s shake-up plans “rushed through and ill thought out”, saying the council has “every opportunity to ask for the brakes to be put on” on the process.
Cllr Keith Girling (Con) said extra “pressure” would be put on other residents if future Nottinghamshire unitaries were formed this way.
He said: “Newark under these proposals, along with Retford, is going to end up being the cash cow for the north part of the [county] unitary, because that’s where all the council tax will be coming from to pay for the services.”
County council leader Mick Barton said the merge option “will work”, adding: “Most residents don’t really care, they don’t even know what local government reorganisation is – this will improve for generations to come and that’s how we’ve got to look at it.
“I have met Neghat [Khan], I’ve met her on several occasions and we tried to work a model up in the early days – I’ve done my job, I’ve met with all the leaders. Neghat’s fallback option was [this option].”
Nottingham City Council has drawn up a separate option that would see the current city boundary expanded into parts of Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe – not the whole of boroughs.
Authorities will have to submit their preferred re-shaping option to the government by its November 28 deadline.
