Agenda item

Report of the Chief Executive

The Assistant Director for Corporate Services presented the Local Government Reorganisation: Decision-Making and Governance report, which was circulated with the agenda. She explained the Group were not being asked to discuss the options and that the purpose of the report is to provide the Overview and Scrutiny Group with a brief update on the process of developing the submission proposal and the governance arrangements for scrutiny approval prior to submission. This includes consulting with the Corporate Overview Group on the invocation of the Urgency Provisions in the Council’s Constitution to suspend Call-In in respect of the decision to be taken at Cabinet on 25 November 2025.

The Assistant Director for Corporate Services explained that as LGR is a matter of Borough-wide significance, it is a Key Decision and has to be published as such on the Council’s Forward Plan. Ordinarily this would mean the suspension of any activity following this decision for a period of seven days following the Council meeting to allow for the decision to be Called-In.

However, the Group were advised that there are circumstances where a Call-in needs to be suspended and the Constitution allows for this by consulting the Leader, the relevant Cabinet Member and the Chair of the most relevant scrutiny committee (being Corporate Overview Group).

The Group noted that in the case of LGR, Call-in needs to be suspended to enable the Chief Executive to submit the Greater Nottinghamshire Proposal for LGR to the Government by 28 November 2025. Failure to submit the proposal by the deadline risks the Council’s proposal not being considered by Government.

The Assistant Director for Corporate Services explained the report has been brought to Corporate Overview Group this evening to enable a consultation with all scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs.

The Group were reminded that of the opportunities Councillors have been given to engage in the process and a decision was also taken to call an Extraordinary meeting of Full Council on Thursday 20 November to enable all Councillors to debate the proposal document allowing for much wider scrutiny.

In concluding the Assistant Director for Corporate Services asked the Group for support to create a Member Working Group moving forward to provide more opportunities for engagement as the Council moves into the transitional phases of LGR.

Councillor Simms expressed his concerns that as this relates to governance issues the report should have been considered by Governance Scrutiny Group and felt the process had been rushed and not been given enough time for it to be scrutinised.

The Assistant Director for Corporate Services explained that this was a procedural matter on how the Council makes decisions in respect of LGR going forward. In addition, she added that the Corporate Overview Group meeting was already scheduled in the Council’s committee calendar, and it was felt appropriate to consult with all scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs.

Councillor Gaunt referred to p7.1 in the report regarding establishing a cross-party member working group and requested that the group membership be increased to allow for greater a representation from the opposition groups.

The Assistant Director for Corporate Services advised that this is possible to do and would look into this and report back to the Group.

Councillor Guant commented on p4.1 and expressed how he felt the process did not reflect a cross-party decision and Council’s working independently of each other to achieve what’s best for their areas. He also commented on 4.1 f) and asked whether there were any plans to support West Bridgford with it not having a neighbourhood parish and for it to meet the criteria in f) to enable a stronger community engagement and deliver genuine opportunity for neighbourhood empowerment.

The Assistant Director for Corporate Services advised that Nottinghamshire councils have been working collaboratively since March time pooling information around finance, services and common issues, adding that by July Rushcliffe and County Council favoured the 1b option and other Districts favoured 1e option and the City developed its own idea. The Group noted that all three options will be submitted to Government on 28 November 2025.

Councillor Way expressed her support for the working group membership to be increased.

Councillor Combellack also supported this recommendation for a larger working group, adding that the process had been inclusive thus far and to ensure all areas of the Borough are represented.

It was RESOLVED that the Corporate Overview Group:

a)    Accepts the update on local Government Reorganisation including the opportunities for Member engagement provided so far;

b)    Acknowledges that, for the reasons given in the report, the decision of Cabinet to submit the Council’s proposal to central Government by 28 November 2025 is a Key Decision to which the Urgency Provisions exempting it from the Call-In procedure apply;

c)     Recommends to Cabinet that a new larger Member Working Group is constituted to provide oversight of the next phase of the LGR Programme.