Bassetlaw Today

Tag: Nottinghamshire County Council

  • Over 8,000 pothole repairs expected to be finished across Notts by December

    Over 8,000 pothole repairs expected to be finished across Notts by December

    More than 8,000 Nottinghamshire potholes will be fixed by December this year, according to a senior councillor.

    Between April 1 and October 31, 8,860 potholes and road defects were reported to Nottinghamshire County Council.

    The pothole figure was mentioned in the council’s cabinet meeting on Thursday (November 6) as part of the authority’s anticipated highways review.

    In June 2025, the council approved a decision to move forward with a review of the county’s roads and highway services.

    Its completion has found four key themes, comprising maximising funding opportunities, “prudent” asset and network management, effective and efficient delivery and improved communications and community-led works.

    Speaking to the local democracy reporting service (LDRS) following the meeting, council leader Mick Barton (Reform) said the authority and its highway partner, VIA, “have worked really hard before the winter” to fix potholes.

    He said: “We’ve reported over 8,000 potholes since our administration in May. A lot of them we’ve worked hard before the winter comes, because if you don’t work on them before winter, they will break up – a lot of them have been repaired properly.”

    Councillor Bert Bingham (Reform), cabinet member for transport and environment, told the LDRS these would be “pretty much done by December” as part of preventative efforts before the colder and wetter months.

    Part of the council’s highway plan is to “maximise” money opportunities for improving the county’s roads.

    Currently, £44.7 million of the £52.4 million total money for road works comes from the East Midlands County Combined Authority (EMCCA).

    For 2025/26, EMCCA gave the council nearly £15.2 million  above the usual funding from the Department for Transport.

    EMCCA is set to receive “significant levels” of money from the government in 2026/27 that equates to £2 billion over the next six-year period.

    Speaking during the meeting, Cllr Mike Introna (Con) asked: “What proactive steps are being taken to secure a larger, fairer share of EMCCA’s £2 billion, for our local roads?

    “[EMCCA] is funnelling millions into active travel schemes instead of tackling the real infrastructure challenges that are holding our region back. This administration needs to challenge this – without that financial support, even the best plans will remain aspirations only.

    “The right-first-time and permanent repairs principles that [the previous Conservative administration] introduced must remain the standard, not the exception, and continue to be improvable.”

    Responding to Cllr Introna’s question following the meeting, Cllr Barton said he has a “brilliant” working relationship with EMCCA mayor, Claire Ward (Lab).

    He said: “If we can get on with some smaller projects like the White Post roundabout or some others that will be quick wins to get started before we do the big [projects].”

    He added the authority had asked the mayor for more money for roads in the next financial year, saying “the comments have been favourable… the signals are good”.

    From that £2 billion pot, Cllr Bingham said the council is seeking additional funding for a multi-year period of three to five years and that EMCCA funding is “back-loaded”, adding: “We’d like to see it more front-loaded so we can get more work done up front.

    “Negotiations are ongoing and by December we’ll have a pretty good idea.”

    The Reform authority’s leader said it has reintroduced a three-road principle.

    This relates to each county councillor being able to put forward three roads each in their respective wards that they believe require the most attention. They will then be seen as priority roads for fixing.

    This policy existed previously at the council but has not been a principle for several years and Cllr Bingham says alongside the three roads, councillors will also be able to put forward three other highway issues, such as crossings and signage problems.

    As part of the authority’s road fixes, Cllr Barton says he is hopeful “hundreds of miles” of roads will have better weather-resistant micro asphalt resurfacing works done, rural villages are already receiving drain cleaning and new equipment is currently being looked at.

    Around 17 miles of resurfacing works are planned for the 2025/26 financial year, and around 14.5 miles of this have already been completed since April.

  • Nottinghamshire County Council now predicting reduced budget shortfall over next three years

    Nottinghamshire County Council now predicting reduced budget shortfall over next three years

    Nottinghamshire County Council is currently predicting a reduced budget shortfall over the next three years, new figures show. 

    The Reform-led authority’s cabinet is set to meet next Thursday (November 6) to discuss its updated budget report. 

    In February this year, the previous Conservative administration approved a funding shortfall of £18.5 million over the next three years to the end of the 2028/29 financial year. 

    These figures are contained in the council’s Medium-Term Financial Strategy, which assesses what areas of financial pressures the authority faces and helps the council set a balanced budget each year. 

    In next week’s cabinet documents, updated figures show this figure brought down to £15.9 million – a £2.6 million decrease. 

    Documents also state there is currently a forecast overspend of £3.1 million in the current 2025/26 financial year, stemming from overspends in adult social care and transport and environment services which are “partially offset” by an underspend in another area due to the Business Rates relief grant. 

    Adult social care continues to be one of the largest pressures on a council’s finances. Budget papers show service demand pressures has increased by £7.28 million in the 2026/27 financial year, mainly caused by a projected increase of £4.5 million in adult social care which “reflects extensive growth in care package demand”. 

    The authority says “particular headwinds” are being felt within this department, including pressures from increased complex needs of people who currently have care and support, increasing cost pressures from providers – including the national living wage – and from partners. 

    Documents say the senior leadership team within this department is currently developing a recovery and redesign plan to make sure they can “deliver an effective service” despite challenges. 

    Following the government’s autumn statement in November 2025, which will detail areas such as council funding and national living wage increases,  the council will update its budget projections in line with this. 

    The previous Conservative council hiked council tax by 4.84 per cent which is just under the maximum allowed limit. 

    Reform council leader, Mick Barton, previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the amount of council tax residents will pay next year will not be discussed until January. 

    He said the authority would wait until it knew how much money the Labour Government would give it in its financial settlement, which are awarded each year to councils, with the amount itself revealed in December. 

    He said: “Council tax, until we know what we are going to get off the Government, then we can’t talk about council tax until January. 

    “We’ve not heard about the multi-year settlement. It’ll either give us some relief or some more head-scratching to do. I don’t think we will get much relief.” 

    The Reform-led authority is expected to complete its own efficiency review by the end of 2025 to try cut costs. 

  • Reform UK chooses deputy leader and cabinet after winning control of Nottinghamshire County Council

    Reform UK chooses deputy leader and cabinet after winning control of Nottinghamshire County Council

    Reform UK has chosen its deputy leader and cabinet members after taking control of Nottinghamshire County Council.

    In the May 2 election, Reform secured a sweeping victory, taking control of the authority from the Conservatives with a clear majority, securing an initial 40 out of 66 available seats.

    This has since fallen to 39 after Desmond Clarke, who unseated the Conservative Party’s Keith Girling in Newark West, resigned a week after the election. A by-election will now take place for his seat.

    The Conservatives previously held the authority with 34 seats, but now sit as the main opposition with 17 councillors.

    The new Nottinghamshire Reform group announced Cllr Mick Barton, who represents Mansfield East, as its leader on May 12.

    Dr John Doddy, who represents Stapleford and Broxtowe Central, will become the deputy leader of the council.
    The new Nottinghamshire Reform group announced Cllr Mick Barton, who represents Mansfield East, as its leader on May 12.

    Documents have now been published confirming the deputy leader and cabinet members, ahead of the ruling group’s first Full Council meeting at Oak House on Thursday (May 22).

    Dr John Doddy, who represents Stapleford and Broxtowe Central, will become the deputy leader of the council.

    He was expelled from the Conservatives after he stood independently against the party for the Broxtowe constituency in the 2024 General Election, before becoming the County Council’s first Reform councillor earlier this year.

    A majority of decisions about council services are made by the cabinet, as well as the setting of a budget each year and the council’s policies.

    Each member has a designated department, such as transport and environment, finance, social care, or education.

    The new cabinet, which will be confirmed on Thursday, is as follows:

    • Cllr Martin Wright – Cabinet member for business management.
    • Cllr Barry Answer – Cabinet member for adult social care, alongside his deputy Cllr Kelvin Wright
    • Cllr Rory Green – Cabinet member for children and families.
    • Cllr Dawn Justice – Cabinet member for communities and public health.
    • Cllr James Walker-Gurley – Cabinet member for economic development and asset management
    • Cllr Hana John – Cabinet member for education and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
    • Cllr Stuart Matthews – Cabinet member for finance and resources, and he will be deputised by Cllr James Rawson
    • Cllr Bert Bingham – Cabinet member for transport and environment.

    A further two of the 66 seats, in Mansfield North, are yet to be decided following the death of Trade Union and Socialist Coalition candidate, Karen Seymour, before the election.

    A by-election is expected to take place there on June 12.

  • Tory leader Kemi Badenoch declined chance to rule out coalition with Reform in local elections

    Tory leader Kemi Badenoch declined chance to rule out coalition with Reform in local elections

    Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has declined to rule out any potential local coalition with Reform following the May 1 local elections in Nottinghamshire.

    Nottinghamshire County Council is holding an election Next Thursday, May 1, when county residents will have the chance to decide who they want representing them across divisions returning a total of 66 county councillors.

    Mrs Badenoch paid a visited Excel Technology Group in Mansfield on Thursday (April 24) ahead of the vote.

    The Conservative leader has previously ruled out any future national coalition between the Tories and Reform UK – the party seen as responsible for chipping away their support among right-leaning voters.  Nationwide opinion polls currently place Reform ahead of the Conservatives in popularity.

    Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Ms Badenoch declined to rule out the possibility of the party forming any coalition with Reform in order to retain power at the council.

    Instead she said local Conservative leaders need to do “what is right for their area” – not just what they think is needed to run a council.

    Mrs Badenoch was joined by Nottinghamshire County Council Leader Sam Smith (Con) during the visit

    She has previously ruled out any such power sharing deal for the national party.

    Mrs Badenoch told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Party councillors need to do what is right for their area.

    “Reform have fielded candidates all across the country.

    “Most of them are paper candidates, they don’t necessarily come from the area.

    “We take candidate selection very seriously.

    “We make sure that they are people who are very skilled at what they’re going to be doing, because that is how we deliver better services for lower taxes.

    “I’ve been talking to Sam [Smith], the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, about how hard they work to keep taxes down without cutting any services.

    “Reform has no experience of running any single council, and this is why I’m reminding people that this is not an opinion poll.

    “This is about who’s going to be running Adult Social Care, fixing your roads and so on and so forth.

    “But as you would have seen historically, Conservatives have gone into coalition with Labour, for example.

    “They’ve gone into coalition with Liberal Democrats because you don’t get to re-run a local government election.

    “But Conservative councils will do what is right for their area, not just what they need to do in order to run a council.

    “They will only support or be supported by people who want to help deliver a Conservative agenda.”

    Mrs Badenoch said she is focused on delivering results to residents – but if the Conservatives don’t win, they will look into “alternative options”.

    She also rejected a hardline stance against coalitions on a local level – indicating that they have happened in previous years.

    The Tory leader said during today’s visit: “We are running to win the council.

    “Talking about going into coalitions shows that it’s not really about the people, it’s just about who can win.

    “This is not just about winning for us, it’s about the people who live here. It’s really important that they get the very best.

    “Whenever you hear people talking about coalitions before an election, what they’re really talking about is stitch-ups.

    “We’re not interested in stitch-ups – we’re interested in winning and running the council.

    “If that doesn’t happen then we’ll look at alternative offers. We’ve gone in to coalitions with other parties before – with Independents, with Liberal Democrats, with Labour.

    “We cannot be in a situation where bins aren’t being collected and services aren’t being delivered because no party has overall control.

    “That is what happens at local government.

    “What I’ve told our councillors is they need to look at who is going to deliver a Conservative agenda if they have not got one outright.

    “And I trust them to make the best decisions for their local areas.

    “But telling people to not go into a coalition if that’s the only option available to deliver services – that will not be right.

    “We should stop playing politics with people’s lives, stop talking about stitch-ups and talk about how we’re going to make their lives better.”

    Last December, the Labour Government announced an initiative to restructure local councils to promote a more efficient delivery of public services.

    All nine Nottinghamshire councils have now developed three potential options, which have since been submitted to the Government for review.

    That includes removing the current two-tier structure of local authorities in Nottinghamshire – which sees services split between lower and upper-tier councils.

    Mrs Badenoch said local Government reorganisation is not a solution to improving services – but rather a “process”.

    The key to a well-run council is having capable councillors in charge of delivering services, she said.

    She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Local government reorganisation is not necessarily a solution – it’s just a process.

    “It is always about the people. You can reorganise, but if you have bad people running a council, it will not make a difference.

    “And that’s why it’s really important to look at who is standing.

    “You only need to look at Birmingham, where rubbish is piling up in the streets and rats are running around – that’s what you get when you don’t pay attention to who’s going to be running local services.

    “So the reorganisation is a side issue to the people and the quality of candidates that you have standing.”

    A full list of all candidates standing in the May 2025 county council elections – including the names of people representing other political parties – can be found online.

  • Full list on Bassetlaw candidates for Notts local elections in May

    Full list on Bassetlaw candidates for Notts local elections in May

    The full list of Bassetlaw candidates for the Nottinghamshire County Council election on May 1 has been published.

    All 66 seats at the currently Conservative-led authority are open to the May poll.

    The council’s composition is currently 34 Conservatives – as the majority – 15 Labour councillors, 15 councillors in the Independent Group, one Reform councillor and one Independent member.

    Parties will need 34 members to take overall charge at the new Oak House, near Linby.

    The poll is likely to be the last-ever Nottingamshire County Council election in its current format due to ongoing Government reform which is due to see local councils overhauled to create new “strategic authorities” and new combined councils between 2027 and 2028.

    Voters will be required to have voter ID when turning up to the polls, such as a passport or driving licence- more details on voter ID can be found on the Electoral Commission website.

    Applications to register to vote must reach the Electoral Registration Officer by midnight on Friday April 11.

    Applications to vote by proxy must be made by 5pm on Wednesday, April 23.

    Polling station locations can be found at https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/your-election-information.

    The list of Bassetlaw candidates standing in the election is as follows.

    Bassetlaw District

    Blyth and Harworth

    • Heather Anne Finley – Green Party
    • Hana John – Reform UK
    • Steve Pashley – Local Conservatives
    • Lynne Schuller – Labour Party
    • Peter John Thompson – Liberal Democrats – For a
      fair deal

    Misterton

    • Rhona Michelle Collins – Labour Party
    • Andrew Charles Davies – Liberal Democrats – For a
      fair deal
    • Rachel Sara Reeves – The Green Party
    • Mike Robertson – Reform UK
    • Tracey Lee Taylor – Local Conservatives

    Retford East

    • David Andrew Bean – Green Party Candidate
    • Jennie Coggles – Liberal Democrats – For a
      fair deal
    • Mike Introna – Local Conservatives
    • Andrew Peter McCallum – Reform UK
    • Sue Shaw – Labour Party

    Retford West

    • Piers Digby – Labour and Co-operative
      Party
    • Mike Quigley – Local Conservatives
    • Daniel Carl Saban – Reform UK
    • Helen Louise Tamblyn-Saville – Liberal Democrats – For a fair deal

    Tuxford

    • Emma Marie Griffin – Local Conservatives
    • Kristian Lee Langrick – Liberal Democrats – For a
      fair deal
    • Warren John Limber – Reform UK
    • Denise Taylor-Roome – Green Party
    • Ian Warton-Woods – Labour Party

    Worksop East

    • Russell Dodd – Reform UK
    • Leon Maurice Duveen – Liberal Democrats – For a
      fair deal
    • Glynn Gilfoyle – Labour Party
    • Margaret Hamilton – Green Party Candidate
    • Andy Tyler – Local Conservatives

    Worksop North

    • Callum Robert Bailey – Local Conservatives
    • Kevin George Dale – Reform UK
    • Steffi Alexandra Harangozo – Liberal Democrats – For a fair deal
    • Neil John Sanders – Labour Party

    Worksop South 

    • Charles Lindsay Adams – Labour Party
    • Phil Ray – Liberal Democrats – For a
      fair deal
    • Nigel Turner – Local Conservatives
    • Kelvin Donald Wright – Reform UK

    Worksop West 

    • Bert Kevin Bingham – Reform UK
    • Sybil Jacqueline Fielding – Labour and Co-operative
      Party
    • James Robert Purle – Local Conservatives
    • Simon Andrew Russell – Liberal Democrats – For a
      fair deal
    • Olive Hope Welch – Green Party candidate
  • Rampton’s psychiatric hospital still “stretched” despite successful nurse recruitment

    Rampton’s psychiatric hospital still “stretched” despite successful nurse recruitment

    A Nottinghamshire high-security psychiatric hospital has reduced its nursing vacancies but says its staffing is still ‘stretched’.

    Nottinghamshire County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee met on March 19 to discuss an update on Rampton Hospital, a high-security psychiatric hospital near Retford.

    The hospital, run by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, was rated ‘inadequate’ in January 2024 after watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found several serious problems.

    The CQC said at the time there were concerns over staffing numbers, staff supervision, training and medicine.

    In January, the committee heard of “significant improvements” in the hospital, where six out of seven recommendations made by the CQC had been completed.

    In the committee updates, it was noted the hospital has successfully cut its nursing vacancies from 18.5 wholetime equivalents to 3.5 in February 2025, with papers saying further recruitment is “ongoing”.

    But the committee noted the hospital is still “stretched” as there has been an increase in admissions, and an increase i  patients needing to go out of site – such as on hospital visits – and therefore patients needed more observations.

    Jan Sensier,  Executive Director of Partnerships and Strategy at the trust, said: “It has been a tricky time since Christmas, [there is] a number of out of grounds patients, patients having to go to the acute hospital for treatment.

    “Every time they go we’re talking about an escort of about six staff- it only takes three or four patients to be out of grounds and you’ve really decimated your staffing.”

    Councillor John Wilmott (Ind) said: “[This] really proves the point that mental health is seriously on the increase, in all areas, and it’s an issue that should concern everybody.

    “[It] says staff are stretched , isn’t that a concern to you also?”

    Trevor Gedeon, Associate Medical Director for the hospital, said: “What you tend to see when there are difficulties that occur in community services that has a knock-on effect all the way through up to high security.

    “The people that are coming in to be admitted are facing greater challenges, are presenting with a greater need in terms of support, around managing risks, supporting people through distress or their physical health care.

    “That does place us under pressure, it’s something we are skilled at and familiar with doing… we have no option to say ‘things are too difficult’ and refer up. In Rampton we have to meet that challenge and rise to that challenge and that’s something we do time and time again.”

    Cllr David Martin (Ind) said: “It’s a real issue, to recruit staff and keep them, it’s a national service, there are only three hospitals in the country that do what you do- going forward, can you explain more about how you are recruiting more staff?”

    Mr Gedeon said that it depends on the individual patient how many staff are required to be with them when they go off site for a separate acute hospital admission.

    He said: “We’ve had to do quite a lot of work around that, we’re relatively remote and isolating – drawing on people willing to come to work and such challenging work, we’ve had various media campaigns, road show events to try and recruit, some of them, over the past couple months, have been quite successful.”

    The hospital was visited by the CQC several times in February 2025- the results of these inspections have not yet been released.

    The CQC has also removed the conditions of registration restrictions – meaning the hospital had to get permission from the CQC before admitting new patients – which was imposed following the ‘inadequate’ rating.

    The trust, which runs several mental health facilities in Nottinghamshire, was also put under scrutiny when it emerged Nottingham attacks killer Valdo Calocane had been in its care several times.

    Calocane was convicted of Manslaughter after fatally stabbing Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, along with Ian Coates, 65, in Nottingham in June 2023.