Leader of Ashfield District Council labels levelling up proposals a missed opportunity

The leader of Ashfield District Council, Councillor Jason Zadrozny, has claimed that the Government's White Paper is "…a missed opportunity to deal with rising inequalities that exist in our County - never mind the country."

He was speaking as Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities released his long awaited White Paper.

Councillor Zadrozny, who is also the leader of the Independent Alliance opposition group on Nottinghamshire County Council, said that promises over a "County Deal" for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire was "…nothing without the nuts and bolts."

He further claimed that the Government were "intent on adding to the bureaucracy surrounding local government without giving the resources to strengthen local councils like Ashfield, Broxtowe, Mansfield, Newark and Sherwood, and Rushcliffe."

He also added that the White Paper left councils like Nottinghamshire with "…an impossible task to hit climate change targets."

Councillor Zadrozny, who leads a 13 strong group at County Hall said: "They'll be a lot of Council Leaders scratching their heads today and trying to work out where this leaves us.

"There is nothing in the White Paper that deals with the longer term funding challenges faced by councils. For example, there remains uncertainty over local government finance without the three year funding settlement Council Leaders are demanding.

"If the Government were serious about levelling up, they would have made progress on the Fair Funding Review - promised since 2019 that leaves Councils like Nottinghamshire millions of pounds out of pocket. This has directly led to increased Council Tax and its omission shows a failure of Government to acknowledge even the basic problems faced by Councils like Nottinghamshire.

"The White Paper doesn't clearly define what levelling up means, nor what any devolution deal may mean. It asks us to start negotiations to claw more power from Whitehall but doesn't state what extra powers we will get.

"Devolution is just a word and is nothing without the nuts and bolts. Will we get extra powers over public transport just weeks after they reduced the 'Better Buses' funding by more than half?"

Councillor Zadrozny also said that Nottinghamshire County Council's pledge to become carbon neutral in all its activities by 2030 was "…virtually impossible" as a result of the publication of government plans.

He said: "There's little or no new funding for councils to deliver net zero or develop low-carbon local economies. This is an increasingly pressing problem and could easily be integrated into this agenda with the right funding and incentives.

"Like much in this White Paper, councils like Nottinghamshire lack the resources to tackle climate change effectively. There is also the issue of dealing with rising inequalities across Nottinghamshire. Places like Ashfield and Mansfield suffer from extreme poverty compared to other parts of the County. This is getting worse yet the broad brush, lack of micro targeting of resources will not solve this.

"Whilst there is a lot in the paper that is laudable – the Conservative Government rhetoric must be matched with the resources for Councils to do their jobs properly. District Councils also play a key role in delivering services and there is a failure in this White Paper to acknowledge this."