City council officially backs boundary changes

Nottingham City Council is backing boundary changes as part of Local Government Reform

Nottingham City Council is officially backing boundary changes as part of plans to reform local government.

In February 2025, the government asked local authorities to submit proposals to create new structures of unitary authorities by November.

Labour leader Neghat Khan has said the current city boundaries – set in 1997 – do not reflect the "real" Nottingham and is proposing expanding the boundary to bring in parts of Rushcliffe, Gedling and Broxtowe.

Council leaders have clashed in recent weeks over the best way forward.

Some council leaders have been critical of the city's boundary change proposal – with Rushcliffe Borough Council's Conservative leader Neil Clarke calling it a "land grab".

No other authority in Nottinghamshire is backing boundary changes.

The two main options being considered by other Nottinghamshire councils are known as 1b and 1e.

Option 1b would be a new unitary authority combining Nottingham, Broxtowe, and Gedling, with a second new unitary authority for the rest of Nottinghamshire.

Option 1e would involve a new unitary authority combining Nottingham, Broxtowe, and Rushcliffe, with a second new unitary authority for the rest of Nottinghamshire.

The three options being considered by local authorities in Nottinghamshire

But Khan said feedback from residents said that boundaries should be based on "local identity, coherence, and genuine community alignment" - which would not be resolved by options 1b and 1e.

She said those options would "split the Nottingham conurbation, with no thought to the surrounding suburbs identifying with the city, or to addressing the city and wider county's needs for the future".

The city council commissioned a report by external consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to model on the boundary change plan.

The results have not been published, but Khan said having read the data from PwC and feedback from the public engagement, the council believed boundary changes were the best option.

According to the map, parts of Broxtowe, including Beeston, Toton, Bramcote, Stapleford and Nuthall, would join the city area.

In Gedling, Carlton, Arnold and Burton Joyce would form part of the city.

Rushcliffe would be halved to include West Bridgford, Ruddington, Keyworth, East Leake and Sutton Bonington within the city area.

Remaining parts of the districts would join with another authority made up of Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, and Bassetlaw.

Khan previously said certain areas which were not currently part of the city boundary, such as West Bridgford, Carlton and Beeston "relate more to the city".

She said: "We can't let outdated boundaries or political preference dictate what is right for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

"We have always said that we should prioritise conurbation based on local identity and a sensible geography, it is therefore pleasing to see that view shared by Nottingham people.

"We need to set a boundary for the next 50 years. This isn't something that can be made behind closed doors, it's about transparent decisions, informed by public views."

Final proposals will now be developed and submitted to government by 28 November 2025.

Councillor Milan Radulovic is against a boundary expansion

Broxtowe Borough Council leader Milan Radulovic, who is part of the Broxtowe Alliance, said he was against boundary changes which would join parts of the borough into the city boundary.

"Our consultation has received 12,500 responses, and the overwhelming majority are against any merger with the city", he said.

"We've got a debate in Broxtowe in which we will determine Broxtowe's course of action, and we will represent the views of local people."

Paul Peacock, Labour leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, is supporting option 1e.

He said: "We are not supportive of the option being put forward by the city council, but they are entitled to do that.

"Boundary changes of that scale can't be undertaken in the short period of time that we've got."