By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
A Nottingham councillor says he remains “committed to protecting as much as I can” as discussions take place over a potential merger of libraries, leisure and community centres in the city in a bid to save money.
Labour-run Nottingham City Council’s Communities, Environment and Resident Services (CERS) are currently undergoing a ‘best value review’ to make sure they are being delivered in a cost effective way.
The review comes as the authority faces a budget gap of £26m this year and £58.7m over the next four-year period.
Changes to services including community protection, libraries and leisure could help make savings of around £6.4m by the end of the 2024/25 financial year.
As part of the review the council says it will “explore opportunities for co-location of libraries, leisure centres and community centres to achieve economies of scale”.
The wording prompted concern from campaign group Save Nottingham Libraries, which recently helped save the Basford, Aspley and Radford-Lenton Libraries from closure.
Des Conway, speaking on behalf of the group, said it does not “bode well for the future”.
During a Communities and Environment Scrutiny Committee meeting on November 8, Cllr Pavlos Kotsonis (Lab), portfolio holder for leisure, culture and planning, said: “The main purpose of doing best value reviews is to start making more efficient use of our resources.
“I remain committed to protecting as much as I can. Our utmost intention would be to protect those services.
“We will be looking at how best to protect that service whatever that may be, library, leisure.”
The authority is also looking at developing a new delivery model for services such as community safety and protection.
Proposals suggest the council could move away from seven area and ward-based service delivery in favour of the creation of three ‘neighbourhood hubs’, from which all front-line services would be delivered.
Documents discussed during the meeting say this would result in a reduction of officer resources.
Some services, such as dog control, could also be commissioned out to reduce cost.
However there is no intention of commissioning core front-line services at this stage, the council says.
Cllr Sajid Mohammed (Lab), the portfolio holder for neighbourhoods and safety, said: “I think it’s really important we understand the context the council finds itself in.
“We find ourselves in this incredibly challenging financial period, but we also historically recognise that when it comes to decision-making and making decisions on best value, sometimes we have failed or had short-comings.”
He continued: “So we want to design services that are delivering positive outcomes to our residents.
“And for that to happen… the starting point has to be officers bringing as many options to the table as possible, a wide-range of options.
“Those options then have to be discussed, there has to be real vigour in the due diligence so that they show that they work and they deliver.
“We are at the stage where we have just got our first round of ideas and proposals from officers, but even at this stage we welcome the opportunity to discuss it.
“We want to be consulting with our partners, with our working groups, we want a solid consultation, but right now it is only fit and proper that we bring to you a wide-range of proposals.”
He added the council “will lose some [officer] numbers” but all would be done to defend front-line services.
Colin Wilderspin, Interim Director of Communities who prepared the proposals, said the council “cannot do what it was doing five years ago because it is no longer affordable”.
Cllr Mohammed said the authority would “dig deep” to check for detrimental impacts and added: “It’s not going to be easy and ultimately there is going to be lots of compromise.”
