Making sure we all have a say in the future of Beeston and compiling a dossier of comparative data

The boundary marker dated 1933 which you can see on Broadgate and is within sight of Beeston town centre — that is how close Beeston is to Nottingham (historically, the parish of Lenton, which voted to become part of the then Nottingham Borough Council in 1877). Given the opportunity, will Beeston vote to do the same?

The following piece by me appears in the latest edition of the Beeston & District Civic Society Newsletter, but first what does not appear is the table below showing council tax band charges by local authority and location in and around Nottingham. Because of parish and town council charges, different rates are paid depending on where you live. My list uses the council tax rates applicable to the urban areas which may decide to go with Nottingham rather than the county.

I would prefer that Beeston joins with Nottingham City Council and not Nottinghamshire County Council, should Broxtowe Borough Council be abolished, simply because Beeston is part of the same conurbation as Nottingham and has more in common with the city than Bingham, Mansfield, Newark, Retford or Worksop, for example.

Click on the table to enlarge.

Nottingham's council tax charge is, for band D, £106 higher per annum than Beeston (£2.03 per week), but Beeston residents benefit directly from many city services and facilities (subsidised bus routes, such as the L10 and L11, theatres and museums, Highfields Park, the tram, so the list could go on). These are all points and arguments you will hear and read about many times over the coming months.

I strongly believe that should Nottingham City Council decide to make a counter proposal to the county council's it will do so in a way which which gives Beeston more control over its own affairs and that has to be a good thing by any measure. 'Partnership working' in some form has to be the way forward. 

Now, the piece by me which appears in the latest edition of the Beeston & District Civic Society Newsletter:

Who will decide Beeston’s future?

On 12 July 2018 Nottinghamshire County Council proposed the creation of a unitary ‘doughnut’ county council. This would result in the abolition of all the county’s district councils. Nottingham City Council would continue to exist in splendid isolation. 

Should the County Council’s proposal reach the point where it is formalised, Nottingham City Council has indicated it may submit a counter proposal to extend the city’s boundary to create what can best be described as a ‘Greater Nottingham City Council’ covering the conurbation.

What does all this mean for Beeston?

Well, to some extent, that will depend on us.

Do we see the County Council’s proposal as none of our business, a threat or an opportunity?

For my part I see it as an opportunity.

To begin with, a reading list which might be helpful, so that a historical perspective can be part of our reasoning. I would like to suggest five titles, one of which I have yet to find a copy:

The Illustrated History of Nottingham’s Suburbs by Geoffrey Oldfield, published by Breedon Books, 2003.

A History of Basford Rural District Council, 1894–1974 by Geoffrey Oldfield, published by Basford R.D.C., 1974.

A Centenary History of Nottingham Edited by John Becket, Manchester University Press, 1997.

Local Government Reform, Urban Expansion and Identity: Nottingham and Derby, 1945–1968 by R P Dockerill, School of Historical Studies, Leicester, 2013 (https://lra.le.ac.uk/handle/2381/28203).

The fifth title, What Shall We Do With the Erewash Valley? by (Stapleford) Councillor Stanley Woods, 1947, is a pamphlet I have yet to read, but it is quoted in R P Dockerill’s thesis*. It interested me because chairing the Midlands Regional Museums Service in the 1970s and East Midlands Airport in the 1980s led me to the conclusion that we need a ‘twin city’ approach to the Derby/Nottingham conurbation and that there could be some merit in a Erewash/Browtowe unitary council acting as a buffer between the two city councils, should any future partnership arrangement come about. Stanley Woods seems to have understood this 70 years ago.

* See his reference Hancock Local Government Commission Consultation with local authorities: Nottingham County Borough Council (National Archives search ref. T 184/298). 

The map I have included provides a web link to an excellent Phd dissertation by R P Dockerill. 

Together, what all these writers make plain is that proposed local government changes to boundaries and powers rarely happen, and when they do the outcome can be less than satisfactory. The late Geoffrey Oldfield, a respected and well known local historian who lived in West Bridgford, wrote in the Introduction to his Illustrated History of Nottingham’s Suburbs: ‘The urban districts and smaller parts of rural districts (around Nottingham) escaped becoming administratively part of the city in 1974. Under local government re-organisation they were absorbed into four new district councils. This did not affect the reality of their affinity to the city as suburbs’ (hence 14 entries for suburbs outside the city, including Attenborough, Beeston, Bramcote and Stapleford, complete with excellent potted histories).

A Centenary History of Nottingham contains an excellent chapter/essay: ‘The government of the city, 1900–1974: the consensus ethos in local politics’ by Nick Hayes, which ends with a brief reference to how we ended up with ‘post-1979 conviction politics’. In reality, the halcyon consensus days of local government were coming to end in the 1960s, with the abuse of aldermanic elections and the exclusion of opposition councillors from new style policy committees on some councils (aldermen with votes were abolished in the 1970s).

I admit to being no fan of, exclusive, conviction politics and believe that, when it comes to government, consensus works best, and I see this as one of the prizes to be won if local government is re-organised in and around Nottingham. How we elect councillors and councils has to be part of the outcome. I believe the London Assembly, Scottish and Welsh proportional added member voting system should be extended to include England too.

For this to happen, all of us need to understand, and engage, in the entire process. Too many local and national politicians have narrow agendas which exclude the wider community. The decimation of towns like Beeston, be it the townscape or what it can decide for itself, can be reversed. Now is the opportunity we have never had before.

I believe Beeston & District Civic Society could play a leading role in the process, perhaps organising a public briefing on the proposals and the history of local government change in the Beeston area over the past 100 years.

Understanding the past is the best way to ensure a better future for Beeston.

Robert Howard

beestonweek.blogspot.com

799 words.

CAPTION TO PHOTOGRAPH:

A rusting extant City of Nottingham boundary marker on Broadgate, in sight of Beeston town centre.