Title

FINANCE

Nottingham hits back at 'bankruptcy' claims

Nottingham City Council has refuted claims that it is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Nottingham City Council has refuted claims that it is on the verge of bankruptcy.

The council issued a statement after claims appeared in the media that it was on the brink of financial collapse.

Cllr David Mellen, leader of the council, said it fully accepts the findings of a rapid review carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government that highlights serious issues around financial management and governance.

However, he said: ‘The report does not use the word "bankruptcy". It does highlight that the council needs to make savings in order to resolve our very difficult budget situation and we are currently developing budget proposals in order to meet that challenge.'

Cllr Mellen added: ‘It highlights that we have been slow to act on warnings about the risk of relying on one-off savings and income through commercialisation and that we should have been managing budgets on a longer term basis to reduce core expenditure and transform services.

‘The council's capital expenditure and high levels of debt compared to other cities is also flagged up as a major concern with the cost of borrowing restricting our flexibility on day-to-day spending.'

FINANCE

Fair Funding Review 2.0 and the road to reorganisation

By Tracy Bingham | 10 September 2025

Councils will have to grapple with risks, resilience and reform as they balance the fallout from fair funding with the challenge of reorganisation, writes Tr...

FINANCE

Essex claims three unitary reorganisation would best tackle debt crisis

By Paul Marinko | 09 September 2025

Essex CC’s leadership has claimed its favoured three unitary model of reorganisation would best manage the county’s ‘heavily indebted’ local government system.

FINANCE

The flawed rationale behind reorganisation

By John Mortimer | 08 September 2025

John Mortimer argues that the logic and mindset behind a report that has helped to shape the current drive for reorganisation misses out the true value creat...

FINANCE

How councils will fare under Fair Funding 2.0

By Jonathan Meek | 04 September 2025

Simon Christian and Jonathan Meek analyse the impact of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 on different council types and highlight the winners and losers among the...

Popular articles by Laura Sharman