Gedling Conservatives

📺BBC1 at 10am⤵️

📺 Tune into BBC1 Politics East Midlands at 10am, where I’ll be discussing:

🚨 What lessons authorities must learn following the Nottingham attacks by Valdo Calocane, and how we can better protect Nottinghamshire residents;
📚 Ensuring future generations learn the lessons of the Holocaust and never forget its horrors; and
🚙 Why the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars should be scrapped.

BBC1 10am on Sunday 7 June and available after on iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dk0x

We would like to apologise to residents as our waste collection crews have been unable to complete collections on some streets this week.

Our crews will aim to return tomorrow to collect any missed bins. If your bin has not been emptied, please leave it out for collection.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

We also ask that you take extra care parking your vehicles on your collection day to ensure our drivers can travel down the streets and manoeuvre the waste vehicle safely - thank you!

🚌 There’s just a few weeks left to apply for your school travel assistance!

The deadline for school travel assistance applications for the new academic year in September is 30 June 2026. If you apply after this time, we cannot guarantee that your application will be processed in time for September.

If you have applied previously and haven’t had a change in circumstances, such as moving home or your child moving schools, you do not need to reapply.

If you’ve moved home or your child has moved school since your previous application, you will need to reapply and be reassessed.

Our website pages have a lot of helpful information about eligibility and how to apply and you can find them using the link in the comments. 👇

REFORM ADOPTING CONSERVATIVE SOCIAL CARE PLANS JUST THREE MONTHS AFTER VOTING THEM DOWN

Just three months after voting down the Conservatives’ Alternative Budget at Nottinghamshire County Council, Reform are now proposing to adopt some of the very same ideas they rejected.

At Wednesday’s Adult Social Care and Health Select Committee, Conservative councillors successfully secured support for an amendment calling on Reform to explore ways of speeding up the delivery of supported living and extra care housing for older and vulnerable residents through an invest-to-save approach.

The amendment follows a report to the Committee which highlights the benefits of supported living, acknowledges housing shortages as a major barrier, and confirms that moving people from residential care into supported accommodation can both improve outcomes and reduce costs.

The approach closely mirrors proposals put forward by the Conservative Opposition in February’s Alternative Budget, which Reform voted against. Now, only a few months later, the Council’s own reports are pointing in the same direction.

Conservatives say this is a welcome recognition that the approach was the right one, but argue Reform are still not going far enough and should commit to a much more ambitious invest-to-save programme to deliver the homes and support that Nottinghamshire residents need.

Councillor Jonathan Wheeler, former Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and current Conservative Opposition Shadow Cabinet Member, said: “Only three months ago Reform voted against a Conservative Alternative Budget that proposed investing in supported living accommodation to reduce residential care costs and improve outcomes for residents.

“Now we have a Council report that effectively acknowledges many of the same arguments we were making at the time.

“The difference is that our proposals were ambitious, properly costed and designed to deliver significant long-term savings. What we are seeing from Reform is a half-hearted version of the same idea.

“If Reform now accepts that supported living is the future, they should have the courage to go further and make the investment needed to deliver it.”

During the meeting, Conservative Group Adult Social Care & Health Scrutiny Committee spokesman Councillor Keith Girling for Newark West Division proposed an amendment requesting that Cabinet explore opportunities to accelerate supported living and extra care housing through an invest-to-save approach, highlighting that Reform’s decision to remain at County Hall rather than proceed with the planned move to Oak House is estimated to cost around £1.7 million every year.

Conservatives argue that this money could be better spent helping older and vulnerable residents live independently and reducing pressure on Adult Social Care budgets.

Councillor Keith Girling, Conservative spokesman on the Adult Social Care and Health Select Committee, said: “The irony is hard to ignore. Reform voted down our plans in February and are now beginning to implement parts of them in June.

“The Council’s own report says that supported living delivers better outcomes and lower costs. It also says that a shortage of accommodation is one of the biggest barriers to progress.

“I’m pleased that the Committee accepted the principle of our amendment. That is a positive step forward and reflects the arguments Conservatives have been making for some time.

“However, it is important that people understand why we put this forward. If the plans to move out of County Hall had gone ahead, the Council would have been saving around £1.7 million every year from this July. That is money that could have been invested in projects like this to provide more supported accommodation for older and vulnerable residents.

“Why are Reform choosing to spend £1.7 million a year keeping politicians and officers in County Hall instead of investing that money in homes for older and vulnerable residents?

“This is exactly what invest-to-save means. You make sensible investments today to reduce much larger costs tomorrow.

“Every additional supported living placement has the potential to reduce expensive residential care costs, improve quality of life and save taxpayers money in the long run.

“Reform had the opportunity to support that approach when they voted down our Alternative Budget. If they now recognise that we were right, they should stop doing things by halves and commit to the level of investment required.”

The Conservative Group says the Council should use the opportunity presented by Adult Social Care reform to expand supported living provision at a much faster pace and ensure that savings generated are reinvested into further accommodation capacity.

The recommendation agreed by the Committee asks Cabinet to explore opportunities to accelerate the delivery of supported living and extra care accommodation through an invest-to-save approach to increase supported accommodation capacity and reduce reliance on residential care.

SAM SMITH: A year of chaos, contradictions and broken promises at Reform-run Nottinghamshire County Council - Gedling Eye "What exactly does “the Reform way” mean in practice?"

More of your money is now needed for Labours mistakes, which will make you a poorer pensioner, pay more to use your car, get less from your savings and if you are lucky enough to still afford a pint, then she is now taxing the pubs more, which will cripple to industry and push the costs onto you!

Political opinion: 'Reform Way' has been a year of chaos, contradictions and broken promises in Nottinghamshire Earlier this year, while presenting their first budget in power, Reform UK councillors repeatedly referred to governing ‘the Reform way’.