Nottingham City Council


Nottingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Nottingham, in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. Nottingham has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1998 the council has been a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. Since 2024 the council has been a member of the East Midlands Combined County Authority.
The council has been under Labour majority control since 1991. The council meets at Nottingham Council House and has its main offices at Loxley House.

History

Nottingham was an ancient borough. The earliest known borough charter was issued by Henry II sometime between 1155 and 1165; that charter did not purport to create the borough, but instead confirmed to it the rights that it had already held in the time of Henry I. The borough was governed by a corporation, also known as the town council. A later charter of 1284 granted the borough the right to appoint a mayor. In 1449 the corporation was given the right to appoint its own sheriffs, making Nottingham a county corporate, judicially independent from the rest of Nottinghamshire.
In 1836 Nottingham became a municipal borough under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, Nottingham was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services and so it was made a county borough, independent from Nottinghamshire County Council.
Nottingham was awarded city status on 7 August 1897, allowing the corporation to call itself Nottingham City Council. In 1928 the city council was given the right to appoint a lord mayor.
In 1974 Nottingham became a non-metropolitan district under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming a lower tier authority with Nottinghamshire County Council providing county-level services in the city for the first time. The city kept the same outer boundaries, but did gain an exclave from Nottinghamshire containing the Shire Hall. Nottingham kept its borough and city statuses and its lord mayoralty.
In 1998, Nottingham City Council regained responsibility for county-level services from Nottinghamshire County Council. The way this change was implemented was to create a new non-metropolitan county of Nottingham covering the same area as the existing district, but with no separate county council; instead the existing city council took on county functions, making it a unitary authority. This therefore restored the city council to the powers it had held when Nottingham was a county borough prior to 1974. Despite having been removed from the non-metropolitan county of Nottinghamshire, the city remains part of the wider ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire for the purposes of lieutenancy.
On 29 November 2023, the council declared itself effectively bankrupt, with a £23m overspend forecast for the 2023-24 financial year. This has been speculated to be mainly due to the Robin Hood Energy initiative, which was setup by the council in 2015 and was closed in 2020. Being unable to produce a balanced budget, it issued a Section 114 notice which requires all expenditure to cease except for statutory duties.
In 2024 a combined authority was established covering Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Derby and Derbyshire, called the East Midlands Combined County Authority. The combined authority is chaired by the directly elected Mayor of the East Midlands and oversees the delivery of certain strategic functions across the area.

Governance

As a unitary authority, Nottingham City Council has the functions of a county council and district council combined. There are no civil parishes in Nottingham, which has been an unparished area since the reforms of 1974.

Political control

The council has been under Labour majority control since 1991.
Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms took effect has been as follows:
Non-metropolitan district
'''Unitary authority'''

Political leadership

The role of Lord Mayor of Nottingham is largely ceremonial. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1974 have been:

Executive Members

Executive Members are the group of councillors collectively as part of an Executive Committee or individually for matters within their remit, as delegated by the Leader of the Council. Executive members are selected by the Leader and Deputy Leader. are:
NamePortfolio
Councillor Cheryl BarnardExecutive Member for Children, Young People and Education
Councillor Jay HayesExecutive Member for Housing and Planning
Councillor Corall JenkinsExecutive Member for Neighbourhoods, Waste and Equalities
Councillor Helen KalsiExecutive Member for Adult Social Care and Health
Councillor Neghat KhanExecutive Member for Strategic Regeneration, Property and Communications
Councillor Sam LuxExecutive Member for Climate and Energy
Councillor Ethan RadfordExecutive Member for Finance and Resources
Councillor Linda WoodingsExecutive Member for Regional Development, Growth and Transport

Political composition

Following the 2023 election, and subsequent changes of allegiance up to October 2025, the composition of the council was:
The next election is due in 2027.

Premises

Full Council meetings are held at Nottingham Council House in the Old Market Square in the city centre, which was completed in 1929 and is now a Grade II* listed building.
In 2009 the council moved its main offices to Loxley House, a modern office building on Station Street, opposite Nottingham railway station.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 55 councillors representing 20 wards, with each ward electing two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.

Wards

The wards are:
Map No.WardCouncillors
1Aspley3
2Basford3
3Berridge3
4Bestwood3
5Bilborough3
6Bulwell Forest3
7Bulwell3
8Castle2
9Clifton East3
10Clifton West2
11Dales3
12Hyson Green & Arboretum3
13Leen Valley2
14Lenton & Wollaton East3
15Mapperley3
16Meadows2
17Radford2
18Sherwood3
19St. Ann's3
20Wollaton West3

Arms