Myths and myth busting

Examples of myths include:

• that councils in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire will merge and individual councils will cease to exist, to be replaced by a ‘super council’.
• That the creation of a new East Midlands Mayoral Combined Authority would inevitably lead to a rise in Council Tax to fund it.
• That devolution plans involve taking powers from existing local councils and giving them to the new East Midlands Mayoral Combined Authority.

None of the above is true. Responses to each are included in the FAQs and also below:

• What would happen to existing local councils in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire? Will they be merged, so they no longer exist? We are not talking about merging councils together. If the devolution deal is successful, all local councils in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire - including Nottingham City and Derby City – will continue to exist, as they do now.

• Will this mean a rise in Council Tax? Haven’t the four main councils involved in this asked for powers to raise money through more Council Tax in their bid? In our initial bid to the government, we have asked for everything that is potentially on offer, as we don’t want to rule anything out at this early stage. We have included the power to raise money through Council Tax because it might be used at some point in the future. Of the nine existing mayoral combined authorities, eight have this power, but only two have ever actually used it. So, this is a possible option, not a foregone conclusion.

• What powers would councils lose if they became part of a combined authority? None. This is about central government devolving powers to the region, not individual councils giving up power to the region. Local councils will continue to make the decisions over local issues.