Nottingham City Council leader to step down
The under-fire leader of Nottingham City Council, David Mellen, will not stand for re-election this year.
Mellen informed his Labour councillor colleagues of the decision during an online meeting of the 50 Labour members who control Nottingham City Council on Monday evening (March 11), according to reports from Nottinghamshire Live.
His decision does not bar him from standing as a councillor for his Dales ward if and when he does stand down.
Mellen took over as leader from Jon Collins in 2019 and has been a councillor since 2007. A former teacher and headteacher, he started teaching at the former Jesse Boot school in Bakersfield.
A statement confirming the news is expected on Tuesday, says Nottinghamshire Live.
The move comes at the end of a tumultuous year for Nottingham City Council. Last Monday, councillors voted through huge budget cuts at a tense meeting that lasted over seven hours.
Cuts will be made to jobs, social care, community and cultural organisations and youth services. More libraries look set to close in the city and council tax will rise by almost 5%.
Last month, The Government has announced that commissioners are to be appointed at the council.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) confirmed that the Secretary of State Michael Gove, after considering representations and all other developments since his ‘minded to’ proposals, has decided to appoint commissioners for the council.
The council has a £23m overspend in 2023/24 and had requested Exceptional Financial Support from government in the form of capitalisation which would have allowed the council to use capital receipts from asset sales to meet ongoing revenue costs as a short term measure.
