Nottinghamshire County Council votes in new leader
Councillor Sam Smith has been elected as the new leader of Nottinghamshire County Council.
He was officially confirmed following a vote at Thursday’s Full Council at County Hall.
Smith, who represents Newark East and was previously Cabinet Member for Education and SEND, replaces Ben Bradley who has stepped down for “family and personal reasons”. Bradley is in the running to be the Tory candidate for the Greater Lincolnshire Mayor Elections – to be held next May.
The new leader said he was “honoured and privileged” to be elected and has spoken about his priorities for Nottinghamshire residents.
He said: “I am absolutely delighted to be elected leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, and I am looking forward to working tirelessly to deliver on key priorities for people across the county.”
Smith highlighted the county council’s “great” record of delivering services and spoke of the “challenging” outlook facing all local authorities.
He said: “One of my first priorities will be balancing the budget in February 2025 and we have an excellent record in delivering well-run, efficient services while keeping Council Tax low.
“I am proud that we are one of a few local authorities that have not closed a single library, maintained a thriving youth service and have expanded rural bus services with our Nottsbus OnDemand.
“We have invested more than £100 million in our capital programme and have ploughed millions of pounds into improving our roads, as well as delivering on our commitment to build schools and improve the standards of education across the county.”
Smith will announce his successor as Cabinet Member for Education and SEND in the coming days.
The new leader said he will also be a loud voice for a fair Local Government Settlement, due to be announced on 23 December, through his work with the County Councils Network, Local Government Association and the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA).
Cllr Smith said: “As a board member on EMCCA, I will be banging the drum for Nottinghamshire on transport, infrastructure, skills and investment funding for and I look forward to working closer with the Mayor in these key areas.
“There are projects like STEP Fusion in Bassetlaw, which will provide thousands of highly skilled jobs for Nottinghamshire residents, including hundreds of apprenticeships for young people.
“Key infrastructure projects require the backing of the Mayor and our local MPs and I will be knocking on their doors regularly to fly the flag for funding across Nottinghamshire.
“For me it’s about delivery, delivery, delivery for Nottinghamshire residents as part of our ongoing drive to make our county a great place to live, work and visit.
“I hope I can maintain our proud record on the building and maintenance of schools, transport improvements, maintaining our library network and our fantastic youth service.”
