For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Simon Stevens and I’ve taken over from former Managing Director Emma Alexander. I’ve previously served as the council’s Executive Director for Adult Social Care and Health since 2023 and have worked for the authority for 17 years.
I look forward to working with all colleagues – new and old – in my new role and hope to meet more of you in the coming weeks.
I wanted to update you on a really important subject that is going to impact us all one way or another over the next few years – local government reorganisation.
As you may know, government has asked the council to look at ways to combine existing councils in Derby and Derbyshire into a smaller number of unitary councils which look after all services for their area, from social care, education, roads and children’s services to bin collections, housing, parks and leisure.
All of the evidence now available and the analysis we’ve carried out suggests that creating a single unitary council covering the whole of Derby and Derbyshire is in the best interests of all residents and businesses in the area.
And this is what we’ll be asking councillors to consider as our preferred option for local government reorganisation at a Full Council meeting on 13 November. This will be followed by a Cabinet meeting on 27 November to formally approve the final version of the proposal to be sent to government.
It follows extensive public and stakeholder engagement over the summer on options for splitting Derby and Derbyshire into two councils – one for the north and one for the south.
Feedback received showed there was significant concern among residents, businesses and other organisations about splitting the county into more than one authority and more people were opposed to these options than in favour.
Detailed and independent expert analysis showed that a single unitary council for the whole area would save the most money compared to the options we assessed for creating 2 councils – and would have less set-up costs. One council would unite Derbyshire and retain the area’s strong spirit and identity. And it would be less disruptive as there would be no need to split major county council services with high demand and costs such as adult social care, children’s social care, highways and transport, public health, and waste disposal.
You can find out more about our proposal and local government reorganisation. You can also find information about what this means for you in your work role.
But I appreciate you may have questions that you want to ask about the proposals and the process too, so I’d like to invite you to join me on a call on Thursday 20 November from 1pm to 2pm to find out more. Look out for more details coming soon.
Local government reorganisation is complex and I know it’s an uncertain time, but I promise that no matter what the government decides about the future of Derby and Derbyshire, we will support you and keep you informed every step of the way.