Nobody wants to be swallowed up by Nottingham City Council. That is the major point of agreement from the first meeting of Nottinghamshire's council leaders on plans which could see many authorities scrapped.

Uncertainty and confusion were the main emotions in December after the government laid out its ambition to remove the two-tier system of local government. One council leader now likens the situation to the grieving process, saying that politicians were initially in denial, but are now beginning to get angry.

What the plans mean in Nottinghamshire is that the lower-level councils delivering services like bin collections, authorities like Gedling and Ashfield, will disappear. The services run by these lower-level councils, of which there are seven in Nottinghamshire, will all be handled by unitary councils.

Nottingham City Council is already a........

© Nottingham Post