David Mellen inherited a poisoned chalice... what’s in store for his successor?
IF David Mellen inherited a poisoned chalice when becoming Nottingham City Council’s leader, then the English language is inadequate to describe what he is passing on to his successor.
Jon Collins had dominated the city’s politics for 16 years when stepping down in 2019, as the warning lights began to flash on Robin Hood Energy’s dashboard.
The failure of that company, and the later discovery of illegally spent housing money, certainly gave Councillor Mellen more than enough crisis management training in the early part of his administration. Yet those crises would have provided nowhere near enough preparation for the calamitous end of Councillor Mellen’s time in office.
There have been successes, like the reopening of Nottingham Castle, and progress being made towards Nottingham becoming the country’s first carbon neutral city.
But when looking at what has gone wrong though, there is no wonder that Councillor Mellen is exiting stage left.
Having first arrived in Nottingham at the age of 18 and having taught generations of the city’s children for decades, 59-year-old Councillor Mellen has clearly found his responsibilities increasingly painful to bear. The council leader was on the verge of tears as he spoke at the recent budget meeting about what the package of multi-million-pound cuts approved would do to his home city.
When Councillor Mellen described the last five years as the hardest thing he has ever done, it was undoubtedly the last six months that were chief among his thoughts. After officially stepping down in early May, Councillor Mellen will be handing over a council under the thumb of Government commissioners and facing tight controls on its spending until at least 2025.
If this year’s budget was a difficult one for councillors to approve, the coming years do not look set to be any easier. Multi-million-pound shortfalls still face Nottingham and, with commissioners in place, some very tough calls are inevitable.
It therefore seems surprising that anyone would be interested in this job, yet I’ve heard of at least three serious candidates who may be putting their name forward at Nottingham Labour’s annual meeting on April 15. Whoever takes on the mantle, it will be interesting to see what their longevity turns out to be.
The end of David Mellen’s time in office means Nottingham City Council has only had two leaders in the last 20 years. The challenges ahead mean we could be heading back to the days when Nottingham’s leaders only managed a year or two.
Although Labour is set to remain in power until the next local elections in 2027, it meets every year to agree its leadership team for the coming 12 months. One Labour source says Nottingham Labour is focused on the cacophony of crises facing the city, rather than who their leader is.
It is to be hoped that this claim is borne out by reality over the coming years, because the last thing Nottingham needs from its city council is a party focused on factionalism and infighting. We’ve got more than enough of that from the Government in Westminster.
The clichéd saying is that with great power comes great responsibility. Whoever takes on Nottingham City Council won’t actually have that much power given that commissioners are in place, but the responsibilities will be enormous.