Council warns chief constable of legal action over scrapping of city division

Nottingham City Council has sent a letter before action to the Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police warning of a potential judicial review challenge if he presses ahead with plans to scrap the city division.

The letter from the council’s legal team highlights how, from a year after the city division was introduced to now, crimes had fallen from 75,000 to 30,000.

The city council said this success was “in large part down to geographically-focused policing, a Divisional Commander for the city and closer working with the council – arrangements which have received national recognition”.

Under the Neighbourhood Policing model, council officers work alongside police officers.

Nottingham City Council said outgoing Chief Constable Chris Eyre had taken the decision to axe the division without giving the local authority any opportunity to comment on the re-design of local policing which would affect its residents.

The council added that it believed that “the move flies in the face of assurances that were provided about no changes to the policing structure in Nottingham being taken before the summer”.

The letter before action, which has also been sent to the Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire, stated: “The unilateral action taken without due consultation and without engaging with partners inevitably undermines the council’s confidence in a Chief Constable and his team that state in clear terms one thing to partners and then do something completely different, contrary to those terms. The unlawful failings are damaging to the partnership relationship and to the collaboration that would best serve the interests of the public and the taxpayers.”

The letter said the Chief Constable’s failure to consult had breached a legitimate expectation to consult before taking a final decision as well as a statutory duty to take account of the impact the move might have on particular groups of people.

In the letter the council called for the decision to be reversed and for proper consideration and consultation to be undertaken before any changes were made.

Replies are sought from Chief Constable Eyre and PCC Paddy Tipping by June 23.

Cllr Nicola Heaton, Portfolio Holder for Community Services at Nottingham City Council, said: “In our view, doing away with the city division is a significant, strategic change in the way Nottingham is policed which goes beyond the operational decisions that a Chief Constable can take on their own. We feel this is a retrograde step which could have a damaging effect on city policing which we have been playing an increasing and effective part in over the last decade.

“Given that we and others had voiced concerns about such a move, and that we had been given reassurances that no action was going to be taken immediately before consultation was undertaken, as well as the likely impact it will have on the safe running of the city, we believe there are grounds for a judicial review of the Chief Constable’s decision.

“There are duties which the Chief Constable must perform which we believe have been overlooked in taking this decision, and as a council we also have duties to perform which we feel we can’t properly carry out when we are left in the dark about such decisions.”