By Andrew Topping, Local Democracy Reporter
The Ashfield Independents have secured another landslide victory at Ashfield District Council after comfortably picking up a majority in the local elections.
The political group, led by Cllr Jason Zadrozny, secured enough seats to take over the authority for another four years during vote counting at Kirkby Leisure Centre in the early hours of Friday (May 5).
The count began with a concerning result for the party as former deputy leader and cabinet member David Martin (Ash Ind) fell to Conservative candidate Dawn Justice in Underwood.
Labour also picked up a gain in Carsic, taking the seat from the Ashfield Independents after Cathy Mason was successfully elected.
However, the mood changed as more counts began to feed in and the group went on to secure the necessary seats to form a majority slightly before 6am.
The majority was confirmed when Tom Hollis, who last year was convicted in court for careless driving and harassment offences, retained his Huthwaite and Brierley seat alongside new councillor Paul Grafton (Ash Ind).
The group also made gains in Hucknall by securing all seats in Hucknall South, Central and North, with two gains from the Tories in Hucknall West.
Phil Rostance (Con) secured his return to the chamber as the only Tory in Hucknall West, with the group dropping two councillors in a close vote.
Speaking after the election victory was confirmed, Ashfield Independents leader Jason Zadrozny told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I’m absolutely delighted. People will be waking up to see Labour having a fantastic day across the country but not in Ashfield.
“We’ve done local, community politics and the residents of Ashfield have returned us for another four years. I’m really delighted.”
Cheryl Butler, a Labour council leader until 2018, reacted to her party’s election results in the area by saying she feared a lot of the results were down to “apathy”.
She said: “In some of the wards, turnout was down to 25 per cent – how do we get people out to vote in these elections?
“Labour has done really well nationally and I think for us it’s about some of the vote percentage gains we have made.
“Ashfield is unique with the Ashfield Independents. I think if it was just the two traditional main parties fighting out here, it would have been a different story.”
Full results from all the wards are expected shortly.
