By Andrew Topping, Local Democracy Reporter
Ashfield District Council has confirmed the full list of candidates standing for election in the whole-council poll next month.
Voters will return to polling stations on May 4 to elect 35 new councillors for the next four years.
In total, 106 candidates have been nominated to contest the election across 23 council wards.
Some wards will elect just one councillor while others will vote for two or three people to represent them.
In the 2019 election, the Ashfield Independents won 30 out of a possible 35 seats in the chamber and secured overall majority control of the council.
This came after the group had taken over the council a year earlier when a vote of no confidence ousted the previous Labour administration in 2018.
This followed two former Labour councillors – Lee Anderson, now Ashfield’s Conservative MP, and Cllr Chris Baron – both defecting to the Tories.
Six more former Labour councillors left the party to become independents as the Labour Group was removed from power a year before the election.
The 2019 poll then saw the Conservatives win three seats – all in Hucknall West – while Labour returned just two Hucknall South councillors, down from 22 in total in 2015.
Turnout in the 2019 election was 38 per cent.
The full 2023 Ashfield District Council election will take place on Thursday, May 4, with polling stations open from 7am until 10pm.
Votes will be counted overnight at the new Kirkby Leisure Centre.
Notable candidates include Cllr Tom Hollis standing again in Huthwaite and Brierley six months after being sentenced in court.
The cabinet member and former deputy leader was found guilty of harassment without violence and careless driving during two trials at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court in September.
He said at the time he would take some time to think about whether to stand again but has been confirmed as an Ashfield Independent candidate for May 4.
Below is a list of all candidates standing in each Ashfield ward, listed in alphabetical surname order.
The bracket is the number of council seats being elected.
Abbey Hill Ward (1)
Andrew Victor Meakin – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Pat Rogerson – Conservatives
Sean Andrew White – Labour Party
Annesley & Kirkby Woodhouse (2)
Jamie David Bell – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Simon John Edward Bishop – Labour Party
Donna Samantha Jane Gilbert – Labour Party
Anthony Thomas Hunt – Trade Union and Socialist Coalition
Rachel Elisabeth Madden – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Richard Anthony Portas – Conservatives
Dale Saddington – Conservatives
Ashfields (1)
Sam Ansell – Conservatives
David Thomas Walters – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Margaret Ann Wilson – Labour Party
Carsic (1)
Derrick Etches – N/A
Tony Johnson – Conservatives
Cathy Mason – Labour Party
Joel Martyn Meakin – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Greenwood & Summit (2)
Enid Bakewell – Labour Party
Linford Martyn Gibbons – Labour Party
Christoper John Huskinson – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Warren Thomas Nuttall – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Lee Scothern – Conservatives
Simon Wright – Conservatives
Hucknall Central (2)
Ria Cash – Labour Party
James Alan Harvey – Liberal Democrats
Jaimie McPherson – The Conservative Party Candidate
Nick Parvin – Ashfield Independents Putting Hucknall First
Lee Waters – Ashfield Independents Putting Hucknall First
John Hartley Wilkinson – Labour Party
Hucknall North (3)
Patrick Stephen Ayres – Labour Party
Anna Ellis – Ashfield Independents Putting Hucknall First
Martin Alan Howes – Liberal Democrats
Gordon Kenneth Mann – Ashfield Independents Putting Hucknall First
Kevin Alan Stevenson – Liberal Democrats
David Kenneth Warwick – Labour Party
John Morton Anthony Wilmott – Ashfield Independents Putting Hucknall First
Lewis Jake Wright – The Conservative Party Candidate
Steve Wright – The Conservative Party Candidate
Hucknall South (2)
Stuart Bell – Labour Party
Oliver John Hay – Ashfield Independents Putting Hucknall First
Trevor Charles Locke – Ashfield Independents Putting Hucknall First
Dave Randall – The Conservative Party Candidate
Hucknall West (3)
Ian John Briggs – Ashfield Independents Putting Hucknall First
Paul Craddock – Ashfield Independents Putting Hucknall First
Jan Lees – The Conservative Party Candidate
Andrew James Alexander Meikle – Breakthrough Party
Kevin Thomas Rostance – The Conservative Party Candidate
Phil Rostance – The Conservative Party Candidate
David Paul Shaw – Ashfield Independents Putting Hucknall First
Richard Speight – Labour Party
Huthwaite & Brierley (2)
Paul Ernest Grafton – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Tom Hollis – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
John Anthony Howlett – Conservatives
Stefan Lamb – Labour Party
Jane Anne Lilliman – Labour Party
Graham Lynk – Conservatives
Jacksdale & Westwood (1)
Chris Baron – Conservatives
Julie Anne Dawn Gregory – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Christopher Varnam – Labour Party
Kingsway (1)
Darren Clay – Conservatives
Dale Anthony Grounds – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Clare Marie West – Labour Party
Kirkby Cross & Portland (1)
Cheryl Butler – Labour Party
Sam Howlett – Conservatives
Sarah Jane Lewsey – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Larwood (1)
Adam Neville Bright – Labour Party
Jack Stuart Middleton – Conservatives
Jason Bernard Zadrozny – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Leamington (1)
Sarah Jayne Madigan – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Stuart Phillip Peach – Conservatives
Ruth Stevens – Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Kerry Anne Thornton – Labour Party
Selston (2)
Mark Joseph Bradshaw – Conservatives
Rob Brooks – Labour Party
Cam Felton – Conservatives
Colleen Flint – Labour Party
Andy Gascoyne – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Arnie Hankin – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Skegby (2)
Michael Charles Barber – Labour Party
Will Bostock – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Keith Broughton – Conservatives
Jodine Ocean Cronshaw – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Roman Gasecki – Conservatives
George Watson – Labour Party
Stanton Hill & Teversal (1)
Lee Haywood – Labour Party
Bill Rogerson – Conservatives
Helen-Ann Smith – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Sutton Central & New Cross (2)
Samantha Kay Deakin – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Max Patrick Everett – Labour Party
Vicki Heslop – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Shinto Mathew – Conservatives
Margaret Betty Renshaw – Labour Party
Lea Sharpe – Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Karen Jayne Shaw – Conservatives
Sutton Junction & Harlow Wood (1)
Marcus James Everett – Labour Party
Mitch Mitchell – Conservatives
Matthew James Relf – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Sutton St Mary’s (1)
Kier Barsby – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Christopher Barton-Hanson – Conservatives
Rebekkah Paige Sisson – Labour Party
The Dales (1)
Jackie Barber – Labour Party
Angela Louise Bentley – Conservatives
John Frederick Smallridge – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Underwood (1)
Dawn Justice – Conservatives
David Bernard Martin – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round
Sebastian Lawrence Wilson – Labour Party
