Who is standing for election in Kirkby South?

All seats at Nottinghamshire County Council are up for election on Thursday, May 4.

The council is currently made of 67 councillors, across 54 divisions.

Although officially under No Overall Control, it is led by the Labour Party, who hold 32 seats, ahead of the Tories with 21. There are also five Liberal Democrat councillors, four Ashfield Independents and two Mansfield Independent Forum members and three Independents.

After the election, 66 councillors will represent 55 divisions.

Voters in Kirkby South division will elect one councillor to represent them. We asked all candidates to submit some information about themselves.

Donna Gilbert (Lab)

Donna was born and raised in Kirkby, daughter to Roger and Jill. Donna cares deeply about adult social care, after Governments cuts to funding have resulted in home visits cut to her 94-year-old blind grandmother – the family have had to make arrangements for her to leave her home of 70 years. Donna believes social care should be a priority to ensure families are not left alone when making arrangements for care for family members. Donna has already had success helping families and is working on a further 20 issues in the ward. One of these issues is bringing forward the extension of the tram to Mansfield, with a tram stop at Annesley Business Park.

Mark Harrison (Ind)

Rachel Madden (AIWAYR)

Rachel Madden is the longest–serving councillor in Ashfield, being first elected in 1999. She has been re-elected every time, because she has a reputation for hard work and getting things done. She says: “I’m proud to have fought for change locally. Things people want to see like the improvements to our local parks, or our huge fight to stop the Bentinck Landfill and now the fight to stop Labour bulldozing our green spaces. After leaving school I joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service, after I joined the Civil Service. This gave me experience of how local services were provided, giving me a passion to get a better deal for our area. As someone who values our rural aspect in Kirkby and Annesley I was proud to stand up and vote against the Bentinck Landfill plans. More recently I voted against fracking in Nottinghamshire and Ashfield Independents are firmly against the development plans for 900 houses at Mowlands.”

Gabriella Wright (UKIP)

I am a married mother-of-two and live in Kirkby. As the daughter of an Italian immigrant I do not have an issue with immigration, I have an issue with uncontrolled immigration. I joined UKIP because the amount of uncontrolled immigration is putting a strain on resources resulting in issues with NHS funding, lack of school places, housing and overcrowded roads. UKIP is the only party interested in controlling immigration into the UK. UKIP wants to put British people first. As a UKIP councillor, I can put the interests of Kirkby South first. The established parties are controlled and must vote as their party demands. UKIP is different because it is the party for the people and not the establishment. UKIP is more than BREXIT. On May 4, use your vote to make a change, make your vote matter.

Key

AIWAYR – Ashfield Independents Working All Year Round;

Ind – Independent;

Lab – The Labour Party;

UKIP – UK Independence Party.