COLUMN: Thanks for support

It’s a huge honour to be given this opportunity and I’m so grateful that so many people put their faith in me. I will not let you down and I’ll do what I promised – I’ll go and shout about Mansfield in Parliament, and I’ll work with anyone locally who wants to make our area better.

Whether you voted for me or not, my office (when it’s set up) will be there to support you for as long as you will have me.

I’m writing now almost two weeks after the election, after an incredible time getting to grips with Parliament and trying to get my feet under the table, and hopefully things will start to come together over the coming days. It’s all been a bit surreal, but I’m in the process now of hiring staff and organising an office in the town centre so as soon as I have contact details and opening hours I will share them with everyone. For now you can reach me on [email protected] or on my Facebook page, Facebook.com/benbradleymansfield. I’d encourage you to ‘like’ that page, as I’m already updating it regularly with what I’m up to so you can keep track and hold me to account.

I want to spend these early weeks getting to grips with some key issues and meeting those people who are responsible for so much that goes on locally. I need to build bridges with the Mayor and local councils, our local police, schools, colleges, health services and so much more besides. There are no quick fixes or easy solutions, but I am optimistic for the future.

As I said in the campaign Mansfield has so much potential. It’s about time we started to fulfil that potential and to make our district the centre of local growth and regeneration it deserves to be.