Ashfield councillor criticises Conservatives and Labour for not backing roads plan

At Nottinghamshire County Council’s annual budget meeting, Coun Jason Zadrozny, leader of the Ashfield Independents at the council, and also leader of Ashfield District Council, put forward the proposal to spend an extra £1 million each year for the next four years on roads in Ashfield, Broxtowe and Mansfield, which he said had suffered major under-funding since 2017.

But the proposal was defeated after the Conservatives voted against it and Labour councillors abstained.

This has led to criticism from Coun Lee Waters, Ashfield Council member for Hucknall North.

He said: “The state of the pavements and roads is the number one complaint we receive as councillors.

"Roads in and around Hucknall are some of the worst in Nottinghamshire.

"Last year, the county council spent more painting Trent Bridge than it spent on roads in Hucknall.

"This is the number one issue I receive as a councillor and we will continue to fight for more investment in our broken roads and pavements.”

Coun Zadrozny added: “I am shocked that the Conservatives voted against our plans and Labour failed to support them.

"Ashfield, Broxtowe and Mansfield have suffered chronic under-funding over the years and residents in places like Hucknall tell me that they’ve never seen our broken roads and pavements so bad.”

“Our proposals were signed off as a valid amendment by the county’s section 151 officer and the monitoring officer and would have gone some way to dealing with the unfair highways spend that we’ve talked about for years."