Ashfield Independents leader wants to 'finish the job' after landslide election success

Coun Jason Zadrozny-Bland (Ash Ind) saw his party win 32 of the 35 seats.

He said: “We put ourselves in front of the people of Ashfield to show them what we’ve delivered.

“Thankfully they have trusted us for another four years to finish that job so I’m delighted.

“It’ll be more of the same, we’ve got the £70 million secured for town centre regeneration and now we’re delivering that.”

On the people who did not vote for the party and potential disillusionment with the group over the past four years, he added: “Whoever people voted for the Ashfield Independents will continue to work hard for you.

“I appreciate national politics has got involved, plus a lot of mudslinging, but we will work really hard to regain those people’s trust and prove to them that we are the best alternative for politics.”

But former Labour council leader Cheryl Butler, who lost in her bid to be re-elected in Kirkby Cross and Portland, said there were positives to take from the results.

Her party secured dozens of gains nationally but she said the local circumstances of facing the Ashfield Independents dented Labour’s chances of winning in the district.

She said “It’s great that Labour have done well nationally, but we’re quite unique locally.

“This evening has shown Labour can actually gain votes, we’ve increased votes in many areas and come close in many wards, having some recounts and winning a seat.

“It’s about where we are, where we were, and we’re certainly on the up.

“Without the Ashfield Independents it would have been the two proper parties, the real parties out there and there would have been a very much different council.

“We have another four years until the next district election, but we’ve got the general election coming up.

“It’s about going back and looking at the figures, the wards and where we did well, and regrouping to get out there and put out a positive message.

“Honesty, integrity and transparency are what we’ve been out there telling the electorate about, we just need to speak to more people.”