A Christmas message from the leader of Ashfield Council

This year, the cost-of-living issues are something that dominates conversation in every household.

This Christmas, many of you, like me will be mindful of putting the heating on.

This Christmas, why not think of those less fortunate if you can? Just a friendly chat, an offer of help or even donating to a food bank will make a huge difference to others.

At the start of December, we held our annual State of Ashfield debate.

We brought together community and voluntary organisations to launch the council’s 15-point plan to tackle the cost of living head on.

This includes opening up our leisure centres as ‘warm rooms’, helping those struggling to pay their Council Tax and whole raft of measures to help those struggling.

Despite the challenges, as Ashfield Council leader, we want to continue to offer a helping hand. A friend you can rely on when you need us.

Next year, sees the culmination of the council’s £22.5 million leisure centre transformation. Our three leisure centres – Hucknall, Kirkby and Lammas, in Sutton – have all seen massive improvements.

On August 6, I celebrated one of my proudest days as a councillor, the opening of the new £15.5m Kirkby Leisure Centre, complete with swimming pool.

Coun Rachel Madden, our Kirkby councillors and I were proud to open such an amazing facility. A promise made… a promise kept.

The same can be said of Hucknall, this summer – we open an extra, new swimming pool , on top of the biggest ever investment in facilities since it first opened. A promise made… a promise kept.

At Lammas, attendance figures are some of the highest ever, with a huge makeover including a TagActive Arena, improvements to the ice rink, pool and much more. A promise made… a promise kept.

It’s no wonder residents tell us we have the best council-run facilities in the East Midlands.

Like you, home is important to me at Christmas.

Unfortunately, for many across Ashfield, a decent home remains a pipe dream.

This Christmas, a family home has become a reality for 22 families on Froghopper Lane, Sutton, our newest housing development. Work has already started on a total of 34 new family homes on Warwick Close, Kirkby.

We are making huge progress across the district and have built townhouses, apartments and bungalows. We have now met our target to build the first council homes since the authority was created in 1974. There’s much work to be done, but this represents another promise made… another promise kept.

We are continuing to make enormous progress on our Town’s Fund projects. We are transforming Ashfield before your eyes. We should also find out the results of our Levelling Up Fund bid for Hucknall before Christmas. That’s what the Government have promised, but we will wait and see.

As residents will know, maintaining pride in our communities remains a huge priority.

Our Spring Clean 2022 was our biggest yet with hundreds taking advantage of our all-year-round, free bulky waste offer.

To help you this Christmas, we are letting you put an extra bag of waste on your first collection after Christmas. This will help you get rid of the extra excess packaging. We will be releasing shortly our plans for our biggest and best Spring Clean 2023. It’s no wonder councils across the country are copying our work.

We have revealed exciting plans for a new play park and other huge improvements including extending the café at Selston Country Park.

We have revealed our plans in time for Christmas and will complete the work to transform the park by spring. Improving our parks and open spaces is a huge priority for this council. Another promise made… another promise kept.

Ashfield Council is a council that delivers time and time again.

We are a friend you can rely on when you need us most, and leading Ashfield Council is the greatest honour and privilege of my life.

I am proud to be leading a council delivering first-rate services for local people.

Once again, have a great Christmas and we look forward to working with you to deliver a better Ashfield as we continue to deliver on our promises in 2023.