Future is bright for Mansfield and Ashfield, says council leader Ben Bradley as he reflects on 100 days in office

The politician, who won a Mansfield North seat on the authority by a landslide, was elected leader of the council the following day, in a move that makes him one of the busiest backbench MPs in British politics.

At the time, Mr Bradley, who has previously described himself as the ‘first blue brick in the red wall’, likened the workload of the duel role to that of shamed former Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock, before he was forced to step down over his office shenanigans with Gina Coladangelo.

But the analogy still fits, and Mr Bradley, who was first elected as Mansfield’s MP in 2017 - unseating Labour stalwart Sir Alan Meale and making him the district’s first Tory MP in a century - seems to have won the heart of voters.

Brexit may have been the driving force behind his initial election success, but other areas have also fallen into the Tory line, with Ashfield turning blue in 2019 - with Gloria De Piero stepping down before the battle, in the face of the blue tide of support for her former office manager and former miner Lee Anderson.

The county council elections saw a Tory landslide, with only Jason Zadrozny’s Ashfield Independents advancing to take every seat in the district and, elsewhere, turning Nottinghamshire blue.

Paddy Tipping was also ousted as Police and Crime Commissioner, making way for Conservative Caroline Henry, and Labour group leader Alan Rhodes, who once described Mr Anderson as “the bloke who used to do Gloria’s photocopying”, without a seat.

At the time, Mr Bradley faced criticism from opposition parties, particularly Labour, for taking on both roles, but he says that, aside from a sticky couple of weeks, representing Mansfield in Parliament and also leading the county council, has allowed him to do a better job representing the interests of the people of Mansfield, Ashfield and the rest of Nottinghamshire.

“It’s all been really positive so far,” he said, as part of an interview to mark his 100th day spinning both plates. “It was a bit of a shock to the system at first, while we got structures in place, but since then I’ve felt much more directly involved as an MP.

“I’m now delivering all of this rather than hearing about it second hand as the Member of Parliament.

“The more I think about it, the more I wonder why other MPs don’t do the same thing as well.”

Mr Bradley said that the dual role allows him to rake county council issues and put them at the doors of ministers without having to first lobby local Parliamentarians, but can also bring senior Tory Ministers into Mansfield and Ashfield, and the rest on Nottinghamshire, through his role as council leader.

Speaking about the covid recovery and how businesses are coping post-lockdown, he said that he was delighted to have visited two newly-established retail outlets in Mansfield town centre, and said that the districts’ booming logistics and distribution business growth could only help bring prosperity to the area.

With HS2 still set to come to the Nottingham outer suburb of Toton, and the Freeport development taking shape just down the road in Castle Donington, Mr Bradley said that Mansfield and Ashfield - with their central location and proximity to the M1 - were ideally placed to exploit their proximity to both and bring genuine economic boom to both districts.

He admitted that the district’s roads infrastructure was still a “work in progress” but flagged up the the multi-million pound planned improvements to the A614, which skirts Mansfield, which would see congestion easing, a fit for purpose route linking the districts to the north, and would allow for major planned residential development to move a step closer.

Ministers rubber-stamped the £24.3m cash injection which will see improvements along the A614/A6097 between Ollerton and East Bridgford.

The upgrades along the 18-mile stretch on the main north-south local route through the county would also support the construction of 1,330 new homes by boosting access to development sites, a statement issued by the Department for Transport says.

This includes 800 new homes at the Thoresby Colliery development, where the works will also support new jobs – as well as a new primary school, shops and leisure facilities and a community centre.

Mr Braley also responded to criticism made my a number of local Labour politicians - describing to Conservative’s ‘levelling-up agenda’ as a ‘soundbite’.

“It’s much more than a soundbite,” Mr Bradley said. “There’s the equivalent of £130million coming into North Nottinghamshire from the Governments Towns Fund, which is more than this area of the county has seen for many years, and this is an ideal opportunity to put money back into the hands of the people who need it the most.”

Responding to the Government’s position on the mineworkers’ pensions scheme - with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Richi Sunak currently refusing to abide by the recommendations of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee’s call for the Government to hand back millions of pounds to former mineworkers and their widows, Mr Bradley said that he was “still knocking on doors”.

Mr Bradley said that other key achievements over the past 100 days had been the introduction of the Big Nottinghamshire Survey - with the council launching its biggest ever consultation with residents, to ensure that the authority is tackling the issues that are most pressing to Mansfield and Ashfield residents, and those living throughout Nottinghamshire.

Still, there’s plenty of time, at the end of the day. Afterall, it’s only been 100 days.

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