Labour rubbish claims council leader 'turned down' for public meeting about 3,000 homes on Hucknall green belt

The event is set for the John Godber Centre on Ogle Street in the town on Saturday, October 16 from 10 am with hundreds expected to attend and show their opposition to Whyburn Farm being pinpointed for housing.

Now the Ashfield Independents have claimed that the leader of Ashfield District Council, Coun Jason Zadrozny, has been denied the chance to speak at the meeting, leaving him ‘surprised’ by the decision.

But this is something that Hucknall Labour councillors have poured scorn on with Coun Lauren Mitchell, who represents Hucknall South, has regularly stating that this is a ‘non-political’ meeting.

And with that in mind, she has asked both the Independents and the Conservatives to send along just one Hucknall councillor from their parties to take part in the meeting.

Coun Mitchell also pointed to an email reply from Coun Zadrozny to her in which he says that him not being asked to speak was ‘not a problem’.

And she expressed her frustration at what she saw as the Independents trying to divide public opinion.

She said: “What absolute spin. I asked the Hucknall Ashfield Independents to choose one Hucknall councillor, just as we did with the Conservatives.

“I politely asked that it be a Hucknall councillor to make things fair. When I explained that to Jason, he said he completely understood where I was coming from.”

But in a statement to the Dispatch, Coun Zadrozny said: “I am the leader of Ashfield District Council, which includes Hucknall.

"I became aware of the meeting on Monday morning and was told it was non-political. I never duck difficult meetings, even though I became aware of a leaflet distributed by the Labour Party claiming it was them who had organised the meeting.

"That said, I offered to address the public meeting on behalf of the council.

"I genuinely assumed that they would snap my hand off but it appears not.”

He claimed residents “are being duped into thinking this is a non-partisan meeting” and added: "I can only assume that Coun Mitchell doesn’t want me pointing out her and the Conservatives’ direct involvement in putting the plan together.”