Lee Anderson MP: Ashfield District Council must be placed into special measures

This week I asked Andy Burnham during Prime Ministers' Questions if he would send in the Government commissioners to Ashfield District Council.

The Prime Minister confirmed that the Government is monitoring Ashfield District Council, which is a step forward.

But, more importantly, Burnham also agreed to a meeting between myself and the Secretary of State for Local Government, Angela Rayner, to discuss concerns regarding the authority.

The meeting has been scheduled, and I have a dossier of issues to raise with the Secretary of State.

Ashfield District Council must be placed into special measures. For me, that is non-negotiable.

Far too many scandals have come to light, raising serious questions about how the council is being run. Also, It is almost inconceivable that we have criminals in positions of power on our council, and yet there is no mechanism to remove them until next May's local elections.

Ashfield cannot wait until next May. The Government must send in commissioners now to find out what on earth is going on.

Keep an eye on my Facebook page for an update on the meeting.

This week, former Ashfield Independent Councillors that quit the party have now formed a new political group on Ashfield District Council.

The new group of ten ex-Ashfield Independent Councillors have named themselves 'District Alliance' and they are being led by Hucknall Councillor Dave Shaw.

This also means that the new District Alliance group has replaced the Reform UK group as the official opposition on the authority.

In effect, this means that the Ashfield Independent administration is now being scrutinised by rebranded Ashfield Independent Councillors.

Let me be absolutely clear, however they try to dress it up, these are the same clowns just with different makeup.

These former Ashfield Independents are trying to gaslight the public with a rebrand and they think residents are too stupid to see through it.

We look forward to residents sacking them at the ballot box along with the rest of the Ashfield Independents next May.

The Government have backed down on Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) this week thanks to legal action from Reform-led Nottinghamshire County Council.

LGR is a process Government is trying to implement involving the abolition of two-tier council structures, such as what we have with Ashfield District Council and Nottinghamshire County Council, and replacing them with new single-tier councils.

In the summer, the Government chose to proceed with Labour-led Nottingham City Council's preferred LGR option of ripping up our communities with an expanded city boundary.

The Reform administration at Nottinghamshire County Council applied for a judicial review to challenge this decision, and thanks to that pressure, the Government has backed down and reversed the decision.

This is a victory for residents who never asked for LGR, and it shows what a Reform UK-led council can do.