Hucknall Central by-election: Labour candidate John Wilkinson outlines his priorities and says 'there is so much to do' for winner

The Hucknall Labour Party has announced their candidate for the Hucknall Central Ward by-election next month.

John Wilkinson, a former Nottinghamshire County Councillor, will stand for the vacant seat on Ashfield District Council.

The by-election, which will take place on Wednesday 23 November, was triggered by the death of Councillor Jim Blagden who sadly passed away in July after a battle with cancer.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, Mr Wilkinson paid tribute to Mr Blagden, who was a former Labour Councillor before representing the Ashfield Independents from 2019.

"My recollections of Jim go far back before he was a Labour Councillor. I knew Jim when he was caretaker of Spring Street School and I was Chair of Governors. And I learnt very quickly that the real power behind any big organisation is invariably the caretaker, so I got on really well with Jim and have benefitted from his wicked sense of humour that really was hilarious. He was a genuine community bloke, whether it was St John's Ambulance, whether it was his friends and neighbours, whether it was other charities, Nottingham Forest, absolute community. Top bloke."

There are just over six months until the next set of District Council elections, marking the end of the four-year term of the current establishment and had there not been at least two letters from residents requesting an election the seat would have remained vacant until that time.

However, Mr Wilkinson was reluctant to criticise the Ashfield Independents for not immediately calling a by-election and agreed it was right that it was residents who had decided there would be one.

Apart from wanting Hucknall to have its full quota of elected representatives on the Council for the next few months, he was very clear on his reasons for standing.

"There's so much to do. Good work has been done on the market, once we pedestrianised it and they increased the market I'm fully supportive of that, let's drive it further, look how good the food and drink festival was!

"We've got a massive housing waiting list. We've got to pick up the mess that central government has dumped on local government across the board so there's plenty of motivation. There's just so much to do and it's got to be done and I'd much prefer it be done by someone who lives in the ward which I would be. We need someone smack bang on the ground so if people want to say something, they want something done, at least they've got someone close by to say it to."

Asked about his priorities if he was to be elected Mr Wilkinson said: "In terms of immediacy and in terms of enormity it's got to be to absolutely oppose building on the Green Belt up at Whyburn Farm and Misk Hills."

John has been a visible force against the development, attending Hucknall Against Whyburn Farm Development (HAWFD) events because he is passionate about the town's green spaces.

Although he was measured in his assessment of the Ashfield Independents' handling of the situation (as the party with control of the council) it was clear he feels more could have been done to prevent the situation occurring in the first place, pointing out the 'perfectly good' plan that was in place before they claimed a majority in 2019.

He said: "There's been a lot of finger pointing. I'm not going to criticise them for criticising the government because the government have a big role to play in this. At the end of the day when you boil it all down they were the ones that put it in the plan. They are the ones that put 3000 houses on Whyburn."

Recently the Ashfield Independents removed Whyburn Farm from the local plan despite it meaning that the plan now no longer meets the government's housing targets. Whilst there is obvious relief from many local residents and campaigners that the land has seemingly been spared there is still a huge amount of scepticism that this will be rejected by the Government.  

Of the situation, Mr Wilkinson added: "They (The Ashfield Independents) claim to be taking on the government. What my big fear is, I'm very concerned about investment zones. I'm very concerned about any central government policy that brings about a weakening of planning law that gives a stronger hand to developers because from my point of view, developers, everything is stacked in their favour as it is. So anything that reduces the power of a local community to have a say in how it wants its community to develop then I'm really nervous about. And what I'd like to see is a lot more forward planning just in case that happens."

Aside from Whyburn Farm, his other priorities are attracting businesses to Hucknall and both publicising and preserving the town's history and heritage.

"We've got to continue bringing in lots of businesses and encourage start-ups not just established businesses but get start-ups to feel comfortable about coming to Hucknall.

"We've got to do far more work on our history and heritage we've got a fantastic history society let's build on that. You can't have a present day identity if you don't realise what your history is. I worry greatly that bit by bit through no one's fault it's very easy to lose sight of your history by pushing forward too quickly."

John first moved to Hucknall over 30 years ago and was amazed at the number of community groups in the town. He also quickly realised that a lot of them didn't communicate with each other, and he believes that to an extent this hasn't overly changed. He is himself heavily involved with a number of groups such as Friends of Titchfield Park and Hucknall Heritage Society.

"These little groups are the community. For all that people get grumpy and moan and groan about what's wrong with our town, the brutal reality is if you step back and look at these little pockets you would be astonished at how community minded our town is. What we need to do as the town has grown, is make sure that the people who come in, and this is not a criticism of them, we need to make them welcome by showing them what is already here that they can take part in."

The town used to be a Labour stronghold with Paddy Tipping serving as the MP for the constituency of Sherwood, which includes Hucknall, from 1992 until 2010. In 2011, every single District Council seat in Hucknall was won by a Labour candidate. And all three Nottinghamshire County Council seats in the town went Labour's way in 2013.

However, just like a lot of traditional red wall towns nationally, more recently voters have turned to other parties. Conservative Mark Spencer was elected MP for Sherwood in 2010 and has increased his majority at every subsequent general election since then. Five of Hucknall's ten District Councillors at the last local elections in 2019, were Ashfield Independents, with just two Labour Councillors elected. And last year, in 2021, all three County Councillors elected to represent Hucknall were Ashfield Independent Councillors.

When asked about the potential lack of appetite to vote Labour in recent years, and how that could affect his chances, Mr Wilkinson was keen to stress the importance of voting on local issues not national ones.   

"Hucknall Labour is not national Labour. Hucknall Labour is what it says on the tin it is passionate about Hucknall, the things that I get involved with I get involved with as part of Hucknall Labour and the two are indivisible and that's how you judge us."

Nub News will be featuring the other candidates as they are declared.