A Hucknall Labour Councillor has hit back at claims that he voted against removing Whyburn Farm from the draft Local Plan.

Keir Morrison, who represents Hucknall South, was infuriated by the accusations which have been made by the Ashfield Independents in their by-election literature.

Residents living in Hucknall Central Ward will vote to elect a candidate to fill the late Jim Blagden's seat on Ashfield District Council later this month.

Ahead of the by-election, there has been extensive campaigning from the three parties fielding a candidate: The Ashfield Independents, Labour and Conservatives.

One of the key issues being debated is the state of Ashfield's Local Plan.

When the Ashfield Independents took control of the Council in 2019, they elected to scrap the plan that had been put in place by the previous Labour administration.

The new plan that they drew up caused huge controversy in Hucknall as part of it involved building 3000 houses on greenbelt land at Whyburn Farm.

Following nearly 8000 residents signing a petition opposing the development, the council paused the plan to try to negotiate the Government's housing targets.

Earlier this year, the Ashfield Independents then put to the planning committee a suggestion to take Whyburn Farm off the local plan, this decision was passed, meaning the development is no longer on the plan but that Ashfield now has a local plan which doesn't meet current Government housing targets.

When this decision was voted on, members of the local plan panel had four options on the table. One option was to continue with the pause, another was to submit the local plan as it was (including Whyburn Farm) for inspection.

The third option was the removal of parts of the plan in response to Government comments, while the fourth proposed a "complete rethink" of the plan.

Councillor Morrison voted for the latter because of 'concerns about other sites' in the plan not just Whyburn Farm.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service at the time, he said: "I think this affords us more flexibility, space and time to look at this again and revisit the whole plan – to rewind and go back through it.

"That's the only viable option I can see out of this. I've always been in opposition to [Whyburn Farm] right from the outset."

Speaking to Hucknall Nub News, he added: "The option I voted for was effectively a blank canvas, to start again to reset basically.

"But I did ask before voting on that option of the planning officers what that would mean for Whyburn and other sites that are currently in the plan. And they said they could not guarantee that Whyburn would not be built on with regards to all four options presented."

Within some of the by-election material, the Ashfield Independents' candidate Nick Parvin is quoted as saying: "The Ashfield Independents are on the side of local residents. Kier [sic] Morrison voted AGAINST removing Whyburn Farm from the draft local plan. Ours is the only team you can actually trust to put Hucknall first."

This comment has angered Mr Morrison immensely.

He added: "Again it's political spin and deflection but they're now dressing it up in the Hucknall Central election literature stating that I voted against removing Whyburn from the plan.

"I'm Hucknall born and bred. The way that I got into local politics originally was to stop building on Papplewick Green. I was part of the Wigwam Warriors campaign originally to try and stop that from happening so why would I sell my town down the river and start voting to destroy what little greenbelt we've got left?

"I think it smacks of desperation as well, because they're saying we stopped the council doing this, we stopped the council doing that well you are the council, you run the council. The Ashfield Independent Party, whether they like it or not, they are in charge of the council.

"It's embarrassing. They don't even know how to spell my name."

When these comments were put to the Ashfield Independents, Councillor Dave Hennigan, who represents Sutton Central and New Cross and handles media enquiries for the party said: "It was explicitly stated at the Local Plan working group meeting that voting against this option was voting against pulling Whyburn Farm out of the enforced housing plan. 

"Keir chose to ignore this and voted against it as he failed to understand the issue. His real failing however is not even bothering to object to the draft local housing plan - just like Hucknall's Conservative Councillors.

"I would like to apologise to Keir for the misspelling of his name."

The by-election will take place on Wednesday 23 November.