Party leader ‘stepping back’ from role on health issues but says he will be back

THE leader of Ashfield District Council says he is temporarily “stepping back” from his highprofile role to focus on personal health issues.

But Councillor Jason Zadrozny hit back at suggestions he is to step down completely from his role at the authority, saying that may be “wishful thinking” from his political opponents.

The Ashfield Independents leader says he is concentrating on a “personal health matter” and has told councillors they should contact the council’s cabinet in the interim.

He added: “I should be back on full speed in a month or two, fingers crossed. I’m very much still leading the council.”

Councillor Zadrozny, who represents Larwood Ward, led the Ashfield Independents to victory in May 2019, when its candidates secured a commanding position on the council, taking 30 out of 35 seats.

In that election, Mr Zadrozny, pictured, himself scored a massive victory, with 993 votes, or 81 percent of votes cast.

Mr Zadrozny, 41, became the youngest council leader in the country when he became Liberal Democrat leader of the council in 2007, aged just 26.

Labour seized back power in 2009, but, after launching the Ashfield Independents party in 2015, following his suspension by the Lib Dems, Mr Zadrozny swept to power again in 2018, when the Independents secured a landslide victory. Currently, Ashfield District Council member for Larwood, he also serves on Nottinghamshire County Council as member for Ashfields.

He has represented the division since 2017, having served as member for Sutton North from 2007-2017.

He has also repeatedly stood for the Ashfield parliamentary seat.

In 2010, as a Liberal Democrat, he lost to Labour’s Gloria De Piero by just 192 votes. He stood for parliament again in 2019, finishing second behind Conservative Lee Anderson, a former Labour member of Ashfield District Council.