Independent Nottinghamshire councillor announces East Midlands mayoral bid

Coun Matt Relf, Ashfield Council executive lead member for growth, regeneration and local planning, will be on the ballot paper for the regional mayor poll next year.

The Ashfield Independents member for Sutton Junction and Harlow Wood is technically the first person to officially be in the running for the role.

Labour and the Conservatives have people vying to represent the parties, but neither has yet officially selected a candidate to fight the election, which is expected to take place in May.

The mayor will be the figurehead for the region’s £1.14 billion devolution deal to bring extra funding and powers into the East Midlands.

If it goes to plan, the mayor would lead a new combined authority – made up of representatives from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire councils and business leaders – to guide the funding.

Now Coun Relf has confirmed plans to seek the mayoral position after holding office on Ashfield Council for almost five years.

He is the cabinet member responsible for economic regeneration and heavily involved in the council’s £62.6 million Towns Fund bid, the highest sum received by any authority in the country.

He was recently voted by both Tory and Labour council leaders to represent the county’s district councils on the D2N2 local enterprise board.

He also sits on the Nottinghamshire Economic Prosperity Committee, which has guided the devolution plans, and is the leader of the Independent group at East Midlands Councils.

Outside politics, the married father-of-one has been an IT businessman since 2009 and worked on projects including developing rail and sports ticketing systems.

He has family in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and says this means he understands and empathises with each corner of what he describes as the “forgotten region”.

He said: “I’m born and bred in this area, I love it and I want to see it prosper.

“The Government has decided devolution is going to happen and there are money and powers that come with it. We’d be daft not to take it.

“Is it the right choice? I’m not sure it is, but it’s coming anyway, so let’s make the best of it. I’m just interested in changing the future of this region.

“I’m already thinking in strategic terms with the work we’ve been doing here at Ashfield.

“I’ve got experience and background in business, I have a great deal of background around transport planning and we’ve done a great deal of work here around skills. These are going to be the main tenets of the combined authority.”

Labour is currently in the voting stages to decide its mayoral candidate and expects to announce the winner in August. Former BBC East Midlands politics editor John Hess; Former Sherwood MP and Nottinghamshire police and crime commissioner Paddy Tipping and Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust chairman and former Watford MP Claire Ward are hoping for the nod.

Coun Ben Bradley, Mansfield MP and Nottinghamshire Council leader, and Coun Barry Lewis, Derbyshire Council leader, are both seeking the Conservative nomination.