The Conservative Party is set to pick its East Midlands Mayor candidate "quicker" than first planned after several Labour figures came forward for the role this week. Four people have officially declared that they are seeking to be the Labour candidate for the new role, with the first elections for it due to be held next May.
Former Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping and the BBC's former Political Editor for the East Midlands, John Hess, were the first to launch their Labour campaign this week. They were soon followed by former Labour MP Claire Ward and the former deputy leader of Nottingham City Council, Adele Williams.
More names could still come forward for Labour, but the party is planning to have its candidate picked by August. The Conservatives were initially planning to have their candidate chosen by September, but one leading figure in the party now says the decision should come sooner.
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Ben Bradley, Mansfield MP and Nottinghamshire County Council's leader, said: "I think hopefully the whole process will take place through July and I'd like to think we'd get a decision before the summer. We're starting to move that process forward a bit more than perhaps we'd previously thought."
When asked about the original timeframe of having a candidate picked by September, Mr Bradley said: "Hopefully it will be quicker than that, you've seen the timings for Labour's process. I would be frustrated if we weren't working on similar timings, so hopefully that will be the case."
The mayor will head up a new East Midlands Combined Authority, which is being given significant powers in areas ranging from housing to transport by Government. The authority, being funded to the tune of £1.14 billion over 30 years, is due to be officially up and running next May and the first election for an East Midlands Mayor is also set to be held that month.
The new authority will cover the entirety of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, meaning people across both counties will be entitled to vote. People in the centre of Nottingham on Thursday (June 8) had mixed responses when asked if they had heard of the new role and what they would want to see from whoever ends up holding it.
Diane Williams, 61, said: "I'm aware that it will cover both Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and it'll be nice for the counties to be working together. The mayor will need to be representative as opposed to political when it comes to decision making."
Nathan Simmons, 34, said: "Personally, I prefer at least a Labour or potentially an independent representative. I would expect a more socialist-leaning agenda."
Immanuel Hack, 74, said: "I didn't know anything about it. But there needs to be a focus on housing, looking after rundown areas and unemployment."
Ben Bradley says he is not yet aware of who may run to be the Conservative Party's candidate and in terms of whether he will do so himself, he added: "I've started to have some early conversations with the party about what that might look like and what the requirements will be.
"Over the course of those conversations I'll make my decision. It's really interesting, it's something I'd like to do, but it has to work with everything else that I do and with family. I'm now in a position where I'm able to find out the details and the process, so when I know all of that I'll decide properly."
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