Three Sherwood residents have launched their campaign to be elected as city councillors by pledging to give away 20% of their pay if they win. Councillors receive member allowances for their work and Nottingham City Council recently voted for this to increase from April.
But three Nottingham Independent candidates say they would campaign to cut this allowance instead and bring it in line with the national state pension. Candidates are currently being selected for all political parties contesting local elections being held across the country on May 4.
The full list of candidates contesting all 55 of the seats available on Nottingham City Council is set to be published on April 5, but some are already publicly launching their campaign. An event was held at The Crafty Teller pub on Mansfield Road in Sherwood on Friday (March 17), where three people announced they would stand for the Nottingham Independents in Sherwood.
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The Nottingham Independents currently have three councillors on Nottingham City Council, but the party did not put up candidates in Sherwood at the last election in 2019. That will change this year, with Sherwood ward residents Colin Barratt, Aimee Scrimshaw and Rebecca Green standing for the party.
Speaking at their campaign launch on Friday, Colin Barratt said: "For 30 years, the same political party has been in power in Nottingham and over those 30 years, a system has developed where the people that we elect go to the Council House receive their instructions and then come back and tell us how things are going to be.
"It's this way of doing things that has led to financial mismanagement, closure or threats of closure of vital community facilities like libraries and community centres, to fiascos like Robin Hood Energy and the farce of £30 million spent on Nottingham Castle, which closed after 18 months.
"Even with this, our councillors intend to give themselves a 7% pay rise next year. One of our key campaign pledges is that we, if elected, will not take that pay rise.
"We'll in fact be campaigning for a 20% reduction in council allowances to bring it in line with the national state pension. These kinds of things are what happen when you do local politics the wrong way round."
Mr Barratt mentioned the future of Mansfield Road, crime and fly-tipping as being among the key issues in Sherwood. But in terms of the election more broadly, he added: "Over the last 50 years, turnouts in local elections in Sherwood have gone down from figures that were regularly over 50%, and sometimes as high as 70%, to the last city council election in Sherwood where the turnout was just 22%.
"That really is the hidden crisis in this election." Sherwood is a ward represented by three councillors, with all three seats currently being held by Labour members.
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