Four ways the county council will change with Reform now in charge

PARTY HAS BEEN GRABBING HEADLINES WITH SOME OF ITS PROMISES

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE’S new Reform UK councillors have made “cutting the waste” their key promise as they take charge of the county council. The party achieved well over the 34 councillors needed to run Nottinghamshire’s _ biggest council following last week’s election. It means Nigel Farage’s party will have sole control of the authority for the next four years.

The party had been grabbing headlines throughout the election campaign with some of its promises, with Mr Farage arriving at their Birmingham conference on a digger to highlight their pledge to fix roads.

At Nottinghamshire County Hall on Friday after Reforms victory was secured, three of the party's councillors explained that their priorities will not change, but they will approach things differently.

Dr John Doddy, the only Reform councillor on Nottinghamshire County Council before Thursday's election, said: “I think that the simple fact is that the priorities haven’t changed. What's going to change is how we deal with the priorities.

“Everybody knows that the place is full of potholes, but they're not happy with the way they're being repaired.

“Everybody knows we've got tremendous challenges with special educational needs and disabilities, but they're not happy with the speed at which we deal with autism.

“They're not happy with how we deal with the attention deficit disorders.

“These problems are legion, but they're not new. What we're bringing is a new way of dealing with these problems and that’s what we've been asked to do.”

So how will Reform change Nottinghamshire County Council in an effort, as they see it, to work on the same issues but deliver better results?

'CUT THE WASTE'

Nigel Farage has doubled down in media interviews since Thursday's election on the need to “cut waste” at councils across the country.