Photo: Ash speaking to Sky News about the 2024 Conservative leadership election results
Ash was born and grew up in Kettering and he was state-educated locally before being the first in his family to go on to university.
Passionate about serving and improving our local community, he takes a pro-active and ‘problem solving’ approach when helping local residents to resolve their issues and has had the privilege of serving as a local councillor for over a decade.
During his time as a local councillor, Ash has prioritised delivering a cleaner community by organising numerous litter picks over the years and taking a zero-tolerance approach towards fly-tipping and graffiti. He has prioritised delivering a safer community by working closely with Northamptonshire Police partners and our Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner to keep local crime matters high on the agenda. And he has worked closely with fellow Conservative councillors to promote a strong local economy and deliver good value for local taxpayers - not least the 10-year freeze of Kettering Borough Council’s council tax between 2011-2021.
Ash has also been proud to serve as the Chair of Kettering Borough Council’s Planning Committee. In this role, he worked hard to ensure that local planning decisions enhanced our community and maintained high design & build standards which respected our environment and local architectural heritage.
In June 2021, Ash joined Rothwell Town Council and is working to deliver the Plan for Rothwell as part of a strong team.
Ash is proud to support a wide range of local community organisations, including:
- Brambleside Community Association
- Maplefields Community Centre
- Friends of Rockingham Road Pleasure Park
- The Kettering-Lahnstein Twinning Association
- Kettering Carnival Committee
- Rothwell Town App, Rothwell newsletter and various Rothwell groups and organisations
In his day job Ash has worked across a wide range of roles and sectors, presently working in public affairs and communications. In his spare time, Ash enjoys travel, music and visiting food and drink festivals.
He has volunteered as a Presenter at KGH Radio and previously served as a Trustee of the charity. In this role he worked with fellow Trustees and Kettering General Hospital Trust management to secure a brand new radio studio which now broadcasts daily to patients and the wider community.
Ash has also served as a Director of the Maplefields Community Centre campaign which has partnered with Kettering Town FC to secure a new community centre in the north of Kettering.
Politically, Ash has been a Conservative Party activist for over 11 years and has campaigned in countless election (and peacetime!) campaigns. Between 2020 and 2025 he served as the Deputy Chairman Political and election agent of the Kettering Constituency Conservative Association which was recognised by the Party Chairman for being consistently one of the top five associations nationally for campaign activity.