New Hatfield mayor pledges to get town 'back on even footing' after resignation of predecessor
Councillor James Hart, who previously served as Mayor of Hatfield around 2012, takes over from Cllr Michael ‘Mick’ Glynn
Members of Hatfield Town Council in Doncaster have appointed a new Town Mayor after its previous leader resigned last week.
Councillor James Hart, who previously served as Mayor of Hatfield around 2012, takes over from Cllr Michael ‘Mick’ Glynn, after being appointed at a council meeting on Monday, November 10, 2025.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “It’s an honour to serve as Mayor of Hatfield again and I thank my fellow councillors for supporting me.
“We’ve a lot of work to do to get our council back on an even footing and I can only apologise to residents for the recent disruption but we will get things moving in the right direction once again.”
Cllr Glynn resigned as Mayor of Hatfield on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. It ended a tumultuous few months for the council, when it struggled to retain administrative staff needed to keep the authority functioning.
In June 2025, when the Town Council had a full workforce, staff told the LDRS that colleagues were looking to leave. By August, two of the council’s three administrative employees had left.
Cllr Hart rises to lead the council from his role as deputy mayor. He was appointed as Cllr Glynn’s deputy in October, after the previous deputy mayor, Cllr Mark Broadhurst, was removed from the position.
City of Doncaster Council councillors recommended Cllr Broadhurst be removed as deputy mayor after a hearing into his online conduct.
The panel declared he was “not fit” to be Hatfield’s deputy mayor over two posts on his Facebook page which were said to be “clearly racist, islamophobic, anti-semitic and highly offensive”.
Hatfield’s new mayor, Cllr Hart, was the Conservative candidate for Mayor of Doncaster in 2021.
Now politically independent, Hart left the Conservatives in April 2024 and said he was “disappointed” in the party leadership.
In the town council meeting, members appointed Cllr Deborah Smith to be deputy mayor. She was appointed by a vote of seven to four.
Cllr Hart was made Mayor of Hatfield by a vote of six to five.