Ashfield council welcomes £114,000 boost for Sutton and Kirkby town centres

The new £56 million fund is designed to help councils attract people back to town centres after lockdown by providing things like more outdoor seating areas, markets and food stall pop-ups.

The funding allocated for Ashfield is on top of the £114,000 the council received in June last year from the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund.

Coun Jason Zadrozny, leader of Ashfield District Council, said “This money will be used to build on that work and develop new ideas to attract visitors including pop-up food markets.”

Ashfield has also been selected as one of 70 local authorities across the country to benefit from High Streets Task Force support.

Experts will work with local leaders from government, business, and the community to recognise any issues and make recommendations to ensure a positive change to our high streets.

“The task force will bring expert input, training and support that will be used to further develop our plans for the town centres,” Coun Zadrozny said.

"We already have fantastic plans in place for Kirkby and Sutton with funding from the Future High Streets Fund and Accelerated Towns Fund already in place.

"Projects including the new Kirkby Indoor Market are already underway and in the next few weeks we will know the outcome of our £62m bid to the Towns Fund.

"We are currently exploring opportunities for funding for projects to support Hucknall town centre.”

If you have any ideas, contact the council at [email protected].

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