Have your say on how the council should spend £19.5million in Kirkby

Ashfield District Council are running a three-week consultation to determine how the £19.5million Kirkby Long-term Plan will be spent in Kirkby.

Kirkby in Ashfield was chosen to receive £19.5million over the next 10 years as part of the government’s Long-term Plan for Towns Fund that was announced in 2023. The funding covers a range of projects and initiatives that fall under three key themes:

• Safety and security – examples include new and improved security infrastructure, such as CCTV and streetlights, additional hotspot policing, and local authority wardens

• High streets, heritage, and regeneration - examples include: preserving and improving heritage sites in the town, creating, and maintaining parks and green spaces, establishing Business Improvement Districts, and running high street rental auctions.

• Transport and connectivity – examples include road improvements, such as improving congested junctions, new programmes to encourage cycling, and making the town centre more walkable and accessible.

The Council is now seeking the views of people who live, work, or visit Kirkby on what kind of projects they would like to see the money spent on to improve the town.

The consultation is running until 2 June and everyone that completes the questionnaire will be entered into the prize draw to win £150. The Council is also offering £100 for whoever comes up with the best idea for each of the three categories – ideas must be submitted via the consultation to count and the best ideas will be chosen by the Kirkby Town Board.

Cllr Jason Zadrozny, Leader of Ashfield District Council said “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Council to work with residents, businesses and workers in Kirkby to implement real transformational change. We haven’t decided how we are spending this money so we genuinely want to hear people’s ideas.

“In Kirkby we are already investing over £22m through the Town Deal focusing on the areas around the train station and the Plaza that will have a huge impact on the town. The Kirkby Long-term Plan is another chance for us to build on these projects to change Kirkby for generations to come. This is only the first stage of the consultation process, but we encourage everyone to take 10 minutes to complete it. The Council really is listening.”

Martin Rigley OBE said ‘As the Interim Chair of the newly formed Kirkby Town Board, I’m excited to be working with the board members on developing ideas and am looking forward to seeing the results of the consultation. We will be doing everything we can to ensure that we have a plan and vision which is right for the area and deliverable and I’m grateful to the board members who are giving up their time to support the process’.

Once the consultation period has ended, the responses will be collated and a list of ideas presented, along with a vision, to the Kirkby Town Board who are made up of independent members of the community, local businesses and education providers, Council members and the MP. Further public consultation will be undertaken to decide on the final list of projects that will be included in the three-year Investment Plan which needs to be submitted by 1 August.

The survey can be accessed online: https://form.typeform.com/to/fsR8cOKG

We will also be conducting face to face surveys to ensure that as many people as possible can have their say.