A three-week consultation is being carried out by Ashfield District Council to determine how a £19.5 million Kirkby Long-term Plan will be spent in the town. The money has been allocated to Kirkby in Ashfield over the next 10 years under the government’s Long-term Plan for Towns Fund.
The funding scheme, which was announced in 2023, covers three key themes:
- Safety and security
including new and improved security infrastructure, CCTV, streetlights, additional hotspot policing, and local authority wardens; - high streets, heritage, and regeneration
including 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; and - transport and connectivity
including road improvements, improving congested junctions, new programmes to encourage cycling, and making the town centre more walkable and accessible.
Ashfield District Council is now working with the Kirkby Town Board to seek 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 Kirkby Town Board brings together council members with the town’s MP, Lee Anderton, and independent members of the community, local businesses and education providers. The Board is offering an incentive of a £150 cash prize to a randomly selected person who completes the questionnaire, together with an addition £100 for each of the three categories to whoever comes up with the best idea.
To be in with a change of winning, ideas must be submitted via the consultation, which is running until Sunday 2 June.
“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”, Ashfield District Councill leader, Cllr Jason Zadrozny, said. “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 £22 million 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.”
The interim chair of the Kirkby Town Board, Martin Rigley OBE, said: “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. Further public consultation will be undertaken to decide on the final list of projects that will be included in the three-year investment plan.
- Click here to access the Long Term Plan for Kirkby consultation and community survey