Ashfield Council to set up new board to deliver long-term towns plan

The Government is investing £1.1 billion in 55 towns across the UK, including Kirkby, which has secured £20m from the Plan for Towns Programme.

Ashfield has now secured more than £90m in Government investment since 2019, including from the Towns Fund, Future High Streets Fund, and the Accelerated Towns Fund.

However, Hucknall was left frustrated – and empty-handed – after missing out on funding twice last year, something Hucknall councillors called ‘a kick in the teeth’.

The Ashfield community will be given the responsibility to decide how the money is invested.

A new town board will be set up by April 1 and will be tasked with drawing up a long-term plan for local towns over the next 10 years.

The plan will focus on the regeneration of local towns and the Government will allocate endowment-style funding to support investment.

The new board will be a community-led institution made up of local champions and employers.

They will bring together residents, business leaders and community leaders.

The board will also include a limited number of councillors, Ashfield MP Lee Anderson (Con), Nottinghamshire Police & Crime Commissioner Caroline Henry (Con) and an independent chair.

The rest of the board will be decided in consultation with the chair, who is intended to act as a champion for Ashfield and provide leadership for the board, ensuring it is community-led and embedded within the local area.

They can be anyone who is considered to be a champion of the Ashfield area, such as a philanthropist, the head of a further education college, a director of an NHS board or trust, a director of a football club, or anyone else.

To help the new board, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has set up a towns unit which will work with board and local authorities wherever appropriate.

The board will submit its long-term plan to the DLUHC by August 1 and funding will be released once plans are approved.

Mr Anderson said: “The town boards represent a fantastic new approach to politics, incorporating the very people who live here into the decision-making process around how we can grow Ashfield’s towns.”