The government’s new Welcome Back Fund will see Ashfield District Council receive £114k to help boost our town centres as they fully reopen.
The new £56 million fund is designed to help councils attract people back to town centres, by, for example providing more outdoor seating areas, markets and food stall pop-ups.The funding allocated for Ashfield is on top of the £114k the Council received in June 2020 from the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund.
Plans are being drawn up on how the money will spent across Hucknall, Sutton and Kirkby and will include:
We will be talking to high street businesses and community organisations over the next few weeks to get their ideas. If you have any ideas, then please contact us at: [email protected]
Cllr Jason Zadrozny, Leader of Ashfield District Council said “The announcement that Ashfield will receive £114k as part of the Welcome Back Fund is fantastic. Throughout the pandemic the Council has been working with local businesses to ensure that our high streets are safe and desirable places to visit. 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. This will see the Council receive support from Task Force experts that 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.
Cllr Zadrozny continues “The task force will bring expert input, training and support that will be used to further develop our plans for the town centres. 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 is 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’
“The Council is committed to our high streets, and the whole District being a place people want to visit and spend time. The future is bright for Ashfield and funding from the government, like the Welcome Back Fund, will help us achieve that.”
