So many signs Ashbourne is on the up... even before Levelling-up funding

WHILE a successful bid for

£15 million in government investment would be an historic and transformative windfall for Ashbourne, it’s important to remember some of the key changes we have already seen and we are about to see.

A new £1 million sports and community pavilion has become a much-needed focal point in one of Ashbourne’s favourite green spaces; plans are well under way to improve Shrovetide Walk and provide a worthy backdrop for our bustling market; Ashbourne Town Council is close to rubber stamping their regeneration of the area around the Elderly Person’s Rest Room; a reborn town centre cinema is taking shape, and we already have fewer empty shops.

Compton and Dig Street’s temporary one way system has proven a hit; sectioning off part of the market place has created some much-needed outside space for the nearby pubs; a new bandstand will be built soon thanks to pressure from Friends of Ashbourne Park, and there’s finally a height barrier on Fishpond Meadow – although we’re still waiting to hear from the district council on when this important overspill car park might reopen.

Glossing over those bollards, and the lukewarm welcome our messy, uncut grass verges offer visitors as they travel along Park Road, we can marvel at our eight miles of bunting with a sense of pride and optimism. Things are changing for the better.

If we are lucky enough to be given a cash injection from the Levelling-up Fund it’s obvious that Ashbourne’s regeneration will be accelerated massively. But it’s important to remember how far we’ve come with little more than a collective will to make things better.

Ashbourne is very much on the up.