‘Let beacon shine a light on Fishpond’

TOWN LOCATION SUGGESTED

AFTER SAFETY FEARS RAISED

A COMMUNITY group that has set out to improve Ashbourne’s park has written to Ashbourne Town Council suggesting that its new jubilee beacon could be placed in Fishpond Meadow.

Last week the News Telegraph reported that civil engineering firm Whitehouse Construction had refused to quote a price for the installation of the beacon in the town council’s proposed location at the top of the B5035 hill, known as “The Punch”, on safety grounds.

And as official plans for siting the beacon on the patch of common land, near to a junction with Windmill Lane and the B5035, trundle through the planning system, a public focus has turned to where might be more appropriate.

Retired Whitehouse Construction chairman Brell Ewart said last week his firm cannot quote for the installation of the 20ft beacon, which weighs one tonne, because erecting it so close to a road would be dangerous.

He told the News Telegraph a solid structure could become a hazard if a car left the road and official guidance states fires should not be lit close to public highways.

The jubilee beacon’s own set of guidelines states it must not be placed within 60 metres of a road.

And now the Friends of Ashbourne Park, which held its latest meeting on Tuesday last week, has written to the town council, suggesting that a better place for the £3,000 beacon might be the Fishpond Meadow.

The town council had dismissed this location early on as the beacons are designed to be placed at a high level, but as the Ashbourne beacon would not form part of the national network, as none of the hills on the town’s outskirts are high enough, it has been argued that there is no point placing it at the top of a hill.

The Friends of Ashbourne Park has also said it would be safer and more convenient to locate it in the town centre, reflecting a point made by Mr Ewart last week that there is very limited parking at the top of the punch to host future gatherings.

Friends of Ashbourne Park spokesman Les Warren said: “We had a discussion within the group about what we thought should happen to the beacon.

“In the first instance we said it’s a great idea to have it at all, so thanks to the town council for buying it.

“However we did suggest the Fishpond Meadow would be an ideal site for the beacon, for the reasons that it would be visible to a lot more residents and visitors to the town.

“It would be more fitting with the idea of a sculpture of interest in the park, it would attract more visitors to the park, it would be more than 60 metres from a road, and it would not be installed close to any combustible materials.

“So for those reasons we thought it would be a more suitable site, and that’s what we’ve suggested to them.”

To install it in the park the town council would need to seek permission from Fishpond Meadow’s owners Derbyshire Dales District Council and then write a separate planning application to the same council to obtain formal permission.

The Friends of Ashbourne Park has suggested the beacon is installed somewhere between the pedestrian bridge over the pond and the wide bridge between Fishpond Meadow and the Recreation Ground, although a specific location would have to be formally agreed.

Ashbourne Town Council has previously said that members want to wait and see the outcome of their current planning application before they decide on whether or not they should change their plans and discuss a different location for the beacon.

Following its meeting last week, the volunteer-run Friends of Ashbourne Park group, which has only been running for around a year, has circulated a draft management plan among its members, which they will now discuss over the next few months and, working with Derbyshire Dales District Council, this will soon develop into a blueprint for a series of improvements in the park, recreation ground, the fishpond and the Fishpond Meadow.

Already the group has successfully lobbied the council to press on with the construction of a new bandstand, and the tenders have now gone out for that, with more news expected in the coming weeks. Although currently confidential, the masterplan sets out to spearhead more council-backed projects, with the ultimate goal of the park achieving a coveted Green Flag status, in line with similar amenities in Matlock.