A ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for Ashton is something community leaders and residents do not want to let fly by. Wigan Council will be submitting a bid to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in July to fund schemes that could see the town centre transformed.
One of the big items on the agenda would be improving road infrastructure, safety and traffic pollution - a huge point of concern for locals. When the Government’s High Streets Task Force visited the area they also identified community space, activities for young people, events and attractive street scenes as key objectives to address in order to ‘unlock the potential of the town centre’.
Danny Fletcher, Ashton councillor, said: “Now is the time for Ashton town centre to achieve its potential and to put everything into a successful Levelling Up bid. This opportunity is highly unlikely to come around again anytime soon, and although universal agreement on big projects is hard to come by nowadays, keeping what is best for Ashton and our high street in mind is a priority.
