The Royal Hotel car park, which was closed to public use last year, is currently being used as a depot for the contractors laying a new gas main along Tamworth Road. Unfortunately, this is not counted as a change of use and does not require new planning permission. We understand that they are permitted to work on the site between 7:30am and 6:30pm.

Here is the full text of a communication from the Ditrsict Council explaining the planning position.

Class A (gas transporters) of Part 15 (Power related development) of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (as amended) (‘The Order outlines that permitted development (i.e. development which has deemed consent) includes:

 (a) The laying underground of mains, pipes or other apparatus; and

 (d) The placing and storage on land of pipes and other apparatus to be included in a main or pipe which is being or is about to be laid or constructed in pursuance of planning permission granted or deemed to be granted under Part 3 of the Act (control over development).

 The reference to ‘Part 3 of the Act’ is reference to Part 3 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 which specifies under Part (2) criterion (c) that the carrying out by a statutory undertaker of any works for the purpose of inspecting, repairing or renewing any main pipes, including the breaking open of any street or other land for that purpose, is not considered to involve “development of the land.”

 Development ‘permitted’ by Class A of Part 15 is subject to conditions and one particular condition, in this case, would be condition (b) which states that:

 “in the case of any Class A(d) development, on completion of the laying or construction of the main or pipe, or at the expiry of a period of 9 months from the beginning of the development, whichever is the sooner, any pipes or other apparatus still stored on the land are removed and the land restored as soon as reasonably practicable to its condition before the development took place (or any other condition which may be agreed with the local planning authority).”

 Separately to this Class A (Temporary Buildings and Structures) of Part 4 (Temporary Buildings and Uses) of The Order outlines that permitted development also includes “the provision on land of buildings, moveable structures, works, plant or machinery required temporarily in connection with and for the duration of operations being or to be carried out on, in, under or over the land or on land adjoining that land.”

 Development ‘permitted’ by Class A of Part 4 is subject to the following conditions which apply when the operations have been carried out:

 (a) Any building, structure, works, plant or machinery permitted by Class A is removed, and

 (b) Any adjoining land on which development permitted by Class A has been carried out is, as soon as reasonably practicable, reinstated to its condition before that development was carried out.

 Overall I would be of the view that the proposal has deemed consent via The Order and a formal planning application would not be required for the works which have/are to be carried out.

We are please to confirm that the Friends of Ashby Bath Grounds in partnership with Ashby de la Zouch Town Council have received £44,600 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for an exciting project led by volunteers to create all weather footpaths and a heritage trail around Ashby Bath Grounds. The HLF funding, together with £20,000 previously awarded by North West Leicestershire District Council (NWLDC), means that the Friends of Ashby Bath Grounds have now raised the full £65,000 required and work will commence this autumn.

There will be opportunities to get involved with a wide range of activities including discovering archaeology using surface techniques, performing a ballad, creating a mosaic and taking part in a programme of lectures and guided walks. If you are interested in taking part please come along to the project launch event at Hastings Cricket Club on the Bath Grounds on Sunday 20th September 2015 starting at 11:30am. All are welcome. There will be a brief introduction to the various planned activities and a celebratory drink and buffet. You can also keep in touch with specific project activities and events via the new Project website www.bathgroundspath.com.

Commenting on the award, the Secretary of the Friends of Ashby Bath Grounds, Clare Birch said: “We are thrilled to have received the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. We believe that this project will develop community pride and knowledge of the history of the Bath Grounds as well as providing a much needed, all weather pedestrian route between the two entrances. This will be particularly useful for elderly residents and parents with push chairs as well as attracting tourists through the park. We are hoping for a big turnout at the launch event on 20 September.”

On the 28th May 2015 we submitted our bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Project Title is "Ashby Bath Grounds - Improved Accessibility and Community Heritage Project." The Project is designed to raise the match funding required to complement the NWLDC £20,000 awarded last year towards the Bath Grounds Footpath between the South Street and Prior Park Rd entrances, but also includes many Community Heritage Educational activities to be undertaken in around the Bath Grounds over an 18 month period from September 2015. Ashby Town Council are partners on the bid and we have signed a parnership agreement with them. We are also working closely with Ken Hillier and Ashby Museum, the Cricket and Bowling Clubs, Pudding Bag Productions (Wendy Freer) and many other volunteers.

The Activities included in the bid are as follows:

• Project admin, monitoring, evaluation and reporting
• Project website and social media
• Improved accessibility path around the Bath Grounds
• Bath Grounds heritage trail
• Community archaeology
• History of the spa and Bath Grounds film
• Ballad of the Bath Grounds - to be filmed and recorded during the Ashby Arts Festival 2016
• Community mosaics
• New edition of "Ashby - The Spa Town" book
• Ashby Spa and Bath Grounds education boxes
• Ashby Spa and Bath Grounds lecture programme
• Spa and Bath Grounds stall and exhibitions for local events
• Bath Grounds trail walking tours
• Heritage trail guide
• Project launch and completion events

The total Project value including the £20,000 already awarded by the Distrcit Council is £64,702. Further details can be found on our Projects page.

We are expectiong a decision from the Heritage Lottery Fund in early August 2015.

Elect your Committee and hear updates on our Heritage Lottery Fund Application "Ashby Bath Grounds - Improved Accessibility and Community Heritage Project" and other new initiatives. See our Home page for a link to download the Agenda.

Thanks to the online votes of our members and supporters, we have been awarded one of the District Council's "£20k for 7" grants.

Claire Birch, Secretary and Elaine Robinson, Acting Chair collectied the Friends' "Golden Ticket" from Council Leader Richard Blunt at the awards ceremony on Wednesday 17th December 2014. See the photo on our Projects page 

We still have to raise a further £25000 to make the footpath a reality and the Golden Ticket will only be honoured by the Council when our fund raising reaches another £20k. So the real challenge now begins.

We have recently begun the process of applying to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the rest of the money and will be meeting with them in the New Year to discuss our bid.

Great new on Funidng!

We have just heard that our application for £20,000 towards funding for the Bath Grounds Footpath Project has been supported “in principle” by North West Leicestershire District Council.

However, this doesn’t mean that we are certain to win the funding. We now need you, and everyone you know, to prove that the Project commands a high level of support amongst the community.

To do this you need to vote for the “Area 5” Project on the council website. You can vote by following this link http://www.nwleics.gov.uk/247vote.

You will have to register on the site and then place your vote. Although ours is the only Project submitted for Ashby you still need to vote for it so that we can prove to the Council that it’s well supported. And please only vote for our Project as its popularity will be judged against the number of votes for the other Projects.

Don’t worry if you don’t have your own email address. Just register using an address made up as follows: [email protected] We are assured that will work.

The closing date for voting is Sunday 9th November so please VOTE NOW.

Many thanks to Oakland Hotels for approving the plans for our Bath Grounds Footpath Project. Their formal approval and consent were required as they hold the freehold of the Bath Grounds. Also we are most grateful to Ashby Town Council for requesting the approval as the Lease holder.All we have to do now is raise £45,000 to build the path.

We have now submiited a bid for £20,000 to the North West Leiciester District Coucil £20k for 7 scheme and are awaiting confirmation of eligibility. If everything is in order our Footpath Project will be placed on their website and the public invited to vote on it's merits against any other community projects which have been submitted for Ashby.

To get the money we will need to attain the most votes.

We'll keep you posted on progress and let you know details of how to Vote for the Project as soon as we hear.

If we are successful we will still need to raise another £25,000. So we have also submitted an "Expression of Interest" to the Biffa Awards scheme. This allocates money from the Landfill Communities Fund and was the reason why we have recently changed our Constitution. They will be letting us know shortly if they want us to submit a full funding bid.

Again, watch this space!

Many thanks to everyone who has responded to our on-line consultation on the Footpath Project. We are closing the Consultation on Friday 12th September, but there is still time to have your say. Just go to the Projects page of this site.

We have now launched an on-line public consultation about our Footpath Project. We need as many reposnses as possible to show potential funders that Ashby is enthusiastic about a new footpath around the Bath Grounds.

For full details of the Project and to take part in the consultation please go to the Projects page of this website.