Airfield Investment

The D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership has approved £1million investment from its Local Growth Fund to support the Ashbourne Airfield project in Derbyshire Dales.

The funding will support new transport infrastructure to unlock much-needed land for employment. Once completed, the scheme will provide employment space within Ashbourne for new and expanding businesses, creating opportunities for local businesses and jobs for local people.

The Ashbourne Airfield scheme, costing £10.28 million in total, will see the construction of a new 50m-wide three-arm roundabout on the A52 and 720m long link road to the nearby Airfield Industrial Estate, named after the former second world-war era RAF airbase.

Ashbourne Airfield Industrial Estate is the largest employment location in the Derbyshire Dales and is the focus of the district’s manufacturing economy, housing over 70 businesses and employing over 2000 people.

The Ashbourne Business Park will consist of 9 hectares of serviced and development-ready employment land with the private sector committed to delivering at least 60,000 ft² of new employment floorspace by 2023.

The road improvements will also open up the possibility a new housing development on the site, providing as many as 367 new homes as well as community and leisure facilities.

Completion of the roundabout and link road should occur by Autumn this year.

Additional funding for the infrastructure improvements includes Derbyshire County Council, Derbyshire Dales District Council and developer FW Harrison Commercial Ltd.

D2N2 Chair Elizabeth Fagan CBE said of the news to attribute funding: “Ashbourne is the heart of Derbyshire Dales manufacturing economy and this critical investment in infrastructure will facilitate new jobs and opportunities for local people and businesses which will contribute towards the growth of the regional economy.’

Minister for Local Growth, Rt Hon Jake Berry MP, said: “We are committed to boosting economic growth across the Midlands Engine and levelling up every place in the country.

“Thanks to £1million of Government support from the Local Growth Fund, the Ashbourne Airfield project will be vital in unleashing the full economic potential of the region by unlocking new jobs in the Derbyshire Dales and hundreds of new homes for the community.”