Preston reveals £850,000 spent on pulled Levelling Up project

Doom has been on the horizon for the £9.7m Ashton Park Sports Hub initiative since July, when councillors indicated they would be cancelling the project due to local opposition and rising costs.

Preston City Council formally shut down the project at its council meeting last week. The sports hub was not the only scheme to get the axe – a proposed mobility hub at the Preston Bus Station concourse was also ditched due to future management and maintenance fees.

The projects were two aspects of the local authority’s successful £20m Levelling Up Fund bid to central government. Other aspects of the LUF bid include improving Waverley Park, Grange Park, and Moor Park – as well as resurrecting the Old Tram Bridge, improving public realm around Friargate South, and a new cycling route.

Money had already been spent on both the mobility hub and sports hub projects – with Ashton Park Sports Hub having progressed so far as to get planning permission this spring. More than £851,500 had gone into the project, while £10,800 had been spent for the mobility hub.

Now the city council is petitioning the Ministry for Housing, Communities, and Local Government for permission to redistribute funds allocated for those two schemes towards its other LUF projects.

If successful, the work to Waverley Park would receive a £1.5m boost – going from £1.7m to £3.2m. Similarly, Moor Park would garner an additional £1m, going from £2.9m to £3.9m. Grange Park’s budget would increase from £19,300 to £30,000.

The Old Tram Bridge would receive an additional £1.5m, like Waverley Park. This would increase its budget to £8.2m. The active travel link schemes would also see a combined £1.5m increase. Preston City Council will also seek to allocate £818,000 towards bolstering the active travel link programme to include Orchard Street.