The Leader of Ashby de la Zouch Town Council, Councillor John Coxon, has announced that the town has been successful in its application for the Purple Flag award scheme for a fourth successive year.

The award is similar to Green Flag Award for parks and Blue Flag for beaches. It leads to Purple Flag status for town centres that meet or surpass the standards of excellence in managing the evening and night-time economy.

It forms a comprehensive set of standards, management processes and good practice examples designed to help transform town and city centres at night.

Purple Flag is also a research, training and development programme, to help towns and cities improve their evening and night-time economy - and a positive initiative that indicates an entertaining, diverse, safe and enjoyable night out.

Councillor Coxon said: "I am delighted to announce that Ashby de la Zouch Town Council with the support of North West Leicestershire District Council and various partners has retained its Purple Flag status for 2020/21.

"Despite the constraints as a result of the national lockdown of our facilities, the assessors continue to be impressed by the town's commitment to high standards across the sector.

"Purple Flag status is for town and city centres that meet or surpass the standards of excellence in managing the evening and night time economy (ENTE).

"It is fantastic news that Ashby has achieved this award for the fourth consecutive year.

"I am very pleased with the ongoing success and all of the hard work that is involved to ensure the town maintains its Purple Flag Status."

The Purple Flag programme is run by the Association of Town and City Management (ATCM).

Ojay McDonald, CEO of the ATCM said: "There now are over 70 towns and cities across the UK and Ireland who are proudly flying the Purple Flag after working hard to gain accreditation.

The award is not just about safety, but also the vibrancy and diversity of the evening and night-time offer — this can only be achieved by people working together and across the country we are seeing some amazing examples of this type of partnership working."