The new Money Hill car park - designed to provide extra spaces for Ashby town centre visitors - is set to open during June or July this year.

Although the area has been allocated for some time, North West Leicestershire District Council has set out a timeline for a planned summer opening.

The District Council says the 150-space car park is a response to frequent pleas from Ashby de la Zouch Town Council.

A lack of car parking in the town has long been seen as a reason that may deter visitors and shoppers alike.

Now a timeline has been issued and was discussed by Ashby Town Council at its recent planning committee meeting.

It reads:

• Early March: Anticipated date for the developer to transfer the completed car park to North West Leicestershire District Council

• Early April: 21-day formal parking order consultation period to begin

• Early May: consultation feedback to be reviewed

• Mid May: legal notices for the introduction of parking charges on the site to be completed

• Mid May-June: installation of signage and line painting, and final clean and preparation of the site prior to opening

• June-July: Money Hill car park opens

• Autumn 2025: Installation of solar hub for EV charging

But the new park is supposed to be linked by a pathway to North Street which has yet to be completed as it crosses property owned by a business whose land is regularly used by trucks.

However, some concerns were raised by Ashby councillors that the problem of anti-social behaviour may switch from Tesco car park to the Money Hill site.

Cllr Murrae-Blair Park pointed out that Tesco had installed speed bumps to stop speeding cars in the evening.

Cllr Chris Smith proposed that the Town Council contact NWLDC and ask what it intended to do to discourage anti-social behaviour at the new car park.