A PAIR of Ashbourne organisations are being turfed out of their town centre bases as Derbyshire Dales District Council prepares to formalise plans to sell some of its property.
Ashbourne Partnership and Ashbourne Camera Club have been told to leave their offices at 5 and 5a Town Hall Yard before the end of the year, as the properties they are currently renting from the district council are being sold on to raise funds.
Included in the property disposal, which is due to be discussed tomorrow at the Town Hall in Matlock, are the three unoccupied cottages in Lovatt’s Yard that back onto Town Hall Yard and have been in a poor state of repair for many years.
Ashbourne Partnership chair- man Jeffrey Phillips said the move will be an “inconvenience” but would not be much of a big issue, while Ashbourne Camera Club has already moved out of its base.
The club has occupied 5a for decades on an historic agreement, paying a peppercorn rent and members say they will now have to have a re-think.
Chairman Peter Edge said: “We’ve been there a while and this is a little out of the blue. Because we’ve not been able to plan for it we’ve now got to watch our finances.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have had our building for all these years and now it’s a case of moving on.” The plans are due to be put before the district council’s partnership and regeneration committee tomorrow at 6pm.
