04 November 2026
Improvements are under way at the Bothal Gateway feature on the A197 Morpeth Road, one of the main routes into Ashington. While the work is still in progress, people travelling along Morpeth Road may already have spotted some changes.
A new boundary wall has been built by a local contractor, Stuart Howard, funded by ward councillors Scott Amery, Lynne Grimshaw and Bob Walkinshaw through the ward environmental enhancement budget.
The Town Council created the ward environmental enhancement budget in 2023/24, with funding allocated to each ward in that year and again in 2024/25. Wards with funding remaining have carried their balances forward. The Bothal Gateway is a piece of land the Town Council already maintains, so the scheme was a straightforward way to make a visible difference. Where ward councillors want to create new spaces or take on new areas of responsibility, those proposals come to Council for approval.
Since then, Ashington Town Council’s Neighbourhood Services Officer, Ryan, has prepared the ground ready for planting in the spring, added some new stone features and returned suitable plants to the site.
There’s still more to do, and the gateway will really come into its own once it is fully planted up next year. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the bulbs, which will add a welcome splash of colour until then.
In 2019 Ashington Town Council has become one of the first parish and town councils in Northumberland to formally adopt a positive motion and policy intent to play its part in addressing the challenge of climate change.
The town, with a current population of some 28,500 was in its industrial heyday regarded as ‘the largest coal mining village in the world’. At its height the industry locally employed tens of thousands of people and sustained the community and local economy. The coal-mining industry is long gone and with it the large-scale local employment that made the town what it was and gave it the proud industrial tradition. It is perhaps fitting therefore that Ashington Town Council should lead the way in looking to play its part in addressing climate change.
The Town Council recognises its own role may well be small but is looking to work practically with major partners and organisations towards the future. The full motion proposed by Cllr.Lavery and unanimously agreed sets out the Town Council intent to:
We recognise that any council working alone can achieve little in facing such a challenge. It is important however that we make clear our intent to work positively with others, organisations and individuals, towards schemes and solutions in our town that are significant in addressing carbon neutrality and eliminating emissions. Everyone has a role and part to play however small; we are a council intent on engagement and real community involvement particularly in relation to matters that impact on us all.
Ashington Town Council has developed a Climate Change & Environmental Issues Working Group to address the issues of the motion.
04 November 2026
Improvements are under way at the Bothal Gateway feature on the A197 Morpeth Road, one of the main routes into Ashington. While the work is still in progress, people travelling along Morpeth Road may already have spotted some changes.
A new boundary wall has been built by a local contractor, Stuart Howard, funded by ward councillors Scott Amery, Lynne Grimshaw and Bob Walkinshaw through the ward environmental enhancement budget.
The Town Council created the ward environmental enhancement budget in 2023/24, with funding allocated to each ward in that year and again in 2024/25. Wards with funding remaining have carried their balances forward. The Bothal Gateway is a piece of land the Town Council already maintains, so the scheme was a straightforward way to make a visible difference. Where ward councillors want to create new spaces or take on new areas of responsibility, those proposals come to Council for approval.
Since then, Ashington Town Council’s Neighbourhood Services Officer, Ryan, has prepared the ground ready for planting in the spring, added some new stone features and returned suitable plants to the site.
There’s still more to do, and the gateway will really come into its own once it is fully planted up next year. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the bulbs, which will add a welcome splash of colour until then.
