Portland Square and Fox Street
Sutton in Ashfield
Project summary
The dated Portland Square, Sutton, was refurbished to create a modern, attractive outdoor space for events, socialising and to increase footfall.
Fox Street was an abandoned, overgrown wasteland, it is now a new car park (Tues-Sun) and the home of Sutton’s outdoor market on Mondays.
Project updates
Completed and in use
In detail
Ashfield District Council renovated Portland Square in Sutton in 2025, to create a modern town centre that would encourage higher footfall and more investment into the town. The dated look of the square prior to the works, gave the impression of a neglected town, and attracted a lot of anti-social behaviour.
The refresh of the square included levelling the ground so that it was more accessible, adding in much-needed greenery through two urban lawns with mature trees to introduce a natural environment and soften the view. Benches, CCTV and lighting were added to create a space made for events and socialising.
The link to Fox Street was opened as part of the works, this has created a natural pedestrian flow between Asda car park and Sutton town centre. For this reason, the outdoor market was rehomed to Fox Street to take advantage of this footfall.
