Kington urged to have its say on its future

Herefordshire Council has confirmed that Kington residents who just miss the deadline for completed questionnaires on the important Shaping Our Place consultation – will still have their views taken into account.

The deadline for the end of the eight-week consultation on the future of Herefordshire is Friday 12 March. Thousands of residents across the county have already responded in what is likely to be Herefordshire Council’s most successful consultation ever – but many more will have left it to the last minute to submit their views. Any completed questionnaires that arrive after the weekend or during next week will still be valid.

The consultation sets out options for small-scale improvements to employment in Kington, as a lack of high quality jobs causes residents to travel further afield and there are local constraints on land available for employment use.

Kington is the smallest of Herefordshire’s market towns but serves a large rural hinterland, and the council wants to ensure that people in this part of the county have the opportunity to influence how it can create better quality jobs and more affordable housing, as well as improve transport links and safeguard public services, for the benefit of communities.

Several villages in the area could see development designed to increase affordable housing and sustain essential services, including schools, and new shops. The options are also to promote extended employment land and more enterprise centres to encourage the creation of new jobs, particularly creative industries and environmental technologies to boost the economic viability of villages.

“We do need the residents of Kington and surrounding villages to share their views now in what will be one of the most important consultations ever to take place in the county”, added Councillor Jarvis. “It really is be up to local people to tell us what they think and help grow the right future for their market town”.

“We don’t want to deny anyone their contribution if it arrives just after the deadline, so any questionnaires arriving after the weekend, or until the end of next week, will still count”.

The Shaping Our Place 2026 consultation documents have been showcased at a road show and at public events and meetings in Kington. Around 40 public meetings, events or workshops have taken place in the city, the market towns, villages, parishes, schools and businesses across the county.

There are three ways that people can still get involved:

1. Pick up a consultation paper and questionnaire from your local council info centre - there is one in Kington and in every market town, or;
2. Log onto the council’s website www.herefordshire.gov.uk and complete a questionnaire online, or;
3. Fill in a simplified version of the questionnaire in the current issue of Herefordshire Matters, which is distributed to every household in the county, and pop it in the post with the freepost address.

Views will be analysed and proposed policies developed and presented back to the council’s cabinet later in 2010 and publicised, before being submitted to the Secretary of State, who will arrange for a public examination and inspector’s report with final adoption anticipated in 2011.

In parallel, the council is also running a consultation on the Local Transport Plan, which also end on 12 March. It will be adopted by April 2011 and will drive the county’s transport strategy for the next 15 years. The review of the transport strategy is intended to align transport policy with the wider needs of the county and will help coordinate support for growth. The Local Transport Plan consultation enables local people to let the council know what their priorities for transport are for the county, whether it is greater public transport investment, more cycle routes, better highway maintenance or further road safety improvements.