Please take the time to read this official statement below from Kingston First Chief Executive, Kirsten Henly.
We wanted to provide an update on our work with Kingston Council to create a town centre Vision, which many of you have been involved in over the past few months. The Council will be publishing a draft Vision document for Kingston town centre this week.
We know a vision for Kingston town centre is important for setting direction and creating a place where people want to live, work, study and visit. 94% of our members also agreed a long term plan and clear Vision for the town was very or quite important. We included this in our 2020-24 Business Plan and have been pivotal in lobbying the Council to make this happen.
We have been working with the Council, as well as Kingston First members across a variety of sectors including landlords, to capture views and develop ideas for this work over the last few months. Thank you to those who have already shared their views.
Based on feedback from members and our own insights, we feel the current version of the Vision is not yet as ambitious as it could be for the town and in particular, doesn’t sufficiently cover transport – a critical issue raised by members that presents both challenges and opportunities. We have therefore decided not to be co-authors of the draft that will be published this week.
We remain committed to shaping the thinking and plans for the future of the town centre and continue to work with Kingston Council to shape the next iteration of the Vision. In March we will organise workshops with members to collate feedback on the current Vision and capture aspirations for the town over the next 10 years, which we will share with Kingston Council ahead of a final Vision document being created in the summer.
We will be in touch with dates on how you can share your views and have your say shortly.
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