Kington council signs up to Parish Charter in the hope of improving communications with Herefordshire Council

The town council was invited to adopt the charter, which is an agreement between Herefordshire Council, Hereford City Council and the town and parish councils in the county.

The aims of the charter are to develop stronger partnership working between councils and to enable community action.

In the charter it is stated that information requests will be responded to promptly and communication will be clear, jargon free and accessible and consultations will be open and followed up appropriately.

In the past Kington Town Council has complained about communication issues with Herefordshire Council and members said they hope by signing the new charter that this will change.

Deputy Mayor Councillor Martin Woolford asked; “Would it commit Herefordshire Council to respond within a certain period of time? It is something that we can hold them to, the practicalities of it are that poor communication makes it much more difficult for us to run things.”

Town clerk Liz Kelso said she found that some of the measures in the charter are not appropriate in that, it would be difficult to judge if they have achieved what they set out to achieve. 

She said she was disappointed with the charter but she said the town council is not signed up to a charter at the moment so it would be something.

Members agreed to adopt the parish charter