CONTRARY to Nigel Thomas (June 25) I welcome the emergency active travel measures for Kington (and I also need to drive the extra distance to get into the town).

It will enable all of us to use the High Street while keeping the recommended one metre distance apart, thereby reducing the risks of mutually infecting each other.

Between the specified hours we will be able to push buggies and wheelchairs, lead dogs and or toddlers, and stop to chat with friends while using the pavements and the road without being run over by motor vehicles.

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As a perhaps unintended consequence, people will enjoy shopping in the High Street. It will be both an economic and community social space, as many other small-town high streets are.

Moreover, all the public car parks will remain accessible.

Mr Thomas wrote: "People who shop at the Co-op then also frequently visit the High Street shops”.

Indeed they do. It takes two or three minutes to walk to the High Street and a similar time from all the other public car parks.

With the exception of blue badge holders, emergencies and delivery vehicles, parking on either side of the High Street has long been illegal.

For many years Kington High Street users have complained about the excessively narrow pavements and asked for improvements.

Several possible schemes have been mooted as possible solutions: one-way traffic, lights, shared surfaces, complete pedestrianisation – all of which would require substantial sums of money that have not been available.

The physical structure of the High Street is the source of the pavement problem. The space between the two rows of buildings is too narrow for continuous two-way traffic and any wider pavements.

The proposed temporary measures might provide the basis for further thought of how to get more permanent improvements.

Meanwhile, there’s an opportunity to enjoy a High Street of wonderfully varied products.

Ros Bradbury
Kington