HDC leader urges the pubic to help shape the vision for Hunts market towns

Central to this, is communicating regularly with residents, meaningfully engaging with them in the widest possible aspects of our work and listening and responding to concerns in shaping policies and priorities.

The public wanted more transparency about the decisions being made and the current scope of projects and progress to date, and we are focussing on making this happen.

One priority for us is to deliver the Market Towns Programme, which includes the investment in St Neots and master planning in Huntingdon, Ramsey and St Ives.

Sarah Conboy is the leader of Huntingdonshire District Council. (Image: HUNTS POST)

Draft master plans for the market towns of Huntingdon, Ramsey and St Ives have now been published and can be viewed on the council’s website, along with a feedback form for local people to have their say on what is most important for their towns, what will have the greatest positive impact, and which types of projects should be prioritised.

St Neots has already been through its own master planning process, which culminated in the District Council successfully applying for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Future High Streets Fund and securing funding from other partners as part of wider future investment in St Neots.

I must stress that at this stage, the masterplan documents for Ramsey, Huntingdon and St Ives are just drafts.

By starting with drafts for each town, we want to give people something to respond to, an initial starting idea to encourage thoughts and allow people to tell us which bits they like, which priorities they support, which bits do they disagree with, what have we missed and be able to provide a fuller picture of their vision.

We are working with designers and analysts to create a potential vision for each of the towns, which gives us something to aspire to in the future.

The master plans will also enable stakeholders and us to pursue funding opportunities, including a range of government opportunities, as they emerge over the coming years, including - but not limited to - the Levelling up agenda.

It really matters that local people take a look and help us to shape them into the most suitable vision for each of our market towns.

We are also keen to make sure that residents in surrounding villages and other smaller settlements have their say, too, as many of you will use the market towns as places to shop and access services, spend leisure time in, or as a place of work.

The closing date to complete the feedback form is Friday, October 28, so please share your views with us before the deadline.

The draft masterplan documents for Ramsey, Huntingdon and St Ives can be found by visiting www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/masterplans and were funded by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

There you will find background information on the masterplans, baseline reports for each town and the opportunity to submit feedback and send the council your thoughts on towns local to you.

It is by working with our residents on these types of policies and programmes of work that we can create a fairer Huntingdonshire for all.