Dingwall High Street Improvements – still time to have your say!

Members of the public are being reminded that there is still time to voice their opinion on various options for Dingwall High Street improvements.

A very successful one day public consultation ‘drop in’ session was held by Highland Council Planning and Development Service on 13th December at the Royal British Legion, Dingwall regarding the Council’s proposals for the improvement of Dingwall High Street.

People from the local community, shoppers and traders alike, turned up at the public consultation event to view the displayed plans of the High Street, and were able to give their comments on the proposals to Highland Councillors, Planning and Development Service staff and the Council’s design consultant.

The purpose of the consultation was to seek the public’s views on a range of options that the Council and its design consultants have produced in regard to the choice of proposed surfacing materials and street furniture to be used in the design of the improved High Street environment.

Around 140 local people attended the ‘drop in’ consultation session and were able to examine the various scheme options for the High Street shown on the display panels. The public were invited to indicate their preferred choice of surfacing material on an individual questionnaire, and also to record any views they had about the proposed scheme. Sixty people participated by completing a questionnaire and indicating their preference of proposed surfacing treatment for the scheme.

The current consultation exercise follows on from the preliminary consultation for the proposed improvements that the Council’s Planning and Development Service undertook in December 2007.

The displays of the various scheme options for the High Street are still available to view until Friday 30th January 2009, at the Service Point, Ross House, High Street, Dingwall, and in the Dingwall Community Library, at Dingwall Academy. Members of the public, young and old are all invited to visit either of these displays and view the various proposals for the High Street displayed on the panels. They can obtain a questionnaire at both venues, and are encouraged to indicate their preferred choice of surfacing materials to be used in the design of the improved High Street. Completed questionnaires can either be put into the box provided at the display venue, or posted to the Planning and Development Service in the FREEPOST envelope provided.

The street improvement project is being funded by The Highland Council.