Kington school crossing still unbuilt after 14 years

Coun Terry James, leader of the Liberal Democrats group and a former county council Leader, said that as well as the council’s difficulties in getting bigger projects over the line, “I have concerns about smaller capital projects which seem to take years and years to deliver.”

“I’ve got one in my ward that’s taken 14 years and hasn't been delivered yet,” he said.

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“People get people get very angry (when) things just hang in the balance for years and years.”

He later explained that the project was to install a pedestrian crossing at Kington Primary School using so-called section 106 money from local developers.

“But the S106 money just goes into a pile and doesn’t get spent, and this is a classic example of it,” Coun James said. “There is no desire to get things done.”

Councillor Terry James stands near the proposed site for a pedestrian crossing in Mill Street, Kington (Image: ROB DAVIES)

He reckoned that “£60,000 would have been enough then but now it will probably cost double.”

The school plan “may yet come to fruition”, he said.

“But I have seen so many that haven’t. People become fatalistic.”

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A spokesperson for the school confirmed: “The hope is that the crossing will still go ahead.”

Herefordshire Council was asked how the crossing proposal first arose, what had delayed it for so long, and whether its implementation was now being planned for, but did not reply.

Meanwhile, Kington Town Council’s planning and environment committee was due to discuss the pedestrian crossing on October 5.