Westminster Diary - 4th January 2007

Thursday, 4th January 2007

New Year – New Kenilworth. This year, that looks like more than a vague hope. In the latter part of 2006, we have seen not just plans, but work itself begin at Abbey End. Kenilworth has waited a long time for often promised regeneration and I know that, much as residents of the town have wanted to see it improve, they have been understandably sceptical about the prospects of it doing so. We now see that regeneration happening and in many ways we have the impending arrival of a supermarket to thank. A great deal of hard work went into securing Waitrose’s decision to come to Kenilworth and that hard work is already starting to pay dividends. Other retailers, restaurants and bars are showing interest in the town they have never shown before. The confidence of our vital independent retailers, already growing, has been strengthened further. For the first time in many years, we can look forward to people travelling from Leamington to Kenilworth to shop and not the other way round. There is more to be done of course, the most obvious example is prospective development of Smalley Place – in the words of the successful and important campaign on the subject, we have to ‘get it right’. In my view that means a Civic Centre which not only meets the needs of our public services but also gives Kenilworth a flexible meeting and display space which can be the focal point of our civic life. We are getting closer to that objective.

Ironically of course, though work in progress can be the cause of our optimism and excitement about Kenilworth’s future, it can also be the cause of disruption and irritation in our present. Major changes are being made and they cannot be made without us noticing. Having said that of course, some of the most significant structural improvements in the town are currently being made beneath our feet. General improvements to the sewer system will hopefully put the days of damaging flooding behind us and underpin the elements of regeneration. The fact that all these things are happening at once, however, means that Kenilworth will be a more difficult place to get around for a while. I hope that everyone will have patience with the disruption. I know that much is being done to reduce it. I am confident that the long term gain will be worth the short term pain and that we will see a better Kenilworth emerging in 2007.

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Updated on Thursday, 4th January 2007