Royal Mail has been blamed for failing to deliver almost 1,500 postcards reminding every household in the town to have their final say on Llangollen’s People’s Plan.
And the leader of the organisation which has
prepared the blueprint for how life and work in the area can be improved over
the next four years has therefore decided to extend the deadline for feedback
by a further two weeks.
Known as Caru Llangollen, the plan has been
prepared by a team of volunteers from Shape My Llangollen (SML), under the
auspices of the town council, with the aim of providing a comprehensive
vision for the town between now and 2026.
The suggestions in it are based on what the
group was told by the people of the area in a series of pre-pandemic public
consultation sessions when they were asked about what they liked or didn't like
about the town and how they reckon it could be improved.
These consultation sessions generated over 1,700
separate answers.
And, based on what they were told, the
volunteers produced the final draft of the plan which contains around 90
proposals for improving Llangollen and its quality of life and work up until
the year 2026.
SML is now in the process of putting the
People's Plan back to the people for the last time before producing the final
version.
This will then go before the Town Council -
which set them the original task in 2018 - for approval and adoption a little
later this year.
During the first week of December the group
successfully completed their round of face-to-face comment gathering
on the plan outside the Town Hall.
Originally the public had until December 31 last
year to have their say on Caru Llangollen.
But feedback was so
enthusiastic that the group decided to extend the deadline for comments by
another month, until January 31, so even more people can take part in the
process.
To ensure as many people
as possible could have their say SML asked town clerk Gareth Thomas to arrange
for a mail drop of 1,450 specially- printed cards to every household in the
town reminding people how to leave their feedback through written or emailed responses. This
was at the town council’s expense.
But yesterday (Monday)
he discovered that Royal Mail had failed to send out any of the cards.
He said: “I agreed with Royal Mail that the delivery
would take place over the course of the two weeks commencing January 3, and I
arranged for a courier to deliver the cards to the Royal Mail delivery centre
in Warrington on December 23.
“I
have a note signed by one of the centre’s staff, confirming they had been
received.
“I learned yesterday that the cards have not been delivered and have now
started the formal non-delivery complaints procedure.
“I
will be claiming recompense from Royal Mail for the cost of the exercise, which
includes £200 for the contract itself plus the £50 cost of printing the cards
and the £80 cost of hiring the courier.”
Phil
Robinson, who chairs Shape My Llangollen, said: “We are particularly angry
because this is a major setback to the public consultation process and its is
impractical to start the delivery exercise again as the cost of doing so, while
waiting for recompense from Royal Mail, is beyond the resources of the town
council.
“We
have therefore decided we have no alternative but the extend the deadline for
feedback again, this time until Monday February 14, and I urge as many people
as possible to have their say on this extremely important exercise which looks
at every aspect of our town’s future.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Our postmen and women work extremely hard to deliver mail to over 31 million addresses across the UK, six days a week, in all weathers. The vast majority of items are securely delivered to customers. We are sorry that this was not achieved on this occasion, and have been in touch with the customer about putting matters right.”
* To look through the plan online - and turn it
over page by page - go to: https://pubhtml5.com/gaql/ahfd
* Send in your comments by emailing the Town
Clerk at: townclerk@llangollentowncouncil.gov.uk by
January 31.
* Hard copies of the plan are available in Llangollen library as well as online.
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