'Growing Kingston Together' will be the central theme of this year's State of the Borough debate, Kingston Council (RBK) revealed on Friday (August 9).

The choice of debate theme was made following an open public poll for residents.

With 642 votes counted, RBK announced that the subject had received over 50 per cent of respondents support (351 votes in total) and was now locked in as the broad theme around which the annual debate would take shape.

The State of the Borough debate is a yearly democratic event held for residents of Kingston.

It offers Kingstonians the chance to chat with and debate their councillors directly, with attendees typically voicing their concerns and hopes for the issues that mean most to them.

A spokesperson for RBK offered further details of this year's debate, scheduled in Chessington this November, following the vote.

"We will now start planning the event itself, which will take place during the evening of Thursday 21 November 2019 at Chessington School.

"As the Growing Kingston Together topic is quite broad and could incorporate anything from the regeneration of existing sites and the changing nature of the high street to the role of culture and tourism, jobs and affordable housing, we will now be organising expert panelists for the debate."

RBK added that further details about the annual display of democracy in Kingston would "be added soon" to the council website.

Those who might be unable to attend the debate itself would be able to submit a question "to be answered on the night" RBK said.