Earlier news
Following the demise of the Civic Trust earlier this year, The Civic Society Initiative was launched on 1st June by Griff Rhys Jones and Tony Burton. Meetings are being held throughout the country to determine the requirements of a national body, working at grass-roots level. The Portsmouth meeting was attended by Tony Burton and Ian Harvey from the Civic Society Initiate and Tony Fooks the South East regional Chairman.
Our Chairman Celia Clark welcomed delegates to the meeting, attended by many local groups throughout Hampshire and West Sussex. Tony Burton asked members to work in small groups listing everything their group was currently doing, the results included opposition to overdevelopment, work with conservation officers, campaign for new uses for redundant buildings, publishing books and local pamphlets, greening of empty sites, design awards, review/comment on planning applications, local structure plans, practical work (tidying areas etc), proposing design guidance, talks & lectures, visits, social events, initiating fora on special projects, newsletters, guided/historic walks, town trails, information boards, websites, campaign for design champions, Heritage Open Day involvement, street clutter removal scheme, quarterly liaison with LPA, world heritage campaign and teaching.
The next section of the evening was devoted to how groups would like to move ahead. The main issues being partnership with strengthened local government, 2-way work with younger generation on all levels, and having both influence and a contribution to central government plans and policies.
The support required by civic societies from a new national body included access to expertise & information (legal, architects, updated planning information, legislation etc), local group interaction (information exchange, volunteer experts, annual conference), a national communications hub with access to other information sources and campaign reports by other groups or outside bodies, national leadership, internet technical support, advice on running groups, grants/loans provision.
Tony Fooks thanked Tony Burton for his work, and reported to members that many of the meetings had been asking for the same support of a national body. Members wanted work from local level to feed up to regional committees, which in turn would feed up to National committee to enable important issues to be lobbied at a National level. Members of individual Societies feel they belong to their local group, and many never realise that they are part of a national movement, so assistance with inspiring our members about being part of the national body was of great importance. There was discussion about the SE Region being too large, with a suggestion of splitting into 3 (Thames Valley, South Central, Kent/E Sussex). Sub-regional meetings and workshops would be useful for discussing both internal organisation of groups and working on external campaigns.
Tony advised that once all the regional meetings had been held and questionnaires completed, this would determine the way ahead. A name, constitution and governance matters would follow on in due course. Many thanks also to David Baynes who organised the evening, providing welcome coffee and biscuits, information packs containing detailed information and the chance for regional groups to contribute to the national civic movement.
Sue McClory
