After a request from one of the members of the Civic Society, I have been asked to send this without columns, as it is more difficult to read with them; so here we go: hope you can all be happy with this? Let me know if not. (Gill).
Sainsbury’s and Planning ……………
What is this? A picture of the “Sainsbury’s” field taken just before Christmas in 2012 ……………………… soaking horses and a sodden mushy field.
Thank you to Dave Gittus for the photo.
Personally I (Gill) feel sorry for the horses, but in reality Sainsbury’s should consider the wet, wet, wet fields?
For and on behalf of Martin Elkes
(yet again - no text after last months talk)!!
Diary Dates
At our next meeting on Tuesday 25th February, Nick Birch from the Waitrose store in Newport will be giving a presentation about their 'First Impressions Exercise' relating to Newport and completed by selected Waitrose staff in 2013.
Nick will review both the original findings and talk about whether or not actions taken by the Newport Town Team and other local groups have resulted in any changes in the town. He will also talk about the recent alterations to the layout of the Waitrose store as well as the challenges to retailers from 'multi-channel' retailing.
On Tuesday 25 March 2014, Lawrie Boardman will come back to the Civic Society to give an outline of the findings from responses to the Town Plan questionnaire.
The questionnaire was delivered to all 5,500 houses in Newport and a Business Sector Questionnaire was delivered to over 100 businesses by the Chamber of Commerce and Town Team. There was also a podcast survey for the local schools.
Mindful of the dates for publication and wanting to have the presentation as near to the final date for publication, to keep it relevant and up-front with residents, we are pleased that Lawrie can do the presentation at such short notice.
Civic groups support campaign to tell story of civic society movement
Chair of Civic Voice, Dr Freddie Gick this week thanked the first set of groups that have sent in donations to help fund a publication to tell the story of the civic society movement.
The fundraising campaign launched by Dr Gick at the start of February aims to raise £5,000 before March 2014 to support Civic Voice’s work in telling the story of the civic society movement. The publication will be launched at the inaugural Sandy’s Lecture on April 17th in London.
Read more about how you can support this publication here.
Help fund the history publication!
Surely a movement that is 167 years old would have a story associated with its life? Well, up until now, this has not been the case for the civic society movement. It is something that Civic Voice has wanted to put right since we launched. On April 17th we will be doing just that!
Obviously to tell the full story of the movement would involve exertion greater than "War and Peace" due to the story beginning on September 18, 1846, at the first meeting the world first civic society in Sidmouth.
As such we have decided to tell the story in a format that is much more accessible in tone and style to as many as possible, and is enjoyable and informative to read. This has meant that not every campaign, project or success has been recorded. We believe this is better told at a local level. We are more focused on the story of the movement and have tried to link it in a broader historical context with key societal events and the development of the movement as a whole.
The author is Dr Lucy Hewitt who is based at Glasgow University, worked with us on this. Lucy has particular interests in urban history and geography from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century so was an ideal person to look into the history.
Over the past 18 months, she has been talking with groups and has collated what we believe to be the first ever attempt at telling the story of one of the oldest movements in the country, whilst the final version is being proof-read by Gillian Wain from the Fleet and Church Crookham Society and Prof Jan Pahl from the Canterbury Society to help iron out any factual errors and spelling mistakes!
Developing the publication has often been a labour of love (all 35 pages of the publication!), carried out by a person with expert knowledge in this area. We now hope that the story of the movement will inspire others from across the country to want to be involved in the next chapter as we move forward under the leadership of Civic Voice.
We are now inviting individuals and groups associated with the civic movement to consider contributing towards the cost of printing the publication. All contributions, whatever the size, will be very gratefully received and will be formally acknowledged. Contributions of £250 or more will guarantee a seat at the first Sandys Lecture being held on April 17th, along with two signed copies of the publication.
Donations can be sent by donating online here or sending a cheque to the Civic Voice office in Liverpool. Closing date for the receipt of contributions will be 3rd March 2014. Many thanks to everyone, for your continued support of the civic society movement.
Marple Civic Society campaign ensures 120 buildings are to be given extra protection
Griff Rhys Jones, President of Civic Voice, today congratulated Civic Voice member the Marple Civic Society for their campaign to give greater protection to more than 120 listed buildings.
Welcoming the announcement that Marple Civic Society has been successful in adding over 120 buildings to a Local List of Heritage Assets, Griff Rhys Jones, President of Civic Voice said; “This is great news for the people of Marple. The Marple Civic Society success follows quickly on from the Norwich Society meaning in just two weeks civic groups across England have gained greater heritage protection for over 200 buildings. I congratulate Marple Civic Society for achieving recognition for these local heritage assets.”
A local heritage list is managed by the local authority and it means that the heritage value of a locally listed heritage asset is a material consideration in determining planning applications. Civic Voice members have pledged to increase the number of heritage assets on local lists by another 2,015 before April 2015.
Gillian Postill Chair of Marple Civic Society said: “I am absolutely delighted that the list has been adopted. We first started this idea when we celebrated the society’s 50th anniversary on the first national Civic Day in 2011. It goes to show what can happen when you ask local people what they care about. We will now move forward to see how we can list some of these sites and others as Assets of Community Value to give them even greater protection.”
Griff finished by saying “We all know of a local building which helps to define the area where we live and work. I would now encourage individuals across England that if you love a local building and think it has character and adds to your local community you should join your local civic society and consider fighting to give the building extra protection from developers by getting it listed on a Local List of Heritage Assets or as an Asset of Community Value”.
Newport Regeneration Partnership (NRP) - Employment sub-group
Work to assess opportunities around the many areas of expertise in Harper Adams University continues with a particular interest in the recently opened Agriculture and Engineering Innovation Centre at HAU.
Planning Matters
The Secretary of State (SoS) Eric Pickles, issued his decision on 14 February 2014, NOT to call-in the application for 350 homes on greenfield land either side of Station Road (TWC/2011/0871).
The applicant intends to use some of the land either designated for employment and / or land on which building are in use for employment purposes thus reducing the available employment opportunities in Newport. SoS Pickles felt it was better that T&W decide on the questions raised as opposed to an independent body.
Our MP, Mr. Mark Pritchard, had raised the question of housing numbers on 6th February 2014. Extract from the website of Mr. Mark Pritchard MP:-
Mr Pritchard: The floods have caused huge anxiety not only in south-west England but in some parts of Shropshire. Does the Secretary of State agree that one way to mitigate future flooding is to ensure that new homes development is not excessive and also bears in mind the physical infrastructure such as drainage in local towns and villages?
Mr. Pickles: My hon. Friend is perhaps one of the cleverest people to lobby a Minister. I got the message.
Application TWC/2014/0076 -Land fronting 62 High St.
The above application for change of use of open space to plant/flower stall has been published on the T&W website.
Basically, its plants/flowers that are on the pavement for several days around the night club area. The land apparently is owned by T&W.
Consultation period expires on 4/3/14.
Sainsbury's Station Road Inquiry
We understand that the hearing in the Court of Appeal on 1st and 2nd April 2014, will take place.
Details from Peter Chadwick
Contact
Martin Elkes on 01952 810656 David Parker on 01952 606901 or Gill Watkins on 01952810419