The Wider Picture: National Civic Issues
Civic Voice, the national charity for the civic movement in England, campaigns on a wide range of issues that have an impact on local communities across the country.
One of its recent campaigns is ‘Street Pride’, which is focused on reducing the four most widespread sources of unnecessary street clutter: bollards; signs; posts (including lampposts and traffic lights) and guard rails. The proposed banning of A-boards from York’s city centre pavements has been welcomed by the city’s Civic Trust and disabled groups, who say the problem has been getting worse, with businesses competing to “out A-board each other” and turning parts of the centre into an obstacle course. Traders who defy the clampdown are to be charged nearly £100 to get them back.
Many communities have taken advantage of the Localism Act 2011 which introduced an important new power for local communities to protect buildings and open spaces they value. Getting loved local spaces and places registered as Assets of Community Value gives them some protection against planning changes and, should the property come up for sale, the local community must be offered the opportunity to bid to purchase the property, although there is no Right to Buy.
Looking forward to 2017, Civic Voice has launched ‘The Big Conservation Conversation’, encouraging communities to celebrate the value of their local conservation areas. Many groups fought hard to get historic areas designated and protected under the legislation, but this only works if councils enforce the regulations. Worryingly, as reported in the Birmingham Post, Birmingham’s heritage is in danger as the Local Authority has been forced to scrap several conservation areas because it cannot enforce regulations within them anymore. The Council has also reduced the number of specialist conservation officers from seven to two in recent years but they still have responsibility for overseeing some 2,000 listed buildings and 30 conservation areas. This situation makes the Civic Voice campaign all the more important.
One of its recent campaigns is ‘Street Pride’, which is focused on reducing the four most widespread sources of unnecessary street clutter: bollards; signs; posts (including lampposts and traffic lights) and guard rails. The proposed banning of A-boards from York’s city centre pavements has been welcomed by the city’s Civic Trust and disabled groups, who say the problem has been getting worse, with businesses competing to “out A-board each other” and turning parts of the centre into an obstacle course. Traders who defy the clampdown are to be charged nearly £100 to get them back.
Many communities have taken advantage of the Localism Act 2011 which introduced an important new power for local communities to protect buildings and open spaces they value. Getting loved local spaces and places registered as Assets of Community Value gives them some protection against planning changes and, should the property come up for sale, the local community must be offered the opportunity to bid to purchase the property, although there is no Right to Buy.
Looking forward to 2017, Civic Voice has launched ‘The Big Conservation Conversation’, encouraging communities to celebrate the value of their local conservation areas. Many groups fought hard to get historic areas designated and protected under the legislation, but this only works if councils enforce the regulations. Worryingly, as reported in the Birmingham Post, Birmingham’s heritage is in danger as the Local Authority has been forced to scrap several conservation areas because it cannot enforce regulations within them anymore. The Council has also reduced the number of specialist conservation officers from seven to two in recent years but they still have responsibility for overseeing some 2,000 listed buildings and 30 conservation areas. This situation makes the Civic Voice campaign all the more important.
