Spring 2026

Stamford Civic Society Newsletter Spring 2026

​Spring is on the way, today its actually fine and sunny.  The Mid Lent Fair is in town and the spring bulbs are making the whole town look cheerful.

​We have had busy few months ensuring that the Civic Society’s views are heard across a wide range of topics. 

You will no doubt by now be aware of the Royal Mail upgrade programme for some pillar boxes to be converted to “smart “boxes that will enable the postage of small packages. We have contacted Royal Mail National Street Manager and the Department of Culture Media and Sport about our concerns that the Pillar Boxes within the town conservation area are retained and preserved in their original designation. We have boxes that are dated from: Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King Edward VIII, King George V, Queen Elizabeth II. These range from Pillar boxes, Wall boxes, Lamp boxes. There is a Joint Policy Statement by Royal Mail and Historic England concerning the preservation of Post Boxes. This makes interesting reading, as does the Post Box article to be found on the Stamford Local History website.
 
In February I was invited to speak to the Rotary Club about the Civic Society. The talk was well received and sparked a range of questions about our work in Stamford. I hope some of their members may like to join us too. 
 
We received a request for an architectural tour of the town by tutors and students; Richard Asher gave the group a comprehensive and captivating tour one fine Saturday morning.  He focussed his tour upon the different types of architecture still visible within the town centre ranging from medieval to the present day. 

​We have asked Alicia Kearns MP for her views on the newly published National Cohesion Strategy which includes plans for “restoring pride of place” and the setting up of neighbourhood boards. We have problems with understanding why, yet another tier of consultation or participation is necessary.  Annex A of this strategy states,” give all communities across the country new powers and tools to revive their neighbourhoods and build pride in place.” Surely local authorities are already tasked with this? There is no indication of who will join these neighbourhood boards, or how they will be constituted and run. There is also mention of a Civil Society Covenant but no details.
If this Strategy affects us in any way, we will of course keep you updated.
 
Following on from our Civic Day activity last summer when we spent a warm sunny day in the High Street asking passers-by for their favourite street; we are in talks with other organisations to plan a survey of visitors to the town. This piece of work will take some time to co-ordinate, but we feel that it will be useful to the town to have up to date statistical information about our visitors. We will let you know how this progresses as and when we have more detailed plans.

​In March we held a well-attended members evening in the Court Room at the Town hall. Here we were pleased to welcome Ariane Buschmann South Kesteven Conservation Officer and Clair Saunders South Kesteven Economic Development Officer. They gave us a very interesting and factual talk about their work in Stamford, including a resume of the development of shops and their windows and signage as ways to attract in customers.  They spoke about the development and use of the SKDC Stamford Shop Front Guide and its purpose in the preservation of the street scene as well as accommodating modern innovations in lighting, signage and colours. We also welcomed some guests from the local community as well as some of our local councillors to this meeting.

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​Best Wishes for a warm Spring Time
Ursula Jones
Chairman Stamford Civic Society