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The Civic Trust Membership Magazine. Winter - Spring 2009www.civictrust.org.uk www.civicsocieties.org.uk £4Inside:- Civic Trust Awardsshortlist- Creating sustainablecommunities- Griff Rhys JonesFundraising Appeal- News & Connections
 
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Message from the President
I HAVE just gotback from Quito inEquador, where Ihad to spend a littlemore time than I hadintended, mostlyin Embassies andinteresting policeoffices becausemy passport wentup in flames in theGalapagos. Whata fascinating citythough. It wasthe earliest pointof contact for theconquistadors andthough not muchof the original Incatown survives, theSpanish Colonial citywas built on its ruinsand is so completeand unspoilt that ithas Unesco status.The rest of modernQuito spreads down avalley and up towardsthe volcano, jammedwith traffic andsteadily crumbling inthe damp cool climatethat comes frombeing nine thousandfeet up in the Andes.But I was interestedthat my new friendJose lived in the newtown and not amongstthe splendid palacesof the old. (New isa misnomer. Thenew town is almostindistinguishable fromany other part of thebuilt up noisy grid thatstretches around theplace.)Jose warned us infact not to walk outinto the old town atnight. Surprisingly,in amongst thegolden churchesof the Compagniaand the staggeringmonastery of theFranciscans, built asa long white-walledredoubt around theexquisite courtyardgardens, the oldtown is still wherethe poorest peoplelive. This is familiar.Quito is reliving thestory of Palermo orRome, or any of thegreat cities of Britainfifty years ago. Asthe old buildings losetheir lustre and newsuburbs spring up, sothe rich abandon theinconvenience of thepolluted, crumblingcentre and the placedeteriorates, even ifthe major buildingsdon’t.There is moneyavailable to restoreQuito. Everywhereyou look the facadeshave been renewed.What are also neededare patience andconfidence and thoseare less easy to comeby. We didn’t haveit in Britain. A hugenumber of our citycentres were seenas inconvenient andold fashioned anddecrepit. We lost ourfaith in restorationand preferred, inplaces like Glasgowor Birmingham orSheffield, to startagain or radicallyredraw. Of coursewe suffered fromthe Luftwaffe but nothalf as much as wesuffered from zoning,traffic schemes andbright new futures.When on tour, Ionce got a lift backto my hotel withan ex member ofBradford council. Aswe jumped out ofthe car and startedto clamber over thecrash barriers tocross to the motorwaythat now runs throughthe middle of thishistoric city, he wounddown the window ofhis car and, pointedto a high-rise bridgedflyover walkway thing.“Why don’t you takethe route we built foryou?” he shouted.The answer wasbecause it lookeddark, frightening andwet and would takemuch longer thanscrambling overthe highway. (Likeeverybody else fromthe scuff marks).What governmentsoften want, or wanted,was to clear humanbeings out of theirshopping centresand to put their faithis the “vibrancy” ofcommercial interests.To serve theseforces we faced themiserable prospectof road engineers inNewcastle waitingeagerly for theirGeorgian buildingsto fall into derelictionso that they could putup new car parks.For the last fiftyyears, and with alot of hand wringingand crocodile tears,commercial interestshave hi-jacked ourtown centres. Theywanted bigger andbigger shops andhave reordered ourtowns and cities toaccommodate them.Recently there hasbeen quite a fightback. As the donutdream of the suburbcrumbles and a newgeneration find thetransport systemsless entrancing thanthey were promised,so they have soughtflats in the centreof town. In Leedsand Manchesterpeople have comeback to live in thecentre. In Londonand Edinburgh, ofcourse they never leftit because it was builtand stayed beautiful.Perhaps in Quitothey will eventuallydo the same too,especially if the placeis kept lovely forthem. In too many ofour cities it has not.Gavin Stamp’s bookcalled (if I rememberit correctly) “VanishedCities” gives a vividflavour of what welost: not SpanishColonial, perhaps, butoften British Imperial.The recession isalready having ahuge effect on retailcentres. Rows ofshopping malls arebeginning to standempty. Unlike oldfashioned markettowns, unlike lovelyQuito, they cannoteasily be turnedback into housing. Iwonder if we will liveto regret having madeour inner cities intopotential deserts, not just after five thirty pmbut for the rest of theday as well?
Griff Rhys Jones
Inside
Local & national news 4 – 7Beneath Regency splendour 8 – 9Sustainable living:Rough guide to going green 10 – 11Sustainable Communities 12What could the Sustainable CommunitiesAct do for you? 22 – 23Civic Societies Week 13A week in the life of Corsham 14Tools & links 15Conference report: Exploring heritage-ledregeneration 16 – 17Fundraising briefing 18 – 19Civic Society insurance 23
 
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Find updates and links at www.civicsocieties.org.uk 
Message from the Chairman
AT THE end of 2008 – global crisis year – oneChristmas story resonatedwith me. Reindeers – FatherChristmas’ faithful engines – can no longer reach theirArctic foraging groundsbecause of loss of habitatcaused by global warmingand human activity. So theNorwegian governmenthas taken to hauling themthere by boat, 600 at a time.The grimness of this imagechimes with reports ofdrowning polar bears, lossof livelihood for the Inuitpeoples and the impendingvast escape of carbonaccompanying the thawingof permafrost.What has that to do withCivic Societies? Facedwith global issues, inactionis a tempting response – after all surely it is forgovernments to sort thisstuff out? If that were so,there would be no need fora civic movement at all.I believe that a nationalmovement can and shouldplay its part in influencinggovernments, while shapingits own environment andequipping its members toplay their own individualroles. If we are not helpingpreserve our towns andcities to bequeath a betterfuture for our children, howdo we justify our existence?And global warming is themost crucial determinant ofour future quality of life.So, yes, as a nationalorganisation we shouldbe involved in the debateas to solutions and theallocation of resources. Asa regional organisation, weshould be pressing locallyfor action – be it sustainabletransport, renewable energygeneration or energy savingmeasures. At local levelwe should be helping ourmembers make individuallyresponsible decisionsand equipping them withthe campaigning tools toinfluence public and privatesector organisations to playtheir part, be they schools,council offices or shops.There is no issue so big thatit is beyond the ability ofindividuals to seek to makea difference.The Government isincreasingly showing signsof wanting to empower localactivists and organisations – this is a core theme forCommunities and LocalGovernment – and the CivicSociety movement shouldbe ideally placed to helpforge stronger relationshipsbetween local governmentand the communities theyserve.The Civic Trust Board,together with its interimManaging Director, GregAndrews, is conscious ofthe need to form a betterbridge between, on the onehand, the Civic Societies,and the other, the Trust’ssuccessful programmes.The aim is to improvethe cohesiveness of theorganisation and to givelocal people a stronger rolein positive measures for theimprovement oftheir communities.A great recent exampleis Purple Flag – the CivicTrust’s new programmefor making the nighttime economy a safer,more accessible, moreentertaining and diverseenvironment. This hasreceived a huge amount ofenthusiasm among nationaland local government andthe national press, andwill launch later this year.We hope that local CivicSociety members will wishto play a full role in localimplementation of thisprogramme.Since the night timeeconomy is such animportant facet of our localenvironments I was pleasedto deliver a lecture in Leedsas to how Civic Societiescould become moreinvolved in the licensingprocess. The lecture cannow be seen online atwww.vimeo.com/civictrust. Itis an example of how wecan, and should, use newtechnology to communicatewith each other moreeffectively, and I pay tributeto our Civic SocietiesManager, Ian Harvey,whose idea this was.There are 250,000 CivicSociety members out there.Although times are hard forus all, I remain convincedthat if we can link up witheach other better - andraise the funds to allow themovement to stand on itsown two feet – the future forour movement is rosy.Happy New Year!
Philip Kolvin
• Grass Roots is yourquarterly updatemagazine. We hope youenjoy it. Please shareyour copy as widelyas you can as a way oftelling members andthe public more aboutwhat we all do. You cansend your feedback,updates, case studies,articles, events andreviews to Ian Harvey atiharvey@civictrust.org.uk. You can also contactGriff Rhys Jones orPhilip Kolvin by emailingIan, marking your emailfor Griff or Philip.• Grass Roots printedby Headley Bros Ltd onrecycled & sustainable-mix paper with non-toxic inks.• Layout & pre-pressby Clare-Marie White &Civic Trust staff.
• Cover: The Rotunda, one of thenominees for the Civic Trust Awards, seepages 4 – 5.Plus: Griff Rhys Jones (p18), a visitor toBrighton (p8) & Angela Brady (p10)Left: historic Quito at night. Photo fromFlickr/DimplemonkeyPhotos: TonyBartholomew, Nick Tyson, Paul Cornwell
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