Civic Voice AGM and Convention 2015

Over 130 delegates descended on Bristol last Friday 23rd October for the 6th Civic Voice Convention and AGM. 

After a comfortable first day with interesting tours around the town it was a quick freshen up and off to the conference dinner where two mayors welcomed the delegates. First the Elected Mayor George Ferguson, whose inspirational address encouraged us all to get involved in shaping our towns, followed by the Lord Mayor Cllr Clare Campion-Smith who welcomed us to the city and wished us an interesting and  successful conference. 

The theme of the conference centered around planning, placemaking and street design, with several workshops concluding that local people, passion and participation are crucial to successful places and development.  

Gillian receves her Marsh award

A highlight for Marple Civic Society was the Marsh Civic Volunteer Award 2015 to our chairman Gillian for her contribution to the civic movement.   

Colin Davies of the ‘Public Realm Information and Advice Network’ drew attention to the  fundamental change in attitudes to street design taking place amongst transport planners. He stressed that much could be done relatively cheaply by taking a staged approach and involving the community.  See HERE to view the guidance document "Street Design for All".

Civic Voice Trustees

Civic Voice is working with Historic England, Imperial War Museum and the War Memorials Trust to support communities that want to conserve, protect and learn more about their local war memorial. Civic Voice’s Anna Wilson ran a workshop to discuss the conservation issues faced by memorials and to inform delegates how they can be involved in war memorial conservation projects.  Further information can be found HERE .

Executive Director Ian Harvey and the Civic Voice team

The final workshop considered five topics to prioritise Civic Voice projects for 2016. Placemaking ranked no.1 so we can expect a series of talks, workshops, debates and lobbying at government level in the coming year about all aspects of placemaking. 

More photos by Arthur Procter can be viewed HERE