The Canterbury Society

The Canterbury Society

ANNUAL REPORT ON THE YEAR 2014-15

Our new President. We are delighted that Ptolemy Dean has agreed to be our President. We thank him most warmly and welcome him to our AGM.

Current issues with which we are concerned

  • The Local Plan The City Council produced the Draft Local Plan for the Canterbury District in 2014, after consultations in which the Canterbury Society put in extensive comments on what was proposed. At the time of writing we are preparing for the Public Examination of the Plan which starts on 14 July. Members of the committee will be appearing before the Inspector to express our concerns about the plans for housing in South Canterbury, the impact of new developments on pollution and congestion, the need for better infrastructure, the protection of open space and many other issues.
  • Campaign for Democracy in the Canterbury District (CDCD) At the AGM last year we reported on our campaign with CDCD to change the governance of the City Council from the current Executive system to a Committee system. The campaign was successful and from 8 May 2015 the City Council has been setting up the new Committee system. However, there are some issues still to be resolved, so CDCD continues to be active. After discussions with Cllr Simon Cook, the new leader of the council, we are organising a meeting on 17 June which will provide a forum for public discussion of these issues.
  • Conserving our Historic Heritage The committee of the Canterbury Society continues to be very concerned about conserving the historic heritage of our city. In particular, we have been involved in discussions about the plans for the re-development of the Slatters Hotel site. Three aspects of the plans concern us: the height and mass of the proposed building, the harsh stone façade proposed for St Margaret’s Street and the access to the hotel in terms of creating congestion. Other bodies, such as the Cathedral and English Heritage, share these concerns. At the time of writing we are waiting to hear when this application will go to the Planning Committee for discussion.

Issues over the past year

The Canterbury Society committee works hard to respond to the concerns of our members and to comment on developments taking place in the city. Recently,

  • We have commented on planning applications related to new developments at the Peugeot Garage site, Nat West Bank site, Diocesan Payne Smith School, Ivy Cottage in Westgate Gardens, and many others
  • We have taken on responsibility for the Heritage Open Days. Diana Holbrook organised some very successful days in 2014 and is now planning for this year, when houses will be open on 10-13 September
  • We have taken part in a number of Consultations, including that on the Open Space Strategy, the District Transport Strategy and the Riverside Strategy
  • We have taken up with KCC the issue of broken paving stones being replaced with tarmac, which is spoiling some historic streets in the city
  • We supported the campaign for a Business Improvement District (BID) and are pleased that Tim Less now represents us on the Board of Canterbury Connected
  • We have been very concerned about the visual appearance of the city, including ugly shop fronts, too many A boards, andthe deterioration of historic streetscapes. We have taken this issue up with the City Council
  • We are advocating the adoption of a Design Review Panel for the city, which would advise on the design of new developments
  • Finally we hosted the Civic Voice Annual Convention, a very successful event which brought people from all over the country to Canterbury to share ideas about how to enhance the towns and cities where we live

Events arranged over the past year

JuneColin Carmichael: talk on ‘The Local Plan for the Canterbury District’

SeptemberVisit to Eltham Palace, with expert guidance by Hubert Pragnell

SeptemberPtolemy Dean: talk on ‘The Enjoyment of Towns’

OctoberGriff Rhys-Jones: on ‘Localism for Real’ at the Civic Voice Convention

NovemberChris Lamb: talk on ‘Design Guidance for New Developments’

JanuaryGraham Bough and Lavinia Mitton: talk on ‘Food Banks in Canterbury’

MarchPublic meeting and discussion on ‘Challenging the Local Plan’

AprilHustings for the Local Elections

Civic Champion Award: Sian Pettman

In 2014 we launched our Civic Champion Award, which is given to someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of the quality of life in the city. This first award went to Sian Pettman, for her work for Kingsmead Field. The 2015 Canterbury Society Civic Champion Award will be presented on 17 June

Enhancing our city

The Canterbury Society aims to enhance our city, but we cannot do this without the help and support of many other people. Over the past year we have:

  • Cleared litter. We cleared an enormous pile of rubbish from the River Stour by St Radigund’s on National Civic Day: 21 June. In May we worked with parents and children from St Peter’s School to clear litter from their area
  • Worked with Canterbury in Bloom and Planted up the Butterfly Garden in Pound Lane, with help from the City Council and Porchlight
  • Worked with the Friends of Westgate Parks and with the Friends of the

Riverside to share ideas about the improvement of these areas

Thanks

The committee of the Canterbury Society would like to thank everyone who has supported us over the past year. We are particularly grateful for funding for our work from the KCC Community Engagement Scheme, supported by Cllr Martin Vye, the Canterbury Area Member Panel and the City Council Small Grants Scheme. We are always looking for people who would like to get involved in our activities, so do contact us at: or 01227 450140.

The committee of the Canterbury Society 2014-15

Chair Jan Pahl; Deputy-chair John Walker; Treasurer Tim Less; Secretary Virginia Webb. Members: Nick Blake, Clive Bowley, Val Harris (co-opted); Diana Holbrook, Geoff Meaden,Hubert Pragnell;Phil Rose (co-opted); Ema Rush

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