Ahead of the 2015 elections, Civic Voice have today launched a new civic manifesto for 2015-2020 entitled ‘Localism for Real’ while Heritage Alliance has a ‘power of heritage’ manifesto calling on politicians to recognise the importance of heritage to everyone.
Civic Voice is calling for:
- Every local authority to produce a Place Improvement Strategy
- Policy to support collaborative planning for major development and local plans
- Policy to enable local authorities to control use classes and permitted development rights according to local need
Civic Voice writes:
Griff Rhys Jones, campaigner and Civic Voice President has today claimed that there is a crisis in civic engagement when he launched the manifesto of the civic movement at its annual convention in Canterbury on Friday 24 October.
Griff said ‘We face a crisis of civic engagement. This is a symptom of the frustration people feel as power is taken away from communities and they are subject to tokenistic consultation. We need to give all citizens opportunities to actively shape the future of their place and to give communities the powers they need to enable their town and city centres to prosper’.
To achieve ‘Localism for Real’, the Civic Manifesto:Localism for Real is calling on future Government’s to:
- Make improving the quality of the public realm in our cities, towns and villages a priority
- Give all citizens opportunities to actively shape the future of their place
- Give local communities the powers they need to enable their town and city centres to prosper
Griff added ‘If the Government is serious about Localism, they have to listen to the concerns coming forward from civic groups, resident associations and local councils. Government mut give local communities the powers they need to enable their town and city centres to prosper ‘
Chair of Civic Voice, Freddie Gick said: ‘We believe the manifesto, ‘Localism for Real’ puts power back into the hands of communities and will give all citizens opportunities to actively shape the future of their place’
Civic Voice is calling for:
- Every local authority to produce a Place Improvement Strategy
- Policy to support collaborative planning for major development and local plans
- Policy to enable local authorities to control use classes and permitted development rights according to local need
Heritage Alliance (HA) writes:
The Heritage Alliance is calling on the UK government to realise the power of heritage.
Representing the broad consensus of the independent heritage sector, our manifesto calls on all political parties to adopt specific policy measures that ensure that the protection, conservation, alongside factors contributing to the resilience and well-being of the independent heritage sector continue to be met through wider government objectives.
This resource contains an online version of our manifesto, access to in-depth supplementary briefings on our key asks, alongside details on how you can become actively involved in our advocacy campaign in the build-up to the 2015 General Election.
