On 7th December this year, on behalf of The Ramsgate Society, I attended a Civic Voice meeting in London when representatives of over 50 Civic Societies in England came together for their Annual General Meeting. Unfortunately, it was the weekend of the severe travel disruption due to the exceeding high winds reaching 80 to 90 miles an hour in places and a further 30 or so civic society representatives were unable to attend.

Civic Voice is the national organisation for civic societies in England. It was founded in 2010 after the demise of the former Civic Trust to represent the views and aspirations of civic societies at national level and the Ramsgate Society was one of the original founder members. Civic Voice represents hundreds of civic societies and community groups, uniting over 70,000 individual local civic society members in advocating for our towns and cities to be better places in which to live and work.

It represented the civic movement on the First World War Memorial Programme with Ministers, MPs and members of the Royal Family. Civic Voice Introduced National Civic Day and the Civic Voice Design Awards, a nationwide celebration of community pride and engagement, and has inspired thousands of other local activities.

The organisation plays a pivotal role in key policy areas, contributing to the National Planning Policy Framework, the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, and consultations on the Planning White Paper and Permitted Development Rights. Additionally, Civic Voice serves as Secretary to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Civic Societies, amplifying the civic movement’s voice in Parliament.

Equally importantly, Civic Voice has built strong alliances with organisations such as Historic England, The Royal Town Planning Institute and the National Association of Local Councils, and other heritage and planning bodies, ensuring communities have a seat at the table in shaping policy and practice.

The organisation suffered a severe setback two years ago when its bank account was hacked and £98,000 was stolen. The good news is that all this money has now been recovered and the organisation is once again in good financial health and planning for the future.

The Ramsgate Society is committed to working with Civic Voice going forward. A new Director will be appointed early in the new year and the organisation will be announcing its priorities shortly afterwards. We will keep you updated.

John Walker, Ramsgate Society Chair