Chairman's Introduction
It is remarkable that development in Leeds continues to accelerate in spite of question marks over its sustainability. Any civic society and particularly Leeds Civic Trust has an important role to play in that development, encouraging better design and respect for our heritage and amenities as well as stimulating discussion. We are supported by an increasing membership base and in turn we support the City Council when it does a good job but can be fiercely critical when we believe it does not. We are also known to have forthright discussions with developers in our planning committee presentations. All this is healthy. It is much more important for debate about the future of the city to be frank and open than to have no debate at all.
Such debate should not be restricted to the few and we do not apologise for disseminating our views in our Newsletter and through the Press when we feel it necessary. Involving the public as individuals and in their local communities is being increasingly recognised as essential for successful development. As a champion of the concept for many years, we have been closely involved over the last year in many community-centred initiatives.
We have attended discussions and commented on the Council’s Statement of Community Involvement. Our meeting with our affiliated societies in March suggested that the Council’s Area Committee arrangements provide far from adequate liaison with local communities. We have also visited and compared notes with civic societies in Whitby, Scarborough and Doncaster who are working closely with their respective local councils. We are represented on the Leeds Property Forum and are encouraging its work with local communities.
As always there is never enough time and the huge range of our work for the city can be seen in the ensuing pages of this Annual Report. Sometimes the hard work results in an enjoyable event, from the glittering Spirit of Leeds Award lunch for 350 guests at the Queen’s Hotel in Leeds to our more intimate 40th anniversary celebration dinner at Headingley Experience. Our Blue Plaque Scheme reached its 100th plaque at Whitelocks and included a celebration of The Who – Live at Leeds at the Leeds University Refectory.
Events, plaques, supper walks, Heritage Open Days, building maintenance, planning work; none of this could be done without the stalwart support of all our enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers and the hard working office staff of the Trust. My thanks, on behalf of the rest of us, goes to them all. In particular, I would like to pay tribute to the wonderful Valerie Ives who is retiring as Plaques Scheme Administrator after having organised almost all the 102 blue plaques erected to date.
So it has been a busy year. I hope you enjoy reading about it all in this Annual Report. It is unlikely that next year will be any less busy and we have already planned how we can be more focused and more pro-active. There is always room for more help, so do let us know if you feel you can.
Peter Baker
Chairman
September 2006