A national campaigner who talks about shaping towns with the views of local people gave a talk to the March Society.
Ian Harvey, network and campaign manager of national charity Civic Voice gave a motivating talk to members about the aims and progress of the group.
A spokesman for the March Society said: “This organisation’s ambition is to make every individual feel that they can say I am proud of where I live. “Civic Voice is a non-political pressure group but with cross-party parliamentary support.”
Mr Harvey reported that many citizens believed that the places they lived were not being shaped locally but by developers, planning inspectors and the courts and said this was happening despite the introduction of Neighbourhood Plans.
Around 76,000 members of civic societies, including the March Society, are now members of Civic Voice and Mr Harvey gave numerous examples of many successful voluntary activities that help make towns, cities and villages better places to live.
The charity has published a new civic manifesto called Localism for Real which includes the need for the next Government to give all citizens more opportunities to actively shape the future of the place where they live including giving more power to citizens to enable their particular town or city to prosper.
The May event of The March Society is on Wednesday May 13 at 6.45pm and is a talk about the architectural highlights of March north with Andrew Clarke. To book a place visit www.themarchsociety.org.uk or by email info@themarchsociety.org.uk. Members £2 and non-members £3.
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