A Vision for our Community |
“We hope to help ensure that developers cannot ultimately insist for private reasons on a change which would be against the wider public interest. That people affected by proposals for change can have their views and interests considered. Whilst we would accept that individuals have a reasonable degree of freedom to do what they wish with their own property, we would aim to protect the local character and amenities of Berkhamsted. We hope to help the planning authority interpret the public interest wisely and consistently.” This is a quote from Government. Your local authority has not always been aware or listened to the wishes of the community and allowed a number of inappropriate developments both inside and outside our conservation area. I have high hopes that we can achieve an article four directive for at least part of our conservation area which will make some of this kind of environmental vandalism much less prevalent. We must fight this seem-less robe of mediocrity that five decades of post war development has imposed on our surroundings. The landscape has been defiled dumped on doctored and defoliated. We have such a long tradition of vernacular building and domestic architecture, we now seem to have settled for a policy of uniformity. Once, not so long ago houses spoke, like their owners, with our own local accent, built with local materials, locally made bricks and our own traditional form of pointing, our materials echoed our landscape. Now our buildings, offered to the “take away age” follow the boring uniformity of computer generated housing lined up behind concrete curbs, with street names which are just a mockery, flowerless “meadows” and treeless “woods”. Developers tell us of market forces, and that these heartless developments wouldn’t sell if people didn’t want them. We need to ensure that we offer better alternatives, and the regeneration of good traditional buildings that are merely in need of alteration and repair to enable them to fulfil the new needs of our community. Berkhamsted stands on the threshold of a unique opportunity. Our canal partnership has taken a new and fresh look at our waterfront and its links with the body of our historic town, the potential for successful regeneration has never been greater. We must all participate in the one-off opportunity to achieve radical and lasting improvements for our local community. We mustn’t miss this unique chance for effective regeneration and pulling together of our town. Presently there is an unacceptable disparity between parts of our high quality environment and areas of neglect and decay. We don’t want to alienate the local community from the regeneration process, but seek more partners to ensure active participation and empowerment. We must all encourage participation in our unique local identity, to create a strong sense of community and civic based pride based on our historical and cultural diversity. We have a great opportunity to celebrate the links between the local community and its surroundings. These can be greatly enhanced by improved, access to, and awareness of our historic structures. We have achieved this in heritage walk, the canal and riverside partnership and through these projects, we hope to have the opportunity for the provision of public art. We need a secure community which is attractive to visitors whilst protecting the privacy of its residents. We need commitment between local residents, businesses, landowners, public bodies and community organisations. We need you the people of Berkhamsted to bring this new vision to life with your ideas and participation. Without you, vision is meaningless. |