Another great year
Cardiff Civic Society - Chair’s annual report, 2024
Richmond Road, Cardiff
By Nerys Lloyd-Pierce, Chair, Cardiff Civic Society
It’s been another very busy year fighting campaigns and working hard to make Cardiff a better place for everyone to live in.
As we all need some good news, I’ll start with our successful campaign to secure greater protection for our city’s traditional drinking houses.
We launched our campaign on March 1st last year, at The Claude in Roath, in conjunction with the CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. Meetings with the council, plus media coverage, resulted in the council producing a list of more than 70 pubs to be ‘locally listed’. This isn’t a golden bullet, but it is a huge improvement on pubs being left wide open to the whims of developers. A consultation on the list runs until the 18th of this month.
We worked with two philosophy lecturers from Cardiff University on a series of three workshops held here in Splott and in Grangetown, on the theme of Is Cardiff Beautiful. We received some very interesting insights into the issue of aesthetic justice, how people perceive beauty, and how beauty, or the lack of it, impacts on the quality of peoples’ lives. We will feed the results into the Replacepement Local Development Plan, giving a voice to people whose opinions may be overlooked or ignored.
We have enjoyed some exceptional forays into Cardiff’s less celebrated green spaces, most recently on a hugely enjoyable visit to Caerau Hillfort, one of the largest hillforts in the UK, and the largest in south Wales. What’s more, significant enough to be the subject of a Time Team programme.
We are always looking for more help to carry out various aspects of our work. And we have a vacancy for an events organiser. If anyone has ideas of an event, or events, they’d like to organise, then please do get in touch.
Following the success of our bat walk, led by Andy Karran from Gwent Wildlife Trust, our next event is also nature-themed, this time a Zoom talk on our fascinating urban peregrines, who nest on City Hall, among other places. It will take place on November 12 at 7pm – further details to follow.
Which brings me to our Treasurer’s report. Thanks to our new treasurer, Louise Gray, with support from Ceri Williams, to whom we are very grateful. Our accounts are prepared and ready to be submitted to the Charity Commission. Sadly, our long-serving treasurer had to bow out due to illness. The accounts have been sent to AGM attendees. However, in brief, you’ll be glad to know that the Society is solvent, and has sufficient funds to continue with its work.