The Sandys Lecture

Central Hall Westminster

April 17th 2014

We are grateful to The MHP Partnership and Rummey Design for supporting this event.

MHP ABOUT The civic society movement dates back to 1846 when the world’s first civic society was created in Sid Vale in Devon. Lord Duncan Sandys gave the movement a stronger, national voice in 1957 when he created the Civic Trust. Bringing the civic movement together under a national body enabled it to grow into one of the country’s most important social movements. The annual lecture will recognise Lord Sandys’ outstanding contribution to the civic movement across England and each year a speaker will consider challenges facing the movement. Civic Voice is delighted that Lord Sandys’ daughter and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Civic Societies, Laura Sandys MP will give the first lecture. Laura’s talk will be entitled “Power to the People”. Civic Voice will also use the first lecture to launch a publication telling the story of the civic movement.

BIOGRAPHY OF LORD SANDYS Duncan Edwin Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys, was a British politician and minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s. As Minister of Housing from 1954, he introduced the Clean Air Act and in 1955 encouraged local authorities around the country to consider protecting land around their towns and cities by the formal designation of clearly defined green belts. Amongst his other interests was historic architecture. He formed the Civic Trust in 1957 and was its President. The Royal Institution of British Architects made him an honorary Fellow in 1968, and the Royal Town Planning Institute made him an honorary member.

LAURA SANDYS MP Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Civic Societies

POWER TO THE PEOPLE ______

"It is such an honour to have been asked to speak at the inaugural Sandys Lecture. Civic groups really can transform communities. I, like my father, am so proud to be supporting the civic society movement with the fantastic work they are doing in my constituency and right across the UK”.

Laura Sandys MP

BIOGRAPHY OF LAURA SANDYS

Laura Sandys MP is the Conservative Member of Parliament for South Thanet. In Parliament, Laura was first appointed to the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee and, until recently, was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Greg Barker MP, Minister for Climate Change.

Laura has worked in various policy environments. Most notably, she was Chair of the board at Open Democracy, a Trustee of Open University and Deputy Chairman of the Civic Trust. She previously worked for the Consumers’ Association. She is currently focused on consumer policy, energy security, the green economy and our relationship with the European Union

RUNNING ORDER

Registration commences at 2pm with guests needing to be seated by 2.15pm at the latest.

2pm Guests arrive 2.15 Guests are seated 2.30 Civic Voice Chair, Dr Freddie Gick Civic Voice President, Griff Rhys Jones (Chair) 2.40 Power to the People - Laura Sandys MP, Chair of the APPG for Civic Societies 3.30 Official Launch of the History of the Civic Movement Publication - Griff Rhys Jones and Laura Sandys MP 3.35 A word from our sponsor - Robert Rummey, Rummey Design 3.45 Guests mingling and photo opportunities

ABOUT CIVIC VOICE

Civic Voice is the national charity for the civic movement. We work to make the places where everyone lives more attractive, enjoyable and distinctive and to promote civic pride. We speak up for civic societies and local communities across England. We believe everyone should live somewhere they can be proud of and we know how people feel about places because we feel the same way. Civic societies are the most numerous participants in the planning system. Since its launch in April 2010, Civic Voice has been joined by over 290 civic societies with 75,000 members.

Further information is available at http://www.civicvoice.org.uk including how to join Civic Voice (£10 individuals) and contact details for local civic societies.

Civic Voice 60 Duke Street Liverpool, L1 5AA

T: 0151 707 4319 E: [email protected] W: www.civicvoice.org.uk Twitter: @civic_voice