CIVIC PRIDE

Tony Burton left his role at the National Trust to embark on the directorship of the Civic Society Initiative, a one-year project to consult with civic societies, non-governmental organizations, politicians and civil servants to establish what the civic movement required to carry its work into the future. The culmination of this piece of research came a month ago, with the launch of charity Civic Voice. Unlike its much larger predecessor, Civic Voice has a budget of only around L180,000 a year. To date, the charity has only signed up 160 civic societies, but Burton is optimistic about the future. We want to be a new voice on issues relating to public realm, planning, design, architecture, place and community.