Pressure group rises to protect walled town
APRESSURE group which once fought for the interests of Conwy is set to be resurrected amid concerns over the future of the historic town.
The Conwy Civic Society, which also covered Llandudno Junction and Deganwy, worked for years in defence of the area’s economic and built environment.
Founded in 1966, it is one of the earliest civic societies in Wales, but fell into a state of inaction a few years ago due to a lack of membership.
Developments including a possible reduction in the number of Wales’s councils have spurred the group into action once again.
Town councillor and society member Bill Chapman said: “It is now proposed to relaunch the society, and with support from Conwy Town Council it seems likely to be revived in a new proactive form – in time, incidentally, for its 50th anniversary next year.
“The town of Conwy is particularly vulnerable to outside pressure, being a tourist town as well as a historic one.
“The forces of commercial interest are difficult to resist in such a place, but the society has resisted them when necessary, without opposing all change.
“While I have no objection in principle to Conwy and Denbighshire merging, it will mean that planning decisions will be made by people further away from our area.”
The society’s past activities included fighting cases at high-profile public inquiries, attending county council meetings, lobbying and even demonstrating outside the council chamber with placards.
Cllr Chapman said: “For many years, the society monitored, made representations, and invited planning officers, councillors and politicians to address and to listen to the society’s membership.
“By doing so, it acted as a two-way channel of communication, a medium between the decision-making process and public opinion.”
The society was very involved with the question of how to bypass Conwy, and fiercely fought against plans for motorway-sized bridges, which would either have been built beside the castle or at the narrows at Deganwy.
Cllr Chapman said: “The Civic Society acted as a mediating body in promoting a third option – an immersed tube tunnel – and fought for a tunnel at what was then the longest public inquiry ever held.”
A public meeting will be held by the society at the Guildhall in Conwy at 7pm on Wednesday, January 28.
Anna Lermon, project officer at the Civic Trust for Wales, will address the meeting.
“The society will need a range of expert support, from people acquainted with historic buildings, to people with knowledge of how to read plans, to people with a range of IT skills including web design,” said Cllr Chapman.
For more information, call Bill Chapman on 01492 5873420.