I am delighted to have been elected as the new chairman of Oxford Civic Society. The society has a very successful record of influencing change in ways that have benefited the city. My aim is to continue to do this, particularly at a time which is challenging for the city and its region.

It is my intention that the society will continue to question the need for piecemeal development, social inequality, mediocre building stock, traffic congestion, dysfunctional governance and the lack of a far-sighted vision for the city and its region.

Oxford Civic Society owes its foundation, in 1969, to the determination of a small group of enthusiasts to prevent destructive, traffic-attracting proposals for Oxford inner relief roads.

Rather than seeing wholesale clearance of inner city residential areas and the loss of historic streetscape, the society campaigned for the Balanced Transport Policy which included park and ride car parks, bus lanes on radial roads and controlled parking zones.

Campaigning for better integrated transport systems for both road and rail users and also for pedestrians and cyclists (I am an enthusiastic cyclist), is high on my future agenda.

Over its 48 years, the society has expanded the scope of its activities to its current overarching objective of making Oxford and its wider region, a better place to live in, to work in, or to visit.

As an experienced planner, I will ensure the society continues to campaign for better strategic and individual planning decisions.

We will provide a constant challenge to the proposals of developers to effect local housing policies and the future of the city-region’s economy while protecting its environment.

The society also has a number of socially led activities which we plan to expand including talks and visits to places of interest, possibly drawing on knowledge and experience from other cities across UK and Europe. It will continue to organise the annual OxClean spring clean and support the Blue Plaques scheme.

In the words of the outgoing chairman, Peter Thompson: “Oxford and its region could be even more wonderful than it is, and for many more, if we get things right.”

It is my key priority to lead the society to ‘get it right’.

We will continue to think outside the box, challenge received wisdom to contribute constructively to ‘get it right’.

We will contribute towards achieving consensus on Oxfordshire local government reorganisation and ensuring that contentious county-wide economic and housing growth targets can be accommodated without damaging our world famous heritage, our Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, our Green Belt and our rural villages that have no wish to grow.

We will not have much of a future without getting these immediate priorities right.

This is an ambitious outlook for a society that is a completely voluntary charity, all the Society’s activities over its 48 years have been driven by its members, upwards, not by top-down policy-making. We exist to give concerned members of the public a voice.

As chairman, I will be personally encouraging those who are not already members, to join the society and help to make Oxford and its region a better place for everyone to live in, work in or visit.

I invite anyone interested in learning more about the society or how they might be involved in its work to contact me at info@oxcivicsoc.org.uk