Shaftesbury Civic Society is to shut down next month in the hope that its historic passion for planning excellence can be reborn in a different format.

The society was formed in 1964 to challenge plans to demolish shops on the south side of Shaftesbury High Street – it succeeded. Over the years, it has pored over planning applications, protested at hundreds of meetings and generally sought to keep the town attractive, enjoyable and distinctive, all the while demanding better standards in new builds.

And such a body is now needed more than ever, says outgoing chairman Jackie Upton King, but with new skills to tackle new problems.
“The planning system is going further and further away from the community, is less and less democratic and driven at any cost to meet national housing targets,” she said. “There are poor quality developments: it’s all down to numbers.”

An ageing board and onerous red tape due to the society’s charitable status and need for trustees is not a great incentive for people to get involved, she says.

“The board of trustees carries with it legal responsibilities and we have found that people don’t want to have that responsibility.”

Secondly, new IT and planning architecture skills “with youth and vigour are needed to take on this badly needed role,” she added. Being unable to meet during covid-19 has not helped. During that time, members were asked to volunteer for committee, trustee or office roles but the appeal was unsuccessful, adding to the decision to fold.
Jackie also worries that the cohort of people able to volunteer is getting smaller and smaller, with people working longer so not being free to contribute.

She said: “The trustees have spent quite a lot of time going through options and came to the conclusion that this is the only successful way forward at this time.”

The hope is that a new organisation, a sort of town forum, will emerge to examine planning applications and represent residents.

“Because the planning system is now so rigid and centrally controlled, it needs somebody to work through the legal paragraphs and to go through Dorset Council’s new Local Plan point by point,” says Jackie.

The trustees are expected to hold their final meeting in March and are still working on two outstanding applications, that of the plan to build at Enmore Court and on the land south of the A30 designated for business.

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