The Society’s AGM - 21 march 2006

The Chairman’s Comments

· Need for Civic Pride in Hitchin

· The Threats to Hitchin

· Hitchin needs a united civic organisation as never before.

Civic pride

There are a number of pressing issues that are of concern to all who feel strongly about Hitchin. There is a common theme: there is just not enough civic pride in Hitchin.

Civic pride might well conjure up an image of stuffy Victorian virtues but even now civic pride is important - enabling people to feel good about their town, to appreciate it and to look after it. There is much to be proud about in Hitchin - not just the remarkable historic environment we still have today, but also the sense of community with so many people working together for such a wide range of interests. We are fortunate to have committed Councillors, but they have so little power to influence decisions and to look after our town.

Just one example is the difficulty in resolving the long running issues of poor design and street clutter in the Sun Street and Bucklersbury enhancement scheme. But the wake-up call was the news that our Old Town Hall in Brand Street was to become yet another restaurant and wine bar - I just felt that this important part of our civic heritage should not be simply lost for short term gain. In fact it had been quietly sold off several years ago and nothing more could now be done about it, but can you imagine in any other European country the town hall of a substantial and historic town just being sold off? Surely a modicum of civic pride would have been sufficient to have prevented this.

And then there is Hitchin Museum which the Council wants to close. Yes, the Museum needs updating - it needs disabled access and visitors’ toilets, but these could be done in conjunction with the next door library. Instead the council want a District-wide museum when the essence of the town’s museum is its localness. We believe that at the very least civic pride should make us want to keep the museum telling the story of Hitchin open and accessible in the heart of Hitchin.

Moving on to Hitchin Market - surely the defining test of what is a market town. Hitchin has had one of the most successful markets anywhere in this country but neglect and uncertainty have now resulted in a sorry tale of decline. We have consistently argued for commitment by the council to bring the market area up to a high modern standard - fit for purpose as an open-air market. Instead, we find it inextricably linked to the future of Churchgate with no clarity of what the outcome will be.

But civic pride is not just about conserving existing institutions - it should also be about creating a high quality urban environment for the future. Surely St Mary’s Square should be more than just a car park facing on to Hitchin’s finest building. Instead, with so many flats now being built in the centre of Hitchin, we need a high quality open space for all to enjoy, and where better than St Mary’s Square?

Finally why can’t we have well designed modern buildings to be proud of? With many new buildings being planned and built in the centre of Hitchin why is there so little evidence of civic pride? In Hitchin it is almost as though there is an assumption that it must be in a mock-historic style as though that is the only way to respect the historic environment. We as a Society do not believe that poor quality design can ever be justified by such an unchallenging view of what a historic town needs. Hitchin deserves so much better than what we are seeing today. But that requires leadership and vision, and that is what we are simply not getting.

The threats facing Hitchin

The second theme is the sheer scale of town centre building - a virtual monoculture of flats in ultra-high density developments. Each scheme goes through the planning process, but on-one has it seems ever stood back from it all and asked the question “is this what we want Hitchin to be like?” It is all happening by default and it will change the face of Hitchin forever. As a society we supported the idea of building on brownfield sites in the town centre - more sustainable, near transport and other services, and would reduce pressure on the Green Belt. How wrong we were.

Though the original housing targets that gave rise to west of Stevenage have been met but there is still a determination to push west of Stevenage through. The stakes have been raised in the East of England draft plan with more than 15,000 new houses targeted for North Herts. Still more housing could come our way from the expansion of Luton eastwards into North Herts, all a result of being part of the M11 corridor and at the same time in the South Midlands - quite a feat.

This will have an impact on Hitchin as there will be pressure to expand onto the Green Belt. The lack of infrastructure - rail, road, water and sewerage - is also crucial. The new residents will be commuters, but there are no rail projects to increase capacity from here to London, and water is arguably already at crisis point.

But above all it is the traffic that will be generated. The pressure for building new roads will be enormous. With a new road linking the M1 north of Luton to the A505 this inevitably funnel increased traffic towards Hitchin - and pressure will be for a southern bypass for Hitchin, cutting through Gosmore and St Ippolyts. That would be in effect a new cross-over from the M1 to the A1(M) and just imagine how much new traffic that would attract. If such a road were built there would then be enormous pressure to build out to the bypass - developers are already talking about 8,000 new houses south west of Hitchin. Quiet apart from the damage that would cause, still more traffic would be generated, adding to the problem the road was supposed to solve in the first place. And the plans of Luton Airport to increase passenger numbers from 7½ million/year to 30 million/year will add still further to traffic and pressure for new roads.

A strong Civic Society

Against this background - a shortage of civic pride, and the magnitude of the threats - Hitchin needs a strong civic society to speak up for the town as perhaps never before. A strengthened Hitchin Society would take on that challenge, but possibly some new form of civic organisation is needed. The current response from Hitchin is fragmented, with a number of groups in Hitchin all speaking for the historic and built environment of the town. This inevitably reduces the impact we have, and with the threats facing Hitchin today, we need something more than a number of groups that can be too easily dismissed as small and unrepresentative.

I believe that Hitchin deserves something more than this, and trust that before further irreparable damage is done to our town, we can have a strong and united approach to protecting the character of Hitchin and making it an even better place for the future.

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