RIPON CIVIC SOCIETY BOUNDARIES

The Chairman has written the following letter to a number of local parish councils, setting out how the Society will interact with them as we extend our boundaries:

• 
  At our Annual General Meeting in November the members of Ripon Civic Society voted to change its constitution so that our ‘area of interest’ was changed from ‘the City of Ripon’ to ‘the City of Ripon and surrounding area.’ The change has been approved by the Charity Commission and means that for the first time the Society will be able to make its voice heard, where appropriate, on planning and environmental matters outside the city. I enclose our current leaflet to give you a flavour of what we do.
  
  The purpose of this letter is to assure you that it is not our intention to comment on matters within your parish without regard to local feeling. What we aim to do is to be available to you to offer our help and advice on significant matters that you feel would benefit from wider support.
  
  So if your council would like us to discuss important planning matters with you, please let us know, and if we feel we are able, we will add our voice to yours. Of course, we cannot guarantee that we shall always see eye to eye with you, but we shall ensure that we have all the facts before we make any public comment on a matter.
  
  The change also means that for the first time our Annual Awards will be open to projects outside the city of Ripon. The Awards are held each year in October, and around Easter-time we begin to look for the winners. So if you have any developments or projects that have been completed within the three years up to 30 April 2011 that you think could be considered for awards, we should be pleased to hear. You can find a complete list of the Award categories – and other information about the Society – on our website – http://www.riponcivicsociety.org.uk/.
  
  Please let me know if you have any comments or questions about these changes, or if you want more information about the Awards. We look forward to working with you.