so much that civic societies do is hard to quantify. But let me give you a couple of examples:hairybuddha wrote:These all sound like great initiatives and I was already aware of most of it. Does SydSoc have any kind of impact assessment function? i.e would these things have not happened without it? What difference did the group make?
If Syd Soc and FH Soc had not campaigned on the pool, would we have the £13m swimming pool on Dartmouth Road? I doubt it. This alone should demonstrate the impact, but one must also consider the number of businesses that have opened as a result of the pool reopening.
If FH Soc had not invested in setting up a market (hundreds of pounds initial outlay and that was cheap), I don't think we would have a butcher or deli in Forest Hill today. For a few hundred quid that is a great impact. Would they have opened anyway? Who knows - I doubt it?
If FH Soc and Syd Soc had not worked on the bid to Lewisham to back the Portas Bid we would not have had £80k-£220k coming into our town centres to make it better.
And if Syd Soc had not worked so hard on the Sydenham Road improvements them I doubt £3m would have been spent on this work (despite opposition from a small minority).
These are just a few items that do have a significant impact. But it is really difficult to quantify. If I had to quantify it, then the total over the last few years is well over £16m directly spent on improving the local area. But the unfairness is that it does not recognised the contribution of others outside the societies (councillors, other residents, etc) who were also involved in making these things happen. It would be unfair for the civics to claim the full responsibility of the £16m investment, and yet who can put a price on protecting the Greyhound or seeing a butcher open?
I understand your point of view a bit better now, but it is really difficult to make things work in this way, and the last thing you want is to be reliant of a few large donors who do not represent the interests of the majority.hairybuddha wrote:My comment about memberships being old fashioned was not an attempt to annoy anyone. I would actually be far more inclined to become a member for no charge and contribute by donations, either to a group as a whole or to specific campaigns. From someone like me that would be worth much more than £6.50 to the group. Charging for membership feels oddly elitist for a group that seeks to be representative.
What were you wearing Mary?