The Aylesbury Society....
caring for all the town's built environment.
In the 1960's as Aylesbury was being 'upgraded' to meet the demands of the 20th century, some of the old parts around the parish church of St Mary's escaped the bulldozers. Remember 'listing' meant little in Aylesbury.
Then in 1974 Prebendal House was threatened with demolition. Was the house to be sold and the estate and grounds broken up? Local residents in nearby St Mary's' Square were concerned and formed the 'Aylesbury Conservation Society'. The building was saved but most of the gardens and grounds were sold for development. Their job done, the new society expanded it’s attention to the whole of Aylesbury, which was systematically being demolished and rebuilt. The Society registered with the Civic Trust and membership grew, with representatives in all parts of the town. The Society were founder members of The Association of North Thames Amenity Societies which now has 20 affiliated societies from Bucks & Herts.
Society as a ‘Planning watchdog’
The Society is a planning ‘watchdog’ for the town.
It has influenced many planning decisions including building the new cinema complex in the town centre rather than on an out of town site. We meet developers including those for the proposed Waterside development and the Nestlé’s site.
The Society has a good working relationship with the planning officers, Town Centre Manager and Town Council. It has a place on the Town Centre Partnership.
The Society introduced a Good Design Award in 1984 to promote aesthetically pleasing buildings in the town both new and refurbished.
The Society has managed to get some surviving buildings listed like the old mill house in Walton parish and the Royal Bucks Hospital. Unfortunately it has failed in other attempts and the buildings have been demolished. A recent achievement, however, was the restoration of Walton Parish pump, which was relocated from the middle of a busy traffic gyratory system to nearby Walton pond.
The Society meets on the last Thursday of each month between September and May in The Friends Meeting House in Rickford's Hill. Occasionally other venues are used with a variety of speakers on related subjects. In June or July, the Society has an annual coach trip to other towns and historic houses. We often meet other Civic Societies for tours of their towns.
The Society now has 270 households on it’s books, far too few for a town with a population of over 60,000 inhabitants. In some respects the Society was born 10 years too late but it still has a useful job to do in the face of the onslaught of developers and some indifferent councillors.
