Swindon Railway Village named as England’s Favourite Conservation Area for 2018

Swindon Railway Village managed to beat Port Sunlight conservation area, another example of a model industrial village in Merseyside and the Georgian city centre in Lichfield, which came second and third.

Civic Voice – the national authoritative voice for the civic and conservation movement – declared Swindon Railway Village Conservation Area as the nation’s Favourite Conservation Area at an awards event on Friday 20th October 2018.
Laura Sandys, Vice-president of Civic Voice said; “Swindon Railway village was built shortly after the Great Western Railway works established in 1841 to house the workers and their families. Those people didn’t just build a railway, but a community.”
Swindon Railway Village beat off a challenge from 17 other conservation areas shortlisted. The top 3 were (1) Swindon Railway Village Conservation Area, (2) Port Sunlight Conservation Area and (3) Lichfield City Centre Conservation Area.

Joan Humble, Chair of Civic Voice said: “When we decided to launch England’s Favourite Conservation Area, we wanted to use it to test the enthusiasm people have for the place where they live. To get people talking about why conservation areas matter. What it has turned out to be is something truly amazing. It has surpassed all our expectations at Civic Voice. We received 249 entries from across the country and from announcing the shortlist to announcing the winner, we received just under 16,000 votes in 14 days. People do care about where they live. I look forward to visiting each of the winners at some point soon with Civic Voice.”

Ian Harvey, Executive Director of Civic Voice said; “512 conservation areas are at risk across England and we cannot get away from the fact that with decreasing numbers of conservation staff, the problem is likely to get worse before it gets better. We want England’s Favourite Conservation Area to showcase the positive and importance of the historic environment”.

Laura Sandys finished by saying; “We know that dozens of conservation areas will be celebrating 50th anniversaries in the next few years, so our plan is to run this again. This could be our alternative to Britain in Bloom? This could be something that towns and villages inspire to win and use it as a focus to make the case for the historic environment. Communities should be making the case with conservation officers to apply in 2019. I applaud all the 18 shortlisted area for participating in award to make this civic idea come to life. I look forward to seeing what is nominated in 2019.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

• Civic Voice is the authoritative voice of the civic movement and represents 75,000 individual members affiliated to 275 civic groups across England. More information at http://www.civicvoice.org.uk
• The vote was part of The Big Conservation Conversation by Civic Voice to raise awareness about areas of historic interest and encourage communities to celebrate and protect those at risk.
• To find out more about the railway village visit the Swindon Civic Voice website at swindoncivicvoice.co.uk.
The final list count for the full shortlist is:

1. Swindon GWR Railway Village Conservation Area (Number of votes) 3459
2. Port Sunlight Conservation Area 2313
3. Lichfield City Centre Conservation Area 2008
4. Mitcham Cricket Green Conservation Area 1395
5. Stamford Conservation Area 1218
6. Elsecar Conservation Area 841
7. Richmond (North Yorkshire) 833
8. Tiverton Conservation Area 665
9. Brentham Garden Suburb 584
10. Kasbah, Port of Grimsby Conservation Area 500
11. Deal – Middle Street Conservation Area 484
12. Chester Canal Conservation Area 326
13. Cockermouth Conservation Area 231
14. Winsham Conservation Area 198
15. Wolverton Milton Keynes 178
16. Central Core Conservation Area 171
17. Dalby Square Conservation Area 153
18. Boston Town Centre Conservation Area 43

FURTHER INFORMATION
Ian Harvey .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
T: 07877096968