A Draft Conservation Manifesto

Making your town “a really good place to live”

  1. Place the protection and enhancement of the Dunbar Conservation Area at the heart of all decisions about local development
    (to ensure its protection for posterity and to encourage Residents to invest and improve the area)
  2. Transfer suitable Council land within the DCA area either to the Common Good and use Funds for protection and enhancement of the DCA or alternatively to the community in the form of a trust
    (and ensure that the Residents can influence development for long term good of the DCA)
  3. Give Residents a prominent voice in local decisions and enforce greater transparency in local planning and decision making 
    (to ensure that Residents participate actively, and ensure their voices are reflected in processes and their views canvassed regularly)
  4. Protect Dunbar’s backlands and gap sites from insensitive ‘improvement’ and further unnecessary development
    (to stop further ‘garden grabbing’ and the progressive reduction in green space, to protect and enhance private and public amenity and reduce pressures on public services)
  5. Create a significant new and permanent Public Civic Garden in a Dunbar backland 
    (to give Residents who may not have a garden, other residents and visitors a quiet and sheltered contemplative green space away from the High Street)
  6. Create Pocket Parks, plant more Street Trees, make more Spaces for Nature
    (to enhance the streetscape for visitors and residents – especially in the town centre and its environs to improve the overall amenity to compensate for the lack of green space and private garden space)
  7. Limit the expansion of the convenience and night time economy and control negative impacts of transport on residents
    (to ensure that the High Street is both more resident friendly than it is today, to attract private investment and stimulate the town’s sustainable regeneration)
  8. As the local population rises reduce the need for motorised and polluting traffic in all forms on the High Street itself and make more space for people
    (to increase safety, reduce noise and atmospheric pollution, make public transport more user friendly and make the streetscape more welcoming and attractive for all users)
  9. Provide Support and Education for owners and occupiers wanting to conserve and enhance their property while making their homes more energy efficient
    (to ensure that improvements protect or enhance the DCA, and the 135 listed buildings etc. e.g. by using appropriate materials, follow accepted guidelines, procedures etc)
  10. Create a Local Heritage & Amenity Society that brings together Local Residents to protect the built and natural environment
    (to create and sustain momentum, attract funding, focusing on protection and enhancement and galvanise action around buildings at risk, to help owners and occupiers manage their own conservation schemes)