Matthew outlines his vision for the Kingston upon Thames Society in his manifesto. He wants the Society to do more to protect local buildings and spaces, celebrate Kingston's heritage, and enhance the borough. This includes getting more buildings listed, campaigning on important planning issues, organizing tours and events, and supporting specific improvement projects. Matthew also discusses ways to increase membership involvement, raise awareness of the Society, engage with local organizations and authorities, and improve internal processes. The overall goal is for the Society to build its capacity and work collaboratively to better protect, promote, and enhance Kingston.

1. Matthew’s
Manifesto
Kingston upon Thames Society
Wednesday 18 February 15

2. This is what I am going to talk
about
Something about me
The sorts of buildings and places
that I like
Things I like and dislike about
Kingston
What all this means for the
Society

3. Let’s talk about me!
But only for a little while

4. I moved to Kingston in ‘87

5. I work as an IT/Management
Consultant
I have worked
for Dorset
County Council,
Logica, as a
freelance, IBM,
Charteris,
London Borough
of Lambeth,
Logica (again)
and am now at
CGI

6. MC is about people, process
and technology

7. I was a governor at The
Mount for over ten years
The school improved a lot in that
time, mainly because we
appointed the right Head
I was Chair of Governors for
several years
Relationships with councillors
were generally good and with
officers generally bad

8. Some of the things
that I like
Do you know where they are?

9. Grand public spaces

10. Small public spaces

11. Attractive pedestrian routes

12. Narrow lanes to explore

13. Trains, trams and buses

14. Modern buildings

15. Quirky buildings

16. Funky bridges

17. Street art

18. Some personal
thoughts on Kingston
The good, the bad and the
indifferent

19. Out of Order is brilliant

20. Kingston Station is a
problem in several ways

21. Surbiton Station is a gem

22. Canbury Gardens could be
so much better

23. How did this happen?

24. The Ancient Market gives
the town a centre

25. The riverside is a good
place to walk

26. Tolworth Tower is an icon

27. What all this means for
the Society
What we do and how we do it

28. This is what I think the
Society is here to do
Protect the things we like about
Kingston
Celebrate them so that they can
be appreciated by more people,
which in turn helps their
protection
Enhance Kingston to make it a
better place to live

29. These are the things that
we do now
Protect
 Monitor planning applications
Celebrate
 Run the Heritage Open Days
 Open Coombe Conduit
 Give Townscape Awards
Enhance
 Support good development schemes
and suggest changes to poor ones

30. These are some things I
would like to see us try
 Protect
 Get more buildings listed, e.g. ACVs
 Campaign more on the schemes we feel strongly about
(good or bad)
 Improve the planning application process
 Celebrate
 More visits to good buildings like the Quaker Centre
 Design walking tours of the main sites
 Join Open House
 Build a photo library of our best buildings and places
 Enhance
 Support specific projects, e.g. Canbury Gardens
Bandstand

31. To do more, we would need
more people to be involved
Members to think of projects and
contribute to them
Public and local organisations to
work with us on campaigns
Councillors and officers to make the
right decisions for the Borough
National organisations for guidance
Media to spread our message

32. I want to improve the
dialogue with our members
 More meetings
and more types of
meetings
 More emails
 More online tools
like Facebook and
Twitter
 More chance for
you to hear from
us and for us to
hear from you

33. I want more people to know
about us
 Our website has
been restructured
and has more
content, e.g. our
comments on
planning
applications
 We will send more
letters to
newspapers and
write more press
releases

34. I want us to engage more
with councillors and officers
 Cllr. David
Cunningham is
RBK’s appointed
link to the
Society, we need
to use that
 We have two
meetings with
officers scheduled
 We are arranging
a meeting with
the Leader of the
Council re TOPO

35. I want us to use the
expertise of organisations
 English Heritage are
the custodians of
Coombe Conduit and of
the Heritage Open Days
 Civic Voice are the
national charity for the
civic movement in
England
 London Forum is a
charity established to
protect and improve the
quality of life of people
in London

36. I want us to work better
with the local newspapers
 The local
newspapers are
very good at
covering local
stories
 We are not so
good at giving
them decent
stories to tell
 We need to
understand them
better to improve
our coverage

37. I want us to think about our
organisation too
Does the structure and
membership of the committee
match what we are trying to do
as a Society?
Can we delegate some things,
e.g. visits, to members who are
not on the committee?

38. I want us to improve our
internal processes
Continue to refine the process for
reviewing the weekly list
Monitor RBK meetings so we can
intervene on items that concern us
Define, and publish, what the
Society thinks is good and bad
Plan events like Townscape Awards
to allow more time for member
involvement

39. Matthew’s Manifesto means
Building our own capacity and
using that of other groups so that
we can do more things
Improving our ways of working so
that we can do things better
Above all, it means
communication, dialogue and co-
operation