Historian will address parking and planning in election bid
A DERBY historian with a passion for buildings has announced he will be standing as a Conservative candidate in May's local elections.
Maxwell Craven will stand in the Littleover ward and said he would be outspoken against unsuitable housing developments in the area.
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solutions: Maxwell Craven is standing in Littleover.
"I think, in general, the attitude to historic buildings in Derby over the last 15 years has been deplorable," he said.
"There has been a problem in the city and in Littleover of old homes on large plots of land being demolished to make way for flats."
Mr Craven currently sits on the city's Conservation Area Advisory Committee which scrutinises planning applications for the city's listed buildings and for those in conservation areas.
The committee can make recommendations to the council but has no power to enforce them.
Mr Craven said that, if he is successful in Littleover, he would look forward to being on the other side of the planning process.
"It can be a frustration that we make recommendations and they are quite often ignored, so it would be good to be able to deal with the applications from the other side, as a councillor," he said.
He also heads up a committee which is revising the city's record of listed buildings and seeing if others should be added.
And Mr Craven, who has lived in Littleover since 1974, said he would not be afraid to speak out on issues he felt strongly about.
That includes Exeter House, a block of flats on the banks of the River Derwent which Labour wanted to demolish but the Lib Dems decided to save. City Conservatives have been critical of the decision to spend money on saving and refurbishing the building.
But Mr Craven said his views that the building was worth saving had not changed.
"You need consistency and I am not about to change my mind," he said. "I will speak up on things I feel passionate about."
As well as planning issues, Mr Craven will also be campaigning on issues such as parking problems in Littleover which were caused when the Royal Derby Hospital opened.
Mr Craven said: "I often think there are logical solutions to things and in this case it would make sense for parking to be created using the land owned by the Mental Health Trust in Kingsway. It would just be about getting the two hospital trusts talking."
Conservative group leader in the city, Harvey Jennings, said he was delighted to have Mr Craven on board the election campaign.
"Maxwell is a quality candidate who is well-known throughout the city and he will do an brilliant job for the residents of Littleover if elected," he said.
7 Comments
by Tony, France
Friday, February 12 2010, 2:16PM
“I agree with Chris, Derby (9 Feb). Being from Derby and now an occasional visitor, and reading some of the previous reader commenmts, it is clear to me that Derby has got what many deserve. The continual destruction of the City since the 1950's, with few saving graces, by poor and wrong decisions by the planning authorities is beyond belief. I wish Mr Craven's candidature well so that he will be able to have an even stronger role for the good of the City and District.”
by Chris, Derby
Tuesday, February 09 2010, 3:44PM
“Maxwell is right in what he says as there has been a long period of neglect to our heritage and some very viable buildings that would have placed Derby high up on the National Heritage tour guide have long gone. There will always be some numpty who thinks that high rise buildings are attractive and make a city "look modern" - like many cities Derby started down this path in the 1960s but stopped at only a few high rise blocks of flats. Other cities are still in the process of pulling down the high rise slum blocks, we were fortunate to have avoided the problem and actually turned Friar Gate into a conservation area instead of pulling it all down to make way for tower blocks.
Maxwell will of course have to deal with any of the remaining remnants of the 1960s Dinosaurs who want to see our city jammed up with high rise future slums.”
by Pitt, The Younger
Monday, February 08 2010, 3:52PM
“Well he won't get Dragon's, John's or Voice of Reason's vote, unless he offers him a piggy-back to the polling station - after gritting the pavement outside his home and personally explaining all his policies.”
by Chris, S. Derbyshire
Monday, February 08 2010, 2:43PM
“Well this will mess-up the Conservative vote!!? I thought we had all the twerps already on the Council in the Lib Dems? Conservative friends please, please rethink this move unless you want the Labour lot back!!!”
by Sean, Derby
Monday, February 08 2010, 1:34PM
“We dont want him he never lets anything get built in Derby. He is always against progress. I am all for saving old buildings, but this guy goes too far and wont let anything 7 storeys high get built in the city center because it will change the face of the skyline of Derby, well dont you think it is well overdue anyway to see the skyline of Derby change as it has not changed much in the past 40 odd yrs.”
by Nicola Rippon, Littleover/Mickleover
Monday, February 08 2010, 12:21PM
“I think we can rest assured that once the other parties introduce their new candidates the Telegraph will be introducing them to us. And, once the election is called, there are strict guidelines regarding equal coverage to all candidates/parties by which all media organisations have to abide.”
by Tom, London
Monday, February 08 2010, 11:01AM
“I look forward to reading similarly full accounts of ALL the Labour, Lib Dem, Green, UKIP, BNP and any other party or independent candidates who will be standing in Littleover ward. Wouldn't do for the DET to be displaying editorial bias now, would it?”