Heritage Trust Goes European

The Welwyn Garden Heritage Trust was recently invited to send a representative to an EU project in Paris based on the importance of Garden Cities throughout the Community. As it turned out Welwyn Garden was the only UK town to turn up out of all those contacted.

The meeting took place in St. Denis opposite The Stade de France, which is just to the north of central Paris, and involved people from Belgium, Germany, The Czech Republic, Hungary and France. There are numerous garden cities across Europe all based on the original ideas of Ebenezer Howard but adapted to create green havens in cities such as Paris and Budapest. The two themes of the meeting were “Tourism & Culture”, looking at how garden cities could work together to promote their towns and increase tourism, and “Garden Cities and Sustainability”, which concerns combining all the main features of the garden city concept with the need to create sustainable communities for the future. As part of the meeting delegates were taken on a tour of one of the ‘garden cities’ in St Denis.

The Heritage Trust was represented by Tony Skottowe who expressed delight at meeting such a diverse group of people all absolutely committed to the ideas of the original Garden City Movement that emerged in the UK at the end of the 19th century. “It was great talking to people of so many nationalities all of whom know just how important Ebenezer Howard’s ideas have been and who are determined to push his model as a solution for the future”, he said. “I just hope this might be the start of linking all the garden cities in Europe together so we can show everyone just what great places they are”, he continued. If you are interested in further information it can be found on the Trust’s website www.welwyngarden-heritage.org.

Editors: For further information call 01707 324828 or 0789 196 3469