Chair’s 150th AGM Speech

Address by the 2025 Chair of the Cockburn Association, Dr Lesley Martin
At The Cockburn Association AGM
20 May 2025

What Happens Next: Beyond the 150th Anniversary

Good evening everyone.
“How will Edinburgh look in 1949, or in 2049? Periods far off to us; but they will arrive; and those who live then will wonder how any other periods were cared for”.

What a visionary Lord Cockburn was! These words were contained in his letter of 1849 to then Lord Provost. The words resonate because not only was Lord Cockburn asking a question that invited his readers to imagine the future but because he raised the possibility of choice.

Today, we as citizens of this city have a choice about what we want Edinburgh to become. Lord Cockburn’s passionate view was that the citizens of Edinburgh needed to be engaged in shaping those choices through active stewardship. The unique role of the Cockburn Association is to help facilitate the right conversations about what makes the city special, and where needed, to campaign both for and against development within the overall objective of enhancing the beauty and amenity of the city.

In today’s world, the Association has an added responsibility, to help ensure that as wide a range of voices as possible are heard and listened to, particularly the quieter and less powerful voices.

Although many of you won’t know me, Lesley Martin, I can guarantee that all of you will know one of my recent predecessors, Emeritus Professor Cliff Hague who, as a fellow town planner, asked me in 2022 if I would consider becoming a trustee. Thanks to that offer, I am now standing here and I could not be prouder becoming the Chair of the Cockburn Association, what must be one of the most prestigious charity leadership roles in Scotland.

Looking ahead – what would we like to happen next, beyond our 150th anniversary? Over the next year and more, the Association’s small and hard-working staff team led by Terry Levinthal, will work with the Trustees to develop the vision, strategy and action plans. We look to you to help shape these plans. Our initial thoughts are to focus on themes which have been a feature of our campaigns and which have come up repeatedly: the central theme of quality – of new development, of regeneration, streetscapes and landscapes; the issues surrounding housing, tourism, and transport and movement; and the overarching priority of citizen voice, inclusion and participation. What a responsibility.

In this momentous year, we have a wonderful opportunity to amplify the Cockburn Association’s message, using the symbolism of the anniversary marked by the book Campaigning for Edinburgh as a way of raising awareness and prompting the active stewardship which Lord Cockburn was so passionate about.

You, the members, have a special role to play as ambassadors for the Cockburn Association. I echo our Treasurer’s earlier call for your support in helping grow the membership through your connections, and to strengthen links with other like-minded bodies.

We have a series of key dates coming up. First the arrival of the book in the bookshops on 5 June 2025, although tonight, you are being given an exclusive opportunity to purchase the book in advance. There follows a special event on 19 June, chaired by our President where we will hear directly from the authors and publisher. In the autumn, there will be our annual lecture event and in December, a reception by Edinburgh’s Lord Provost. Punctuating these larger events, we would very much like to see smaller scale events and conversations led by local societies spread across the breadth of Edinburgh. It is important to strengthen the message that the Cockburn is about the whole of Edinburgh, not just the city centre.

I am confident that with your support we can grow our reach and influence still further in the next 150 years. And perhaps, with a salute to Lord Cockburn, let us pose the question, how will Edinburgh look in 2149?
Thank you very much.

[Note: the speech as delivered may have varied in minor details]