Michael Brooks – an appreciation

Long time CPRE Bedfordshire supporters will be as saddened as we were to hear of the death of Michael Brooks.

Michael was instrumental in founding CPRE Bedfordshire in 1987 and was also our first Chair, holding the post for eight years. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.

Here friends from CPRE Bedfordshire and National CPRE share their memories.

Peter Scott

When I joined the Branch Committee in 2001 I had been a member of CPRE for about two years and had seen some of the editions of Bedfordshire Matters produced by Michael – the title he himself had created with its dual meaning i.e. matters concerning Bedfordshire and the vocative Bedfordshire really matters! I’m pretty certain that rather than being just the editor he was also the only contributor. The layout was very simple with a few line drawings which I believe were produced by Michael’s wife. However simple or not the content was beautifully written and created a comprehensive overview of the work of the county branch Michael had himself founded.

After Michael’s retirement perhaps in awe no one came forward to carry on production of the journal and at my first branch meeting I bemoaned this fact and went to some lengths to express its value in projecting the branch image. At this all eyes turned to me conveying the message “if you’re so enthusiastic then maybe you should take it on” – which I did. Michael’s fine example guided my rather shaky prowess in the early editions as I endeavoured to be his worthy successor and so inspired I went on to edit the journal for ten years.

Michael Monk

I knew Michael for over 12 years during my tenure of first the chair of the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Branch and then as chair of the East of England Regional Group. Michael’s background as a town planner and his commonsense and advice provided a really sound basis for many a discussion and decision making. In recent years his adroit lead on the complex issues raised by the Oxford-Cambridge Arc was invaluable to the whole of CPRE. He will be greatly missed.

Paul Miner, Acting Director of Campaigns and Policy, CPRE

Michael was a great contributor to CPRE and a real pleasure to work with. We particularly valued Michael’s role with the Ox-Cam working group as his active chairing was critical in getting us to campaign on the issue in a collaborative and effective manner. I don’t think we can quite yet say at this stage that we have seen off OxCam but nonetheless we have been prominent and influential, and much of that has been down to him.

Michael was also the key person in CPRE for delivering training to local volunteers on engaging with planning for many years, and he was also a key supporter of our brownfield campaign (then called ‘Sprawl Patrol’) as one of the Bedfordshire and regional activists in the early 2000s. Both I personally and several of my national colleagues greatly benefited from the common sense, solutions-focused approach that Michael took and I very much hope and expect that CPRE will continue to follow that approach in future.

Alice Crampin

Right from the outset he displayed the combination of qualities that made him the Inspiration and mainstay of the branch in its formative years. He had the vision to see what the branch could accomplish and how it might do it, he had the networking skills to bring in the right people for different aspects of the work, and he had the attention to detail that led to the branch becoming a respected player in the eyes of the local professional planners. Indeed, Michael obtained a professional planning qualification himself a few years later. He also had the capacity for immensely hard work.

Michael started the newsletter and oversaw the setting up of district groups. He ran courses to give volunteers the necessary skills to contribute effectively. But he also made sure he was not a one man band, so that the branch had a future even when he stepped back. When this did eventually occur – with non-disruptive gradualness- his blueprint for the organisation remained. I think it could perhaps be summed up as “Keep the discourse civil at all times and Know Your Stuff”.