Key Findings

• The historic environment makes a fundamental contribution to the character and public appeal of the countryside and its settlements.
  
  
• Most of our countryside heritage – whether buildings, monuments or areas – is privately owned , which emphasises the important contribution the private sector makes to conserving our heritage.
  
  
• Market towns have been important beneficiaries of heritage-led regeneration schemes over the last 20 years. The Heritage Lottery Fund has given £860 million to projects of all kinds located in English rural areas.
  
  
• There are major pressures for change on the traditional farm building stock as a result of changes in farming methods and the decline in profitability of agriculture. Almost a third of listed working farm buildings have already been converted to other uses, the majority to residential use, while large numbers of agricultural buildings are well on the way to becoming derelict.
  
  
• Nearly half of the historic parkland recorded in 1918 had been lost by the close of the 20th century. In some places, these losses have been as high as 70 per cent.
  
  
• Agri-environment schemes make an increasingly important contribution to conservation of the historic environment. They are a principal source of funing for the management of rural archaeological sites, parkland and some traditional farm buildings.
  
  
• Owners of historic assets face major challenges in securing their upkeep. At 70 privately owned historic houses open to the public, £66 million worth of repair and restoration work was outstanding in 2005, of which £20 million was urgent.
  
  
• 60 per cent of all Anglican parish churches are located within rural areas. £163 million is needed to meet their repair needs, including £147 million needed for listed church buildings.
  
  
• The nine National Parks and 36 Areas of Outstanding National Beauty contain over 10,000 scheduled monuments, over 43,000 listed buildings and over 300 registered landscapes.
  
  
• The countryside is still a favourite destination for tourists. The outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2001 showed that, to a great extent, the rural economy is now supported by tourism.
  
  
• The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 has increased public access to the heritage. 26,000 historic sites are situated on publicly-accessible land.
  
  
• The shortage of craft skills is particularly acute in the countryside. Dry-stone walling, thatching, millwrighting, earth walling and flint-knapping traditions are seriously threatened. According to the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the National Farmers’ Union , more than two-thirds of farmers said that there were no skilled builders or thatchers within ten miles of their farms.