English Heritage has developed a training strategy aimed at developing skills and supporting all those involved in historic environment management, in order to meet the challenges of Heritage Protection Reform, now and in the future.
Delivery of the strategy involves working with partners to develop a range of activities, projects and guidance to promote learning.
Heritage Protection Reform - Training Strategy
The Strategy aims to:
- explore ways in which best practice, in line with Heritage Protection Reform (HPR), can be implemented
- support those responsible for making decisions affecting the management of our national and local heritage assets
- facilitate sustainable learning, where expertise and best practice is shared within and beyond the heritage sector
The HPR training events are tailored to the needs of Local Authority Historic Environment Staff, the Planning Sector, Elected Members and community groups.
Training began in February 2009 with Heritage Partnership Agreement (HPA) training events. In 2010 we ran further courses particularly on Planning Policy Statement 5 (PPS5) with a series of events and workshops on how to use PPS5 in heritage decision making.
The training timetable is led by the development of guidance and evaluation of pilot projects and dates will be published through HELM.
Local Authority Resources
A comprehensive assessment of local authority resources was carried out in 2009 and 2010 with the Local Government Association (LGA), the Association of Local Government Archaeologists (ALGAO) and the Institute of Historic Buildings Conservation (IHBC). These are the most detailed studies yet about the current and future resource needs of the sector.
Historic Environment Records
We are working to support local authorities to enhance Historic Environment Records (HERs) to a consistent standard. A case study document published in 2010 and the conclusion of the HER21 scheme in March 2011, will be followed by HER events to demonstrate how HERs can used in planning and decision making and be developed utilising local community contributions.
Local designation
Local authorities will be encouraged by PPS5 and English Heritage guidance to explore the benefits of local lists, which will form part of the Historic Environment Record.
Local designation training events will follow the guidance focusing on how to develop local lists and designation critieria to use in the local decision-making process. The draft guidance, A Good Practice Guide to Local Listing, is currently out for consultation (which ends on 13th May 2011). The guidance will be published in late 2011.
