Prioritising Heritage - Working better together

The Power of Place and Force for our Future reports together represented a watershed for the heritage sector. They mapped out the contribution that the historic environment makes to quality of life, and identified a clear agenda for action by the sector and across Government.

Some real achievements have been made since 2000, including progress on the Heritage Protection Review, the establishment of Heritage Link and the annual publication of the Heritage Counts reports, but more is needed accelerate progress. New opportunities and challenges for the sector have emerged, such as the sustainable communities agenda, regionalisation, efficiency reviews of statutory heritage bodies and a tight spending round.

The need for clear and shared priorities between Government, its agencies and the sector is clear.

The Heritage Forum is an annual meeting of the former Historic Environment Review Steering Group attended by senior figures across the historic environment, natural environment and museums sectors and the Minister for Heritage. It met in April 2004 and agreed five priorities for action by the heritage sector.

The priorities ‘refresh’ rather than ‘re-invent’ those set out in Power of Place and A Force for Our Future. They represent an ambitious programme of work around which Government and the sector can work together.

Endorsing the approach, Lord McIntosh (Minister for Heritage) said:

“Our vision is to put the historic environment at the very heart of our national life.  Promoting this requires more than warm words and grand statements – it demands action. I have recently announced the action we are taking with you, our partners in the heritage sector, to modernise the way we protect and manage our heritage. Delivery of these shared priorities for 2004 will take us a step further with turning the vision into a reality.”

Each priority is outlined below and is being overseen by a ‘champion’ who will maintain a watching brief on progress and report to the Historic Environment Review Executive Committee (HEREC). HEREC, which meets quarterly, is a grouping of government, voluntary and private sector representatives with a stake in the historic environment. It exists to monitor and take forward the historic environment agenda, oversee the preparation of the annual Heritage Counts reports and provide a general heritage-proofing role. Progress overall will be reviewed by the next Heritage Forum in 2005.

1. Broadening Access and Inclusion - Develop a sector-wide programme of action to enhance access and inclusion to the historic environment.

• Develop the heritage sector’s expertise in tackling issues of access and inclusion.
• Demonstrate progress in broadening access and inclusion, particularly by developing approaches to measurement and monitoring.
• Make recommendations to encourage organisations within the sector to become inclusive organisations internally as well as externally.
• Identify priorities within the heritage sector.
• Disseminate research.
• Create a central repository for research and information in inclusion and access within the historic environment.

Champion: Deborah Lamb, English Heritage (deborah.lamb@english-heritage.org.uk).

 

2. Collecting evidence of need and benefit - Develop a shared sense of our priorities, clear evidence of the need for support and the benefits this support will provide.

• Through the UK Historic Environment Research Group (UKHERG) develop a sector-wide research strategy focusing on needs and benefits (by end 2004).
• Share the lessons and methodologies for needs assessment and assess the next steps forward arising from the current work under way for HLF (Autumn 2004).
• Explore the relevance of Biodiversity Action Plans to the development of similar plans for heritage (by Autumn 2004, through a meeting of the UK HERG group).
• Develop a set of historic environment indicators for inclusion in Heritage Counts 2004 (for publication November 2004). 

Champion: Judy Cligman, Heritage Lottery Fund (judithc@hlf.org.uk).

 

3. Modernising sector skills and working culture - Ensure the skills and competencies needed to engage new audiences and run a modern heritage protection system are available. 

• Convene an initial discussion between English Heritage, National Trust and Heritage Link on the focus of future activity (Summer 2004).
• Agree a research project identifying the main skills requirements for the sector and the current gaps in skills provision and how these might be addressed (Autumn 2004). 

Champion: Kate Pugh, Heritage Link (kate.pugh@heritagelink.org.uk).

 

4. Unlocking the potential of local places - Demonstrate and enhance the contribution of the historic environment to local quality of life. 

• Develop a specific heritage sector contribution to the Government’s Sustainable Development Strategy Review (July 2004).
• Launch the National Trust/CPRE/Heritage Link report highlighting the role of the historic environment in developing local identity and community well-being (August 2004).
• Promote the findings of the Heritage Link Funding Group work on the benefits of heritage regeneration (September 2004).
• Host an event exploring experience across the historic environment/environment sector on community engagement and local environmental quality (Autumn 2004). 

Champion: Tony Burton, National Trust (tony.burton@nationaltrust.org.uk).

 

5. Supporting maintenance and repair - Identifying the scale of the maintenance and repair challenge and the most effective mechanisms to address this, including effective action with Government. 

• Launch a report by Maintain Our Heritage on maintenance and repairs issues (September 2004) and take it forward in a dialogue with Government.
• Support SPAB’s annual Maintenance Week (November 2004). 

Champion: Richard Wilkin, Historic Houses Association (richard.wilkin@hha.org.uk).

 

For further information or to get involved, contact one of the champions.