Reducing The Risks
The limited level of statutory protection that registered battlefields receive means that there is relatively limited direct impact that English Heritage can have on their future. They are nevertheless significant historical sites to which English Heritage attaches great importance. It will therefore do everything it can to reduce the number of sites whose historical significance is currently at risk. It will also continue to encourage greater access to battlefields and improve their amenity value. Books, trails, guided walks and interpretation panels all help to increase visitors' appreciation of the impact these historic events had on our development as a nation.
What will English Heritage do to reduce the risk of loss?
- Work with owners to develop management plans for registered sites on the basis of a model template
- Work with owners to ensure that metal detecting activities are undertaken on a responsible basis
- Work with Defra to encourage the conversion from arable to pasture of especially sensitive locations, for instance mass grave sites
- Rewrite the guidance on the designation of battlefields as part of government's programme for Heritage Protection reform
- Encourage the establishment of local 'friends of battlefields' groups
- Consider assisting in the funding of battlefield management plans
What can local authorities do to reduce the risk of loss?
- Designate registered battlefields as conservation areas to provide further protection
- Ensure that registered battlefields are explicitly taken into account in Local Development Frameworks
- Encourage owners to develop footpaths and interpretation along key site lines and to create good vantage points
- Notify the Battlefields Trust of planning applications affecting the setting of registered sites
