The IHBC has welcomed news that Historic England funding that helps support national amenity societies as Statutory Consultees – its National Capacity Building Fund – has been secured until 2020, as the programme sees ‘an evolution of the priorities of the NCB programme rather than a radical shift’.
The IHBC’s representative on the sector’s link body, the JCNAS, Bob Kindred, said: ‘The IHBC applauds this welcome affirmation of the important role played by the third sector and recognition of the excellent statutory advice delivered to local planning authorities by the national amenity societies.’
‘The National Capacity Building Grant helps provide some certainty and stability for these organisations up to the renewal date of Historic England’s own funding settlement from Government in 2020.’
IHBC Director Seán O’Reilly said: ‘These days, when the local government infrastructure of conservation management is still so hard pressed, the role of the amenity societies, both as advisers and as consultees, is all the more critical. So it is very good news that Historic England has secured this valuable funding thread to help support the democratic management of our heritage resource.’
Historic England writes:
… we are keen that the programme should support, at a national level, projects and activities which reduce heritage at risk and sustainably manage heritage assets through effective engagement in the historic environment. It will do this by supporting a healthy, effective and diverse community of third-sector and voluntary bodies working with the historic environment and specific activities which they undertake. The priorities for the scheme will be:
- National-level projects and activities which champion, support and enable third sector organisations and voluntary groups to reduce heritage at risk and sustainably manage heritage assets by engaging more effectively in the historic environment;
- Support for statutory consultees to provide advice to local authorities to achieve the sustainable management of change in the historic environment.
- Funding towards projects which enable national third-sector organisations to reduce their reliance on public funding and to increase their effectiveness in their work with the historic environment.
This represents an evolution of the priorities of the NCB programme rather than a radical shift and as a consequence represents continuity in many ways…..
We are therefore proposing an application round open to all third-sector and voluntary organisations this autumn which will consider projects and activities over the period from April 2017 to March 2020. For some projects and activities this may permit a three-year grant offer. Future application rounds will be dependent on the availability of funds. We recognise that the NCB has over the years had the flexibility to respond to changes in circumstances and we remain prepared to discuss applications outside the spending round. …
For more on the program see https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/grants/our-grant-schemes/national-capacity-grants/
For the sector link body, the Joint Committee of National Amenity Societies (JCNAS), see http://www.jcnas.org.uk
