Following rumours that the progress through Parliament of the Heritage Protection Bill for England and Wales will be delayed to give Parliamentary time for new legislation to address the credit crunch fall-out, English Heritage has issued the following statement:
‘No-one can pre-empt the Queen’s Speech. We welcome the Government’s firm commitment, given recently at the launch of Heritage Counts 2008, to the heritage protection reform programme, and to introducing legislation at the earliest opportunity.
Government’s will to put heritage at the heart of the planning system means that many of the objectives set out in the White Paper could be taken forward by other means if a Bill were not to be introduced in the next session. We particularly welcome the Government’s commitment to a revised Planning Policy Statement and believe that this, together with the continuation of the reform programme already underway can achieve the key changes necessary for a more streamlined, simple and transparent heritage protection system.’
Building Design (BD) of 4 November reported that the Culture Minister Andy Burnham has indicated that the Bill may not figure in the Queen’s Speech on 3rd December, where the programme of forthcoming legislation is announced. The contents of the speech, and the legislative programme, are kept under wraps beforehand, but BD reported that English Heritage Chief Executive Simon Thurley, attending the launch, said ‘I understand [Burnham] can’t give a 100% commitment.’
IHBC Director Dr Seán O’Reilly said that ‘We raised the potential impact on conservation of the fall-out from the American sub-prime crisis as early as our 10th Anniversary celebrations in Edinburgh in September 2007, and these worries have now been fully and tragically confirmed. It would be unfortunate if the sector’s hard work to address conservation issues in the 21st century, including the Heritage Protection Bill, also succumbed to the credit crisis. We’re delighted that English Heritage sees the potential of progressing reforms even if the Bill cannot keep to its intended time-scale. We can all take the opportunity to look more carefully at how proposed changes can be implemented most effectively, both as regards resources and the need to make sure that we find the most sustainable future for our valued places’.
