Conservation services in local authorities are a continuing concern for those giving evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s Inquiry into Funding for the Arts and Heritage.
Carole Souter. HLF Chief Executive said, on 2 November: “The loss of local authority capacity is going to be pretty devastating” warned Loyd, and “local authorities will be having to look very hard at the services they provide”.
On 19 October Simon Thurley, English Heritage Chief Executive said “… the Government’s investment in heritage is much wider than the current £130 million that is the English Heritage grant in aid. An absolutely vital part of that… is the money that is spent on heritage by local government, particularly through the employment of conservation officers, who are the front-line troops in protecting heritage…. It’s those things-the things that mean a lot to local people – in which local conservation officers are mainly engaged… when they leave and the type of specialist resource that has previously existed in planning departments is no longer there.”
Simon Thurley’s case is recorded as follows:
A very important point I’d like to make to the Committee is that while English Heritage obviously plays an important role in channelling some parts of the Government’s expenditure towards heritage, the Government’s investment in heritage is much wider than the current £130 million that is the English Heritage grant in aid. An absolutely vital part of that, as you rightly point out, is the money that is spent on heritage by local government, particularly through the employment of conservation officers, who are the front-line troops in protecting heritage. They don’t spend the majority of their time protecting Syon House, Gunnersbury House or Chiswick House. It is the conservation areas; it is the pub on the corner; it is the listed telephone box; it is the milestone by the western avenue. It’s those things-the things that mean a lot to local people-in which local conservation officers are mainly engaged. What we know from our figures-from our surveys-is that since 2007 there’s been a 14% decrease in the number of conservation officers. What is undoubtedly happening, and is going to happen more, is that conservation officers are not being replaced when they leave and the type of specialist resource that has previously existed in planning departments is no longer there.
Now, the second part of your question is what does that mean? Well, it means that the danger is that when planning decisions are made that affect conservation, the local councillors who sit on the planning committees do not have the appropriate advice that will enable them to make sound decisions. That gives us all a problem. It gives local people a problem because heritage is one of the things that winds people up more than almost anything else in terms of planning. So, there is a looming issue and it is one of the issues that English Heritage is very much committed to addressing in partnership with not only local authorities but NGOs, the amenity societies and others……. I think the question is making the argument that making good conservation decisions makes good places. Good places are places where people want to live. Good places are economically successful places. Therefore, the argument that we would put to local authorities is that this is a skill you need among your officers if you are going to create an environment where people are happy, where people are prosperous, where people are stable, where you have low levels of crime, where you have high levels of tourism. This is a core skill that you need, and that is the argument that we have to make and win…
The Heritage Alliance reports as follows:
On Tuesday morning (2 November) Chairman of The Heritage Alliance Loyd Grossman, President of the Historic Houses Association (a member of The Alliance) Edward Harley and Chief Executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund Carole Souter submitted their oral evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s Inquiry into Funding for the Arts and Heritage.
When asked the inevitable question about the impact expected on frontline heritage services as a result of the CSR settlements, Carole Souter said that based on work HLF had done prior to the spending review “we’re expecting maybe £650 – £675 million overall will come out of the sector” but that “the details of where that will come from I think are not yet clear”. The impact on local authorities and the consequent erosion of a substantial skills and knowledge base was highlighted to the Committee as an area of great concern to all: “The loss of local authority capacity is going to be pretty devastating” warned Loyd, and “local authorities will be having to look very hard at the services they provide” said Carole Souter. Loyd also warned against the shedding of the ‘less glamorous, less public facing activities’ such as scholarship and technical skills.
Edward Harley highlighted cuts to tourism budgets, both at a national level and regional level, as an area of particular concern and also suggested that de-regulation (in areas such as licensing and temporary structures) could be a low or in some cases no cost way to help alleviate the burden on heritage sites.
When asked which of its functions English Heritage should prioritise in the wake of its 32% budget cut, the panel agreed that EH should continue to provide expert advice and professional support across the whole sector and to local authorities and managers/owners; strong leadership for the sector; expert advice upwards into the Department; and capacity building and benefits to the public via grants to other bodies within the sector. LINK
When asked to consult their crystal balls and predict what heritage services may look like in the future, the panel agreed generally that asset transfer would be set to increase and that the heritage would be much more firmly rooted in local and voluntary management and ownership. The panel noted that the transition process would need to be managed very carefully over a significant timeframe for this to be successful, and as Carole Souter pointed out it would be vital that voluntary organisations were given the ‘time to develop the skills and the structures’ to take on heritage assets successfully.UK Parliament Website: LINK
