Valuing Places: Good Practice in Conservation Areas published by English Heritage, is a blueprint for action, describing dramatic improvements to 18 conservation areas from Berwick, Ulverston, Ripon, Bradford and Sheffield in the North to Truro, Aylesbury, Portsmouth and central London in the South.
English Heritage says
Conservation Areas all over England are benefiting from the voluntary efforts of local people, working closely with local councils and supported by English Heritage.
The report follows the publication of English Heritage’s Heritage at Risk Register in July which revealed that one in 13 of England’s 10,000 conservation areas is threatened by neglect, decline or inappropriate change. As the next stage of English Heritage’s continuing campaign to help local people improve conservation areas, the report aims to inspire councils, civic societies and community groups to follow the good practice demonstrated in the case studies described. It advocates a three-step process, underpinned by the need to gain and maintain popular support:
• the first step is to get general agreement on what elements of the conservation areaare architecturally or historically significant
• the second is to find ways of protecting these while providing guidance on how less important elements can be adapted or replaced to meet society’s changing needs
• the third is to ensure that new buildings and changes reinforce local character rather than detract from it.
The annual Heritage at Risk survey also revealed that more than 50% of all conservation areas do not have an up-to-date character appraisal and more than 75% have no management plan – both essential if communities are going to use their historic character as a basis for regeneration.Conservation areas provide a golden opportunity for local people to take heritage into their own hands, and to decide what they value and how they want to protect and enhance it. The condition of a conservation area is crucial to the well-being and vitality of the wider community so English Heritage would urge people to get hold of its report and to use the history in their streets as a catalyst for regenerating or preventing it from slipping slowly into decline.
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