The Historic Environment Forum (HEF), the top level cross-sectoral heritage committee for England has written to all English Planning authorities to make the case for retaining historic environment expertise in the face of the drastic cuts registered in research in local authority capacity in conservation and archaeology.
John Sell CBE, Historic Environment Forum Chairman, has written as follows:
‘The publication of this 2011 reports highlights the important role that a Heritage Champion can play in representing the importance of local heritage within the council. Nearly 300 Heritage Champions across the country are using the historic environment to help achieve their local authority’s strategic goals and bring a better quality of life to their community.
Sustaining a vigorous and well-managed historic environment needs significant expertise at officer level too – qualified people well-plugged into local authority networks. Conservation officers and archaeological advisers are critical to the planning process, ensuring the impact on our heritage is taken into account and helping steer development in our historic places.
This new Report measures the dramatic loss of historic environment expertise in Local Authorities. The alarming findings (www.helm.org.uk/LASR) from the Institute of Historic Building Conservation, the Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers and English Heritage show the rate of erosion of historic environment expertise is accelerating:
· The number of historic environment staff members working or local authorities fell by over 10% between early 2010 and early 2011;
· This decline is double the loss seen in the preceding year, 5.9% opposed to 11.9%, and
· Both listed building consent applications and planning applications show an uplift over the past year of 7.1% and 5.2%
As the next round of budget-setting approaches when difficult choices will need to be made, it is vital to understand why these posts matter so much.
We know that local communities put a high value on distinctiveness. 93% of people think that in improving their local place it is important to save its historic features. England’s heritage plays a major role in economic regeneration and prosperity, promoting inward investment, business growth and relocation, and tourism.
The enclosed memorandum explains the risks of losing these officers. As you consider the many competing priorities for the next financial year, I hope you will take our concerns into account.
Download the template HERE
For background on the HEF see: LINK
