IHBC has highlighted recent statistics that confirm ‘conservation critical’ heritage applications – those specifically related to the control of designated places and fabric – amount to nearly 20% of the total in England, while conservation services have lost more than 30% of capacity since 2006.
The statistics on applications have been produced by England’s Planning Portal, and cover a total of more than 1/4million applications submitted there to date this year. The 31% drop in conservation capacity has been recorded in the joint IHBC-EH surveys of England’s local conservation services.
IHBC Secretary Eddie Booth said: ‘The figures on planning applications represent only a cross section of the activities and responsibilities of a conservation specialist in a local authority. Even so they are an emphatic demonstration of just how much of our planning service has a ‘conservation critical’ dimension: where designated fabric and places need specialist and skilled advice, in accordance with statutory duties and guidance.’
‘Those planning services shedding experienced and skilled conservation professionals should consider these statistics very carefully. They show that nearly 20% or so of all planning casework should be informed by advice from specialists properly skilled in conservation. That is, of course, if authorities are to satisfy the terms of the National Planning Policy Framework.’
‘Those planning duties are hardly well represented in the skills sets currently available across England’s local government. As we know this area has shed more than 30% of its capacity since 2006! Given the IHBC’s recent investigation of the heritage matters in the Ombudsman’s casework and court prosecutions, it looks like we have a heritage crisis in the making!’
‘And don’t forget that there are also a lot of indirect cases that affect the setting of heritage assets also in need of specialist advice – just like the NPPF highlights – while many of our members are also involved in giving essential design advice. So even these huge figures for applications represent only a part of the real workloads faced by Conservation Officers on the ground.’
IHBC Policy Committee Vice Chair Bob Kindred said: ‘These figures reinforce an analysis I conducted for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) about 12 years go, based on a sample of about a dozen typical local planning authorities. Councils were generally found to process an average of 26% conservation-critical planning applications per year (i.e. all heritage related proposals for LBC, PP and CAC). I continued to monitor this data for Ipswich Borough Council applications thereafter (until May 2012) and over that period the overall number fluctuated between 22 and 28%’.
For the 2012 figures, see the planning portal director’s blog and pie chart below and at: LINK , which provides ‘the breakdown of the 252,165 applications by type, submitted to the Planning Portal so far this year. (Specifically, between the start of January and the end of October.)’
For comments on and links to the most recent analysis of conservation capacity in England’s local government see: LINK
For advice, guidance and explanation on England’s local regulatory infrastructure for conservation, and the importance there of local Conservation Officers and services, see: LINK
To register your IHBC membership application online and benefit from IHBC’s services and support, see: LINK
