The IHBC has raised its concerns over the content of a recent report into the management of consent produced produced by a body calling itself the Listed Buildings Initiative (LBI).
Mike Brown, IHBC Chair, said: ‘The report from the LBI makes interesting reading with many recognizable views aired by the various respondents. The IHBC is naturally disappointed not to have been consulted by the report’s authors during its writing and would have made a number of comments relating to the narrow spread of the survey, the interpretation of the data, and the apparently self-elected nature of many of the contributors.’
‘This lends the report an anecdotal air which could have been avoided by a more robust methodology. Nevertheless, we fully acknowledge the increasingly stretched capacity issues within local planning and conservation service delivery, and even their total absence in some cases. However it seems the LBI information cannot be used to inform our understanding of these issues, which is most unfortunate.’
‘More productively, the IHBC is already working with other sector partners to see how service capacity and standards might be addressed in future to better meet the needs of owners and agents across the country. A good start would be to require that all local conservation officers are appropriately qualified by, for example, being full members of the IHBC. Another would be for authorities to state publicly just what appropriately skilled capacity there is in their conservation service, as our newly issued Guidance Note recommends.’
‘It may well be that anecdotal evidence concerning unhelpful advice from local planning authorities may originate from officers who are not in fact conservation specialists, but planning or heritage officers without recognised conservation skills may be being asked to perform that role. If the authors of the LBI report identify IHBC members who’s conduct they feel falls below the Institute’s high professional standards, in line with our disciplinary procedures, the IHBC would be prepared to investigate the claims made.’
IHBC Director Sean O’Reilly said: ‘‘We’re concerned to make sure that the evidence documenting conservation service standards is of the highest order, and sufficiently credible enough to carry weight for all parts of government. We’re also keen to document and highlight the damage caused by termination of services, not only the statutory failings this represents, but for the damage it causes to our places and to sustainability.’
‘We are now looking at ways to scrutinise the opinions relayed in the LBI report, and indeed in any other reports on relevant services – anecdotal and otherwise – to see if we can enhance our already-extensive evidence base. Evidence to date clearly indicates that the most cost-effective way for an authority to carry out its core statutory duties to conservation is to have a suitable body of dedicated conservation skills available within the organisation, whether for cost-effective commissioning or for executive functions. That may seem obvious, but while we can appreciate the damage caused when these services do not come up to scratch, it’s not enough in these straitened economic times.’
‘That’s one reason why our new Guidance Note on local authority duties calls on them to state clearly just what their actual conservation capacity is, in line with recommendations from the business-focussed ‘Penfold Review’. Clients and customers need to know if an authority has a conservation officer or equivalent, and if so, are the skills there accredited by the IHBC, and if they are in an organisational role one that adds value by making a difference?’
‘Indeed the lack of transparency generates much of the confusion that seems to lie at the heart of the LBI work and similar statements, making it difficult to navigate between understanding and presumption. So it’s all the more reason for the sector to continue to interrogate services and standards, but from the informed standpoint of evidence based research rather than a confusion of sentiment and anecdote.’
See the LBI website
IHBC Guidance Note 1.14 on local authority conservation duties
