In response to a substantial shift in the landscape of national and local heritage management across the UK this April, the IHBC welcomes the arrival of an array of new heritage bodies:
- Historic England, responsible for national regulation and guidance in England, and the new:
- ‘English Heritage’, the property owning interest, both created from the demise of England’s former national heritage agency, English Heritage;
- Historic Environment Scotland, the consolidation of the Scottish Government’s heritage agency, Historic Scotland, and Scotland’s heritage recording and information commission, RCAHMS
- Northern Ireland’s 11 new councils, all now with planning and other powers critical to the management of the historic environment.
IHBC President Trefor Thorpe said: ‘These are major changes across the sector, all of fundamental importance to our interests. Our own efforts in change, and our Experimental Evolution as ‘IHBC+’, suggest a little of the luxury we have in trying out arrangements before committing to them. These bodies, new and old, have not had that luxury, but I am sure they will do all they can to learn from the experience of others.’
‘And these changes, wherever they lead, highlight how the IHBC and it’s members need to be ever more flexible and pro-active, so it’s all the more important that we have our own evolutionary strategies under way. With this as my last year in post, that is something in which I can take especial pride.’
IHBC Chair Mike Brown said: ‘While these new arrangements have been long in the planning, they are still all very welcome. The IHBC looks forward to working closely with each of the various new bodies in the furtherance of our local and national heritage right across the UK.’
IHBC Scotland Branch Chair Jane Jackson said: ‘Historic Environment Scotland brings together two major public sector organisations, but also unites more closely two key areas of heritage practice – management and understanding. We look forward to working with the new HES and wish it well for the future.’
IHBC Northern Ireland Branch Chair Andrew McClelland said: ‘Our Branch looks forward to working with the 11 new councils and their conservation officers as they take charge of their new-found responsibilities for the benefit of the local historic environment.’
IHBC Director Sean O’Reilly said: ‘These changes are a radical outcome of the recent, huge transformations in the political and economic context for heritage and its conservation. We must be clear too that while all know these new arrangements must work, no-one can know precisely how they will play out.’
‘The IHBC will be supporting, helping, advising, scrutinising and marking time with the conservation impacts of all of the changes, to make sure the outcomes will be the best they can be! So if you are interested in playing your part in this process, be sure to join in with us, and maybe even offer some of your own time as an IHBC volunteer, as well as a member, as part of our ‘IHBC+’ initiative. There’s more on that in our NewsBlogs, so be sure to check out and contact your Branch to let them know of your interest in our changes’.
For more on helping with our ‘IHBC+’ programme see IHBC NewsBlogs
For details on their recent history and background you can glean much from the IHBC’s NewsBlogs
For details on all these new organisations, see their respective websites.
