IHBC NewsBlogs

Over 80 sites are being designated ‘pocket parks’ under new funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). 

DCLG writes:
More than 80 unloved and neglected urban spaces across the country will be transformed into green oases for everyone to use, thanks to a share of a £1.5 million dedicated fund, Communities Secretary Greg Clark announced today.

Increasing the availability of green space draws more people outside, giving residents, particularly in urban areas without gardens of their own, more space to relax, get together with their neighbours, grow food and provide a safe space for their children to play.

Now 87 community groups, from Newcastle to Penryn in Cornwall, will have the money to create their own ‘dream’ pocket parks, developing small parcels of land, sometimes as small as the size of a tennis court.

Communities Secretary, Greg Clark, said:  Parks and green spaces breathe life into our bustling towns and cities providing communities with precious spaces to get together, exercise and play.  Our funding will benefit urban areas with few green spaces, delivering on the government’s manifesto commitment to deliver pocket parks across our country.  These winning bids all have a strong community focus at the core of their plans and their designers have thought up highly creative ideas to turn unloved urban spaces into the green lungs of their communities that will be enjoyed for years to come.

Winning bids include:

• Permarin Community Group plan to turn an unused area of tarmac in Penryn into a native Cornish garden with space place for children to play outdoors.
• The One Voice – Action for Disability Community Group in Wolverhampton, who plan to turn a 30-year-old tipping zone into a natural wildlife area, working with local residents and people with poor mental health or physical disabilities to create the pocket park.
• The Monkey Park Community Interest Company in Chesterfield who will use their funding to build a riverside walkway, allowing people to walk along the Holme Brook and enjoy the natural green space threading through the heart of the community.
• The Friends of The Chuckery Village Green in Walsall will make the most of the cherry trees on their derelict plot by planting an edible herb and vegetable garden with a plan to create pies and jams.
• Cherry Orchard Gardening Services, a community group in Staffordshire, have been awarded funding to create a pocket ‘Park-our’ for local teenagers to practice parkour, the increasingly popular urban sport, in a safe environment.

Communities Minister, Marcus Jones, said:  Parks are gateways to the great outdoors providing direct contact with nature. This funding will allow neglected areas to be transformed into vital community assets for our towns and cities across the country.  The successful community groups awarded funding all came up with incredibly inventive ideas to improve the quality of local life and we cannot wait to see the end results.

Graham Duxbury, Groundwork Chief Executive, said: Every year Groundwork helps hundreds of thousands of people of all ages to organise and work together to protect, preserve, improve or create green spaces on their doorstep.  We’re delighted the government is supporting communities and councils to do more. For many local groups, improving the park at the end of their street is the first step in getting much more involved in how their neighbourhood is run.

View the press release

View the map of project

Ancient monuments in Wales are to benefit from £100,000 of repair and access funding, recently announced by the Welsh Government. 

The Welsh Government writes:
Ancient monuments across Wales will benefit from over £100,000 Welsh Government funding to restore and protect them for future generations.

Wales’ historic environment, which includes ancient monuments and historic buildings, tell the fascinating story of our past, shaping our national identity and bringing significant economic benefits, accounting for one-fifth of the tourism expenditure in Wales.  Over £100,000 of funding will be used for projects which will safeguard the ancient monuments, from urgent repair work to changes that will increase public access to the sites.

Among those receiving the grant is Porth yr Aur Gatehouse, one of the original medieval entrances to Caernarfon walled town built by Edward I in the 13th century, which is receiving up to £96,800.  The grant is towards necessary conservation of the gatehouse walls and repairs to the roof. The work will enhance this tourist attraction, which has served for centuries as the link between the town and its harbour. The gatehouse is part of the Castles and Town Walls of Edward 1 World Heritage Site.

Also benefiting is Hen Capel in Carmarthenshire, which will receive over £2,250 to support roof repairs which will allow it to remain open to the public. Hen Capel is believed to be the only medieval chapel in Wales to be converted into a non-conformist chapel in later centuries.  Today the chapel is mostly ruinous, but its west tower remains to full height.  The site is at the heart of the community and also serves as the village war memorial with two plaques commemorating the fallen.

Announcing the latest round of funding, the Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Ken Skates said:  ‘In Wales we are blessed with a landscape that is rich in ancient monuments and historic properties. As well as being fascinating reminders of our past and how life in Wales has changed across thousands of years, they also bring significant economic benefits through tourism.  I’m pleased that we are able to support the continued protection of our unique heritage with our latest round of grants so that these important monuments can continue to fascinate and inspire people for centuries to come.’

Many of the grants support projects both in and around Communities First areas, which have significant social and educational benefits.  The Historic Environment (Wales) Bill was passed by the National Assembly on Tuesday 9th February. When it becomes law, the Bill will introduce new measures to protect Wales’ historic environment. Through these grants the Welsh Government is already supporting exciting conservation projects right across Wales, which will support the protection and management of Wales’ ancient monuments.

View the press release

A parliamentary statement made by Baroness Williams of Trafford (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government) has announced a review of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The statement reads as follows:
My hon.Friend the Minister of State for Housing and Planning has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am today announcing the launch of a Review of the Homes and Communities Agency in line with the requirement on all government departments to regularly review non-departmental public bodies. Established in 2008, the Agency is the national housing, land and regeneration agency and the regulator of registered social housing providers in England.

The Spending Review underlined the priority this Government attaches to our ambition to build a million homes this Parliament and to double the number of new homeowners. Building on the successful contribution the Homes and Communities Agency made in the last Parliament, this Review will ensure that we are well-placed to deliver the Government’s objectives and will:

1. i) Examine the continuing need for a non-departmental public body, covering:

• how each of the Agency’s functions contributes to government objectives;
• whether each function and the body is still required; and
• the best future delivery options.

1. ii) Examine the capacity of the Homes and Communities Agency to deliver more efficiently and effectively.

iii) Examine whether corporate governance and management arrangements are sufficiently robust and transparent and ensure that Agency is operating in line with recognised principles of good corporate governance.

We will be seeking evidence from a wide range of sources, including the Agency itself, and there will be an opportunity for interested stakeholders to feed in views. I will inform the House once the Review is complete and copies of its report will be placed in the Library of the House.

more….

The latest issue of the Natural Stone Bulletin has highlighted concerns over the failure of pinnings used in headstones as recent vandalism shows that the fixings have not been used correctly.

View images of the cemetery and information on appropriate British Standards

Proposals for the new site for the London Symphony Orchestra have been criticised by the architectural theorist and urban planner Leon Krier, with alternate proposals drawn up and displayed on The Future Symphony Institute website.

Read more….

Britain’s oldest theatre scenery is to be recorded and conserved as part of an Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant offered to the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond.

The HLF writes:
Theatre scenery can be spectacular, transporting you to a different world. At the Georgian Theatre Royal (GTR) in Richmond you can be transported back in time with their original 19th-century ‘woodland scene’.  Over the coming year, with an HLF grant of £71,000, the GTR will be cleaning and restoring Britain’s oldest scenery so that it can be on show for visitors and theatre-goers.

The scenery, which dates between 1818 and 1836, is made up of eight wooden wing flats over nine feet high, five canvas borders and a forest back-drop scene. It was painted in Hertfordshire in a scene painting shop set up by former travelling actor George Rivers Higgins. The woodland scene is not imaginary as all of the trees depicted in the scene can be identified as specific types of trees so avid nature lovers can test their knowledge – a great example of how nature influences our wider lives.

Once conserved, the scenery will be digitised and the original displayed in pride of place in the exhibition. New exhibitions will help visitors to understand the importance of the scenery in history of theatre and scene making to help visitors appreciate the complexities of travelling theatre scenery in its Georgian setting.

There will be lots of opportunities for volunteers to get involved in the documenting the conservation process, training for guides so that they can tell visitors more about how the scenery has been conserved and its importance.

View the press release

The shortlist for the design concepts around the Grade I St Mary Redcliff Bristol development have been revealed, and include Purcell, a practice on the IHBC’s list of recognised conservation practices, HESPR.

Malcolm Reading Consultants writes:
St Mary Redcliffe and Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC) today [February 18, 2016] announced the five finalist teams selected to develop concept designs in the second stage of the St Mary Redcliffe Design Competition. The Grade I listed Bristol church, both a national landmark and a living church, is the equivalent of many European cathedrals and one of the largest parish churches in England.

The finalist teams are (in alphabetical order):

• Carmody Groarke
• dRMM
• Eric Parry Architects
• Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
• Purcell

Fifty-three practices entered the competition and of these international studios accounted for nearly twenty per cent. The decision of the selection panel which included representatives of the jury, St Mary Redcliffe and competition organisers, Malcolm Reading Consultants was unanimous.

The £12-15m project will give the church new community, social and support facilities. The initiative is linked to wider regeneration plans, placing the church at the heart of a new urban village within Bristol’s city centre.

Finalist teams will be attending the forthcoming public symposium ‘Architecture and the contemporary church – imagining the new in the context of the old’ which will be hosted at the church on 23 February 2016. Speakers include Loyd Grossman, journalist, broadcaster and Chairman of The Churches Conservation Trust, and the Right Reverend Nick Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury.

Finalists have until mid-April to produce their concept designs.

The Reverend Dan Tyndall, Vicar of St Mary Redcliffe, said: ‘We would like to thank all the architects who entered the competition – we were hugely impressed by their seriousness and dedication, the standard of submissions was very high.  Our development project is focused on expanding our local outreach and mission whilst increasing people’s awareness and enjoyment of the church and now that the design phase of the competition is underway, we want to share that excitement. Next week’s symposium will be an opportunity for the local community to meet representatives of the shortlisted architects.’

David Hamilton, Architect and Director of Projects at MRC, said: ‘In selecting the finalist teams, what distinguished the successful applicants was their client-centred approach and previous experience in fundraising and stakeholder engagement. This was demonstrated through a diverse range of previous projects that have all made a positive contribution to setting and place-making, and through this to transforming local communities.’

Following a public exhibition of the concept designs, the winning team is expected to be announced in late May 2016.

St Mary Redcliffe is notable for its connection with many important historical figures, including George Frederick Handel and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It has links with America through artefacts relating to John Cabot’s voyage of 1497 and Admiral Penn – the latter, the namesake of Pennsylvania, is buried within the church.

Elizabeth I described St Mary Redcliffe as ‘the fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England’. The church attracts tens of thousands of visitors and tourists annually. Built, and then re-built, over a 300-year period from the early 13th century to the 15th century, the church embodies magnificence, but has always lacked sufficient community and support spaces for its vital work in one of the most deprived wards in the country.

The development project, the focus of this design competition, will incorporate a range of facilities within a building or buildings: administrative and support spaces, exhibition spaces, a café, a shop, a meeting hall, and an expanded/new community centre.

The initiative will run concurrently with a wider regeneration project, The Redcliffe Neighbourhood Development Plan, which positions the church as the focus of a new urban village within the Redcliffe area.

View more information about the competition and the historic church

View Purcell’s HESPR listing

View the shortlist

Plans to transform an historic former manufacturing site in Leeds into a major £80m mixed-use development have been approved by the City Council.

The site includes a number of listed buildings, which are being preserved as part of the redevelopment: the Engine House on Globe Road, and the three ornate Italian Towers which are a distinctive element of the city centre townscape near the railway station.

Jestico + Whiles writes:
The regeneration project will create a mixed-use, sustainable development providing commercial offices, affordable and private housing, retail, and leisure spaces.

The competition-winning design had to carefully consider how a dense modern redevelopment could be integrated within the existing historic structures on the site. Great care has been taken in developing the masterplan to ensure that the new buildings are deferential to the listed buildings, and respect key views from surrounding approaches.

Read more at Planning Portal and at jesticowhiles.com

Planning committees should record the reasons for their decisions clearly and this is particularly important when they make decisions that conflict with officers’ recommendations, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has said.

The Ombudsman is warning that decision making should be as open and transparent as possible, particularly in the face of public opposition. However, this was not the case in a recent investigation involving Erewash Borough Council in Derbyshire.

Neighbours complained to the LGO about the way the council approved an application for a development in the green belt near their homes. They made a number of complaints, including that the initial application was not advertised properly, and that members did not give any reasons for granting planning permission. The LGO upheld these complaints, but did not uphold some others.

The neighbours live on the edge of a village. The applicant applied for permission to extend his bungalow by adding a first floor and garage extension. The council posted a site notice, which notified adjoining neighbours and the parish council, but did not advertise it in a local newspaper as a departure from the local plan.

The application was recommended for refusal because the proposed extensions were disproportionate to the size of the original building and would increase the building’s prominence.

The officer’s report to the committee included details of the neighbours’ objections and those of the local parish council along with representations from the applicant and his agent.

Following a site visit, members decided to approve the application against the officer’s recommendation. But no record was made of the reasons for their decision.

Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman, said:  ‘For people to have confidence in the local planning system, decisions must be made in as transparent a way as possible. This includes making records of the reasons for those decisions.  This is particularly important when members decide against planning officers’ recommendations. Without written reasons people who are affected by a decision cannot know exactly what has happened or feel reassured that decisions were taken fairly. I now urge Erewash council to provide the remedies I have recommended and improve its practices and procedures to ensure people can have faith in its planning decisions.’

The LGO has recommended Erewash Borough Council apologise to the neighbours for failing to publicise the application as a departure from the local plan and for also not giving reasons for the decision to grant planning permission. The council should recognise that residents will now be uncertain of what the outcome might have been but for the council’s fault.  The council should also review its working practices and procedures to ensure it properly records the reasons for its decisions and provide training to members on giving proper reasons for their decisions.

View the press release

The Ombudsman issued an in-depth focus report on the planning system in December 2014

Arts Council England is seeking views – including through online contributions – on how they may invest in arts and culture (2018+), leading on from their ‘Great Art and Culture for Everyone’ 10 year strategy, and now proposing an integrated approach to funding arts, museums and libraries and the trial of a ‘place-based approach to building cultural capacity’. 

Arts Council England writes:
This week, we are sharing with the arts and culture sector our thinking about how we might shape our investment activity from 2018.  We have published a set of proposals on our website and would like to engage as many people as possible in a conversation with us to help shape them further. 

The proposals look at our three main investment strands: strategic funds, Grants for the Arts and the National Portfolio (including Major Partner Museums).

They include thoughts on: individual artists, changes to the National Portfolio and the focus for strategic funds.  Please share your views on our proposals online. Managed by research agency ComRes on our behalf, we want to hear from anyone that has an interest in how we invest in the future.

Darren Henley, our Chief Executive said: ‘The future we want to see for art and culture is set out in Great Art and Culture for Everyone, our 10-year strategy.  Since we launched it we’ve seen many successes, with exciting work and new audiences. We are also facing considerable challenges around funding, reach and relevance.  The proposals here address how we invest in the talent and ideas needed to address these challenges.  We must ensure public investment creates more opportunities for everyone to enjoy a rich cultural life. We look forward to working with the sector on these proposals.’

Find out more online

Councils will compete to process planning applications and be able to offer fast track application services under new proposals being explored by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). 

DCLG writes:
Councils will compete to process planning applications and be able to offer fast track application services, like those available for getting a passport, in a shake up of the planning process under proposals out to consultation today (18 February 2016).

Ministers want the pilots to tackle the lack of incentive for councils to improve and speed up their planning service leading to ‘drawn out applications and local frustration’ for both housebuilders and individual applicants.

The proposals are expected to boost housebuilding and speed up the planning application process.  The proposals will increase local choice by giving applicants the choice of whether to submit their plans to the local council, a competing council or a government approved organisation that would process applications up until the decision point.  Councils will also be able to offer the fast track planning application service – either through competition pilots or potentially through devolution deals.  Decision making on planning applications would remain with the local council to ensure decisions are taken locally and maintain the democratic link between local people and decision makers.

Communities Secretary Greg Clark said: Council planning departments play a vital role in getting local housebuilding off the ground, but for too long they have had no incentive to get things done quickly or better, resulting in drawn out applications and local frustration.  These proposals will be a boost for housebuilders looking to build much needed new homes for hard working families and first time buyers, and for local people looking to get a planning permission for home improvements through their local council quicker.

Planning Minister Brandon Lewis said:  Many councils are already working hard to improve the services they offer their residents, and across the country people’s satisfaction levels remain high.  Now we want to go further by setting out these ambitious proposals to link any future increases in application fees to councils’ performance, and testing more competition including through offering dedicated fast track application services.

Historically councils have had a ‘closed market’ in handling planning applications, with limited incentive for innovation and efficiency.  However research studies over the last 3 decades in the UK and abroad suggest there are cost savings of up to a fifth for competitively tendered or shared services.

A consultation on the competition pilots and fast track services is published today.  It also includes proposals to make any future increases in councils’ fees for processing planning applications dependent on their performance in terms of speed and quality of decisions.

Further details on how the pilots will run will be published after the consultation has closed.

Other measures in the consultation, which is related to the Housing and Planning Bill, cover:

• details of how a new planning ‘permission in principle’ approach will work in practice
• how councils will run brownfield land and small sites registers
• speeding up the neighbourhood planning process
• improving handling of planning applications with new thresholds for designating councils as poor performers
• extending permitted development rights for free schools

A separate consultation also published today seeks views on more housebuilding in London through allowing taller buildings, subject to conditions.

View the press release

View the consultation

A proposal for three turbines in the vicinity of a Lutyens designed Grade II* listed Gledstone Hall has been dismissed by Communities Secretary Greg Clark.

The decision notice considered the effect on heritage assets, ‘the Grade II* listed Gledstone Hall, the Grade II* listed Ingthorpe Grange and Steeling Hill Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM)’ (paragraph 12).

In the decision notice, paragraph 15 notes that ‘the Secretary of State has gone on to weigh the harm which the scheme would cause to heritage assets against the public benefits of the proposal’ and that the harm to heritage assets can be considered less than substantial (para 83)

Read more at Planning Portal

View the full decision notice (appeal reference APP/C2708/A/12/2186488)

The panel set up to advise the Government on regenerating some of England’s most deprived estates has met for the first time.

Government writes:
A panel, who met for the first time recently, will look at how the layout of estates can be best used to deliver more quality homes that people can buy and rent.

The experts will also ensure that there are strong protections in place for existing residents so they will always be given the right to return to their communities.

The 17-strong group, co-chaired by Lord Heseltine and Housing Minister Brandon Lewis and reporting to the Prime Minister and Communities Secretary Greg Clark, will develop a national estate regeneration strategy and work with up to 100 estates to tackle deprivation and transform them into vibrant communities.

Future meetings will be held at estates across the country.

Members are:

• Councillor Ravi Govindia, leader of Wandsworth Council
• Nicholas Boys Smith, director of Create Streets, a social enterprise and independent research institute which pushes for well designed estates
• Andrew Boff, leader of the Greater London Authority Conservatives housing group
• Elaine Bailey, chief executive, from Hyde Housing Association, which successfully regenerated the Packington Estate in Islington
• Paul Tennant, chief executive from Orbit Housing Association, which successfully regenerated Erith Estate in Bexley
• Tony Pidgley, chief executive of Berkeley Homes – a lead partner on various estate regenerations across London
• Peter Vernon, chief executive of Grosvenor Estates
• Jane Duncan, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
• Ben Bolgar, senior director of the Princes Foundation
• Dominic Grace, head of London Residential Development at estates agents Savills
• Emma Cariaga from the British Land and Thames Valley Housing Association
• David Budd, Mayor of Middlesbrough
• Natalie Elphicke, chief executive of the Housing & Finance Institute
• Graham Allen, MP for Nottingham North
• Félicie Krikler, director at Assael Architecture

The group will now work with a range of local stakeholders, including communities, local authorities, landlords, investors, builders, housing associations, and anyone else with ideas and ambition. It will draw up the national strategy for estate regeneration by the autumn. Its objectives include:

• providing strong protection for existing residents, such as rights of return
• delivering more homes for rent and ownership
• delivering homes more quickly
• promote high standards of design to provide commercially viable schemes which have the potential to be self-financing
• encouraging and attracting more private and public sector investment to help regenerate estates

Find out more at Planning Portal

UK Gov news

Historic England (HE) has warned that the latest proposals for an expanded Station Hill development near Reading station risk ‘serious harm’ to the settings of the Grade I listed Greyfriars Church and 39 Friar Street, a Grade II listed property.

Planning portal writes:
The latest version of the scheme now includes redevelopment of the existing Telecom House site which like other existing buildings covered by the reworked proposals is set to be demolished.

Outline planning permission for the enlarged site was granted by Reading Borough Council last week.

Find out more…

Read the Planning Portal article

The Scottish Government (SG) has revealed the beneficiaries of the £2.5 million Strengthening Communities Programme fund, including some involving the re-use of derelict buildings. 

The SG writes:
More than 40 community organisations that are transforming disused properties and setting up enterprises in their areas, will receive a share of a £2.5 million fund.

The Scottish Government will increase its investment in the Strengthening Communities Programme (SCP) in 2016-17 by £500,000 to £2.5 million, to help communities lead economic and regeneration work in their areas.  The SCP will provide investment to enterprising community organisations that have the potential to become more self-sustaining and established.

Organisations whose funding will be maintained in 2016-17 include MsMissMrs in Glasgow which uses the profits from the sale of underwear to organise training courses for women, the Happy n Healthy Community Development Trust in South Lanarkshire which is developing a community wind turbine and the Glendale Trust in Skye, which is taking on ownership of the Borrodale School and Meanish Pier.

Community Empowerment Minister Marco Biagi announced the additional investment on a visit to Burnfoot Community Futures in the Scottish Borders.

Mr Biagi said:  ‘This £2.5 million investment is helping communities breathe life into disused buildings, producing opportunities for renewables generation, establishing community transport and tourism initiatives and creating jobs.  We’ve already seen the benefits of funding these projects with communities across Scotland becoming more resilient, taking ownership and control of their own areas and generating income by coming up with entrepreneurial ideas.  By increasing our investment this year we are able to give more communities the opportunity to take forward improvements to their area, on their own terms. This investment will help enterprising community groups become anchor organisations in their local areas.

‘This funding supports the aims of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act which comes into effect this year and is a momentous step in our drive to increase participation in local decision making.’

Over the next few months community regeneration partners the Scottish Community Development Centre, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Development Trust Association Scotland (DTAS), Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEIS) and Carnegie UK Trust will put forward recommendations on other organisations that could receive a share of the additional £500,000, for approval by the Programme Board.

Thanks to funding of £585,000 through the joint local authority and Scottish Government Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, and a Big Lottery grant, Burnfoot Community Futures was able to purchase a derelict former pub and transform it into a multi-purpose centre. The hub now hosts a nursery offering childcare and training, café, soft play area, garden and growing space and function room with dance studio and events space.  The centre, which opened in October, will receive around £50,000 in 2016-17 from the Strengthening Communities Programme, to continue funding a development manager to support these activities and promote the hub.

Zoe Hall, the chair of Burnfoot Community Futures said:  ‘This facility is community owned, community led and community run and is starting to make a real difference to people locally. For the first time there is a ‘drop in’ place to meet at the café and an increasing number of things to do here, for all ages.  We are grateful to the Scottish Government for the capital funding which allowed us to buy and transform the old pub and we thank the Minister and his team for already providing nearly £85,000 of Strengthening Communities funding which has helped the board to gain the skills and put in place the processes to make this project such a great success.’

View the news release

The National Churches Trust grant programmes are open, with a closing date of 31 March.

The National Churches Trust writes:
The 2016 Community Grants Programme is now open. Please see below and follow the links for further information and to apply.

Our Community Grants programme offers the opportunity to apply for grants of £10,000 and above for projects which introduce facilities to enable increased community use of places of worship. We are interested in a wide range of projects but all will include toilets and catering facilities.

To qualify, projects must have an estimated cost of at least £25,000 (including VAT and fees). Other eligibility criteria apply.

New for 2016 is the chance for churches awarded a National Churches Trust Community Grant to obtain a £2,000 micro-grant to set up a Cinnamon Network Recognised Project that meets the needs of local people. The micro-grants will allow churches to set up a social action project such as CAP Money Courses, Make Lunch and Parish Nursing.  Churches will also be able to access the support and training provided by Cinnamon Network’s regional Advisers and Trainers.

Our Repair Grants programme offers grants of £10,000 and above towards the cost of urgent and essential structural repair projects. A small number of grants are available at £40,000 and above.

To qualify projects must have an estimated cost of at least £100,000 (including VAT and fees).  Other eligibility criteria apply.

View more information on the Repair Grants Programme

View more information on the Community Grants Programme

The Association for Preservation Technology International (APTI) is inviting submissions for the student scholarship programme to facilitate attendance at the October international conference, with a deadline of 31 March, and also draws attention to submission for the Student Scholarships Program and Martin Weaver Student Scholarship.

The Association for Preservation Technology International writes:
Students from all areas of study in historic preservation and conservation are encouraged to apply for an APT Student Scholarship to participate in the APT San Antonio 2016 Conference. Applications are accepted by submitting an abstract that summarizes research and/or a project that addresses the 2016 conference theme and tracks.

You will be informed of your status in late April. If selected, in May you will be assigned an APT mentor who is a member of the College of Fellows, and a session chair, who will oversee the session you will present in.

You will be included as a conference presenter, which requires collaborating with the session chair and other presenters to create a cohesive session. You will be expected to prepare a 5 to 10-minute oral presentation (with PowerPoint slides) based on the abstract topic. Your faculty advisor, mentor and session chair, will be prepared to assist you as needed.

As a student scholar, you will be able to participate in the APT San Antonio 2016 conference at no cost. In exchange, you are expected to actively participate in all aspects of the conference, attend all events for which you have tickets, and any student scholarship activities.  Your Student Scholarship includes

• APT student membership through June 2017
• One full conference registration
• One ticket for the following (excluding the APT Social):

• APT Ottawa 2017 Preview Lunch, Student Scholar Recognition and APT Annual Meeting
• Chapters Breakfast
• Breakfast with Exhibitors
• APT Awards Banquet

• Housing in a shared room for three nights
• Cash stipend to help cover reasonable travel and food costs 

The following themes, which form the conference tracks, will be explored throughout the conference.

1. Spanish Colonial Structures, Traditions and Cultures
2. Revisiting Mid-Century Modern
3. Concrete: Materials and Innovations
4. Cultural Landscapes: Patterns and Palimpsests
5. Vernacular Heritage: Honouring the Ordinary

View more information on the conference and how to apply on the website

Anyone in or beyond the heritage, development and cultural communities can now take a 6-month ‘taster’ of the IHBC’s membership benefits by signing up for our free email news updates – the IHBC’s celebrated NewsBlogs – and experience just one of the privileges being a member of the IHBC.

For full details and links see the IHBC NewsBlogs

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland (NI) has released a new short report, detailing how arts are valuable to Northern Ireland, including arts impact on community regeneration, exploring and celebrating cultural identity and heritage.

The Arts Council of NI writes:
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has published a short digest of information illustrating the value of the arts to the region.

Roisín McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council said, ‘We want our politicians and policy makers to appreciate how much the arts do for everyone in Northern Ireland. In the lead up to the Assembly elections we’ve been meeting senior politicians and advisors from each of the main parties and we’ve been pressing for the arts to be included in party manifestos and, most significantly, in the next Programme for Government. The Arts Digest reinforces our case that the arts really do matter to the future shape of central and local government in Northern Ireland.’

The Arts Digest highlights the high level of education and outreach activities undertaken by publicly-funded arts organisations and what the sector is doing to tackle disadvantage and promote health and well-being. It also offers an overview of the growing impact of the Creative Industries on employment and the economy and of the significant contribution the arts are making to community regeneration in Northern Ireland.

View the press release

Download the full report

The next meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Civic Societies, which has the Civic Voice as its secretariat, is organised by the Steering Group of the newly established Historic Cathedral Cities Alliance (HCCA) and will take place on Tuesday 8 March in Portcullis House, Westminster, exploring ‘Balancing Heritage and Growth’. 

The Civic voice writes:
The focus of the meeting will be on historic towns and cathedral cities; with the Historic Cathedral Cities Alliance (HCCA) helping Civic Voice organise the event.

The HCCA, which was launched last October at the Civic Voice Annual Convention in Bristol, is a response to concerns held by several civic societies across the country. The Alliance’s aim is to address the tension between the current drive for development and the need to conserve and protect historic towns and cities.

The HCCA has gained considerable interest, which is reflected in the fact that the next APPG for Civic Societies is devoting its March meeting to these concerns. Speakers at the APPG will include Griff Rhys Jones, Duncan McCallum of Historic England, and Richard Bate, author of a major report on The Sustainable Growth of Cathedral Cities and Historic Towns. Other participants will include Baroness Andrews and Jonathan Foyle.

The meeting will be an opportunity to hear about the current threats to historic towns and cities, to compare local experience with the national picture and to discuss what can be done to protect our heritage. After the formal meeting of the APPG, there will be a less formal meeting of the HCCA at which representatives of civic societies can discuss the way in which this new organisation should develop.

The aim of the HCCA is to set up a network of individuals and organisations to:

• Use twice-yearly meetings and social media as an information exchange to share ideas about the challenges facing historic towns and cities.
• Consider and publicise a variety of solutions to the challenges identified.
• Represent these cities and give them more power to shape their future, in ways which protect their heritage.

A Planning Group has been set up to develop the HCCA.  The Planning Group includes: David Evans (Chester), Ian Green (Oxford), Noel James (Historic Towns Forum), Jan Pahl (Convenor; Canterbury), David Turnock (Peterborough), John Walker (Deputy Convenor; Civic Voice), Chris Winter (Wells).

Speakers at the APPG will include Griff Rhys-Jones, Duncan McCallum of Historic England, and Richard Bate, author of a major report on The Sustainable Growth of Cathedral Cities and Historic Towns.  Other participants will include Baroness Andrews and Jonathan Foyle.

The meeting is being organised by the Steering Group of the Historic Cathedral Cities Alliance (HCCA).

The HCCA brings together civic societies which are concerned about these issues, working under the umbrella of Civic Voice, and with financial support from the All Churches Trust.  This will be an opportunity to hear about the current threats to historic towns and cities, to bring together relevant evidence and to begin to develop an action plan to help conserve and protect our heritage.  

The HCCA is a network of individuals and organisations which aims to:

• Share ideas about the challenges facing historic towns and cities, through information exchange by social media and twice-yearly meetings
• Consider and publicise a variety of solutions to the challenges identified
• Represent these cities and give them more power to shape their futures in ways which protect their heritage 

The programme will involve:

1.00  Registration, refreshments and displays
2.00  Introduction by Craig McKinlay, chair of the APPG
Comments by Griff Rhys-Jones, President of Civic Voice
Talks by Duncan McCallum (Historic England) and Richard Bate (Green Balance)
Discussion
4.00  Refreshments
4.30  Informal meeting of HCCA to discuss the future of the organisation

Anyone who is interested will be very welcome.

For further information, Historic England has produced, an interesting document surrounding this subject, titled The Sustainable Growth of Cathedral Cities and Historic Towns, commissioned to look at the implication of proposed development on cathedral cities and historic towns, some of our most precious places.  It is available at http://civicvoice.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5128291c803f66657704671f8&id=54d918c6ed&e=78636f19e5

The event is free but it is essential to register in advance, for security reasons, so if you would like to attend register.