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CAN WE HELP YOU WITH YOUR LOCAL LIST OF PARKS AND GARDENS AS HERITAGE ASSETS?
1. Sussex has a wealth of designed historic parks and gardens, the most important of which are now included on the National Heritage List. There remain, however, many more of local or even regional significance which may be at risk of partial or even complete loss through lack of formal identification, researching and recording. SGT has identified over 70 of such sites within Rother’s administrative area. There may be others too that have given rise for concern through the planning process or the settings of buildings which need evaluating and adding to a local list.
2. Who are we?
The Sussex Gardens Trust (www. sussexgardenstrust.org.uk) is the leading amenity organisation in East and West Sussex with expertise on historic parks, gardens and designed open spaces (website). We are actively looking for opportunities to work in partnership with local authorities and local communities in both counties to identify, research and survey the counties’ parks, gardens and other designed historic open spaces. The aim is to create a permanent record for each site for adoption by an authority as part of its local list of all historic assets (buildings, monuments etc.) and for inclusion on the county Heritage Asset Registers (HERS).
3. Why create a local list of heritage assets?
The new National Heritage List (NHL) is testament to how greatly we value our historic environment as an asset of enormous cultural, social, economic and environmental value, providing a valuable contribution to our sense of history, place and quality of life. At the local level though, there are many more heritage assets worthy of recognition that perhaps matter more to local communities’ sense of identity and distinctiveness. By identifying these – be they buildings, sites, spaces or places – their values can be taken into account when changes to them are proposed
4. Government guidance:
Through PPS5 the government strongly encourages local listing as the best way for an LPA to “understand the heritage assets in its area, their individual heritage significance and their contribution to the character and distinctiveness of the area as a whole” This encouragement is set out in English Heritage’s new guidance ‘Good Practice Guide for Local Listing: Identifying and Managing Significant Local Heritage Assets’
( www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/local/local-designations/local-list/). The guidance makes clear the general benefits of creating local lists:
“Local listing is a means for a local community and a local authority to jointly decide what it is in their area that they would like recognised as a ‘local heritage asset’ and therefore worthy of some degree of protection in the planning system. Local lists also represent a good way in which to encourage greater partnership working between local authorities, community representatives and others with an interest in the historic environment. Not only does this enable proper protection of those parts of the historic environment that the community genuinely values, but it also provides clarity to developers as to where those heritage assets are located and, critically, what it is about them that is worth considering”.
5. Why are parks, gardens and designed open spaces so important to include on a list of local heritage assets:
Many local authorities already have some kind of local list, usually building focused. Few include parks and gardens. Sussex’s historic parks and gardens and other designed open spaces form a quintessential part of its landscape; they encompass aesthetic, philosophical, botanic and scientific heritage and embody shared values of landscape and place. They play a significant part in maintaining bio-diversity, environmental quality and land values and should be considered a positive asset worthy of recognition and protection.
6. What can SGT offer?
The SGT is very well-placed to partner a local authority in the creating a list of historic parks and gardens of local importance. In common with many other County Garden Trusts we have assembled a huge wealth of knowledge and understanding of the counties’ sites since our establishment in 1994. Our membership has well-developed professional skills in research and recording, also considerable practical experience of applying the skills and knowledge in conserving sites through our regular activity of advising local authority planning and conservation officers.
7. SGT’s current experience of local listing:
We can offer practical experience and expertise gained from two completed local list projects:
i. Managing the creation of Wealden DC’s local list of parks and gardens in 2003.
ii. A very successful pilot project with Kent Gardens Trust listing the local historic parks and gardens for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (Draft Report: A review of the Kent Compendium List of Historic Parks and Gardens for Tunbridge Wells Borough April 2010 at http://www2.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/pdf/Final%20Historic%20Pks%20&%20Gardens%20Review_Sep10.pdf). We can provide you with a typical example of a completed local list entry for Tunbridge Wells; all entries conform to English Heritage’s standard for registering parks and gardens at the national level.
iii. One Trust member is currently working with Kent Trust volunteers on a list for Sevenoaks DC while others are researching sites for Crawley BC.
iv. The Trust works with the Association of Gardens Trusts to provide high-quality training to volunteers in research and survey techniques.
8. Specific benefits to a local authority of producing a local list of parks, gardens and designed open spaces are:
8.1. An improved evidence base: provision of an up-to-date and robustly selected list of historic, designed parks, gardens and open spaces accompanied by well-researched and accurately-recorded site descriptions with supporting reference material. The list will form part of the schedule of designated sites within the authority for the evidence base of its local planning responsibilities and activity that is capable of being updated and amended as and when new information becomes available.
8.2. Better informed decision-making within Development Control: provision of up-to-date information for use in development control decisions.
8.3. Improved response to E-gov requirements: provision of information on designed historic parks, gardens and open spaces in an electronic and accessible format.
8.4. Raised standards: a robust methodology for the survey, description and appraisal of sites capable of endorsement by statutory and non-statutory consultees.
8.5. Built capacity within the Sussex Gardens Trust through the training of volunteers in archival research, site survey and writing descriptions of historic parks and gardens.
8.6. Improved sustainability and quality of community involvement: the creation of opportunities for active community participation in researching and surveying the designed, historic landscape and increased awareness and involvement of it by both the public in general and site owners; the potential to liaise with Neighbourhood forums on selecting sites.
8.7. A new public resource: a widely available and accessible source of information on the historic, designed landscape heritage of a local authority that will increase learning opportunities.
9. Potential partnership working - areas for further discussion:
9.1 Typically SGT would be able to provide
§ Volunteers with time and skills to undertake research, both archival and on-the ground survey, plus preparation of site reports agreeing a format of reports entries – previous projects have used the National Heritage List format for describing registered parks and gardens. The Trust can supply examples of completed site reports and dossiers.
§ Appropriate training for volunteers (and for any LPA staff if required) based on training formats delivered regionally by the Association of Gardens Trusts Historic Landscape Project (EH/NE funded). For details see www.gardenstrusts.org.uk/12-proj-historiclandscape.html
§ Provision of historic OS maps and possibly other basic research material courtesy of ESCC HER
§ Management/organisation of the work and an element of volunteer travel expenses for visiting sites/repositories in the relevant LPA area
§ Pro formas for obtaining permission for access to sites from owners (tries and tested in other LA areas) and advice on privacy and copyright matters
§ A preliminary list of sites worth considering for a potential local list (some possibly researched in some detail already)
The LPA would need to allocate an element of officer time and, ideally, a commitment to establishing a local list - to cover
§ Identification and agreement with SGT of appropriate criteria for selecting sites in the relevant LPA area (based on those suggested in the new EH ‘GOOD PRACTICE GUIDE FOR LOCAL HERITAGE LISTING’)
§ Identification and agreement with SGT of a final list of sites(marked on a map) to form basis of project including proposing additions or deletions from Trust’s preliminary list with brief justification for how each might meet the selected criteria
§ Agreement and approval of assigning of criteria to sites and adoption of them for the LPA local list
§ Proposals for location, storage and levels of public access to, all research/survey material