Heritage Update 208
Friday 20may 2011The Heritage Alliance is the largest alliance of heritage interests inthe UK, representing 90 member organisations, with the aim of promoting the central role of thenon-Government movement in the heritage sector.Heritage Update is our voice; to, and for, the sector. It is estimated that Update reaches approximately 12,000 mailboxes in the UK and internationally; with readers as far afield as Abu Dhabi, Antarctica, Istanbul and California. For more information visit
CONTENTS
HEADLINES
New future for HODs with The Heritage Alliance, Civic Voice and the National Trust
Latest on the Localism Bill
£10m boost for city & town centres under HLF Townscape Heritage Initiative
Gove accepts all recommendations in the Wolf Review of Vocational Education
HAVE YOUR SAY: CONSULTATION ROUND UP
NEWS
ACEVO urges Government to fill in the blanks on Big Society
Campaign groups launch Manifesto for coasts and seascapes
SAVE publishes damning report on Pathfinder scheme
Theatres took the lion's share of ACE cuts, says Theatres Trust
Discovering Places is on the starting line....
ALSO THIS FORTNIGHT…
Updated Departmental business plans published
Mary Portas to head up high streets review
Welsh Government changes
Arts Council England and NESTA digitalprogramme: have your say
What will you be doing on Day of Archaeology - 29 July 2011?Nautical Archaeology Society scoops inaugural ATF training award
London Councils publishes guidance under Heritage Change Programme
Culture24 is official cultural data provider to the BBC
PEOPLE
EVENTS
SITUATIONS VACANT
NOTES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
HEADLINES
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New future for HODs with The Heritage Alliance, Civic Voice and the National Trust
We are delighted to announce that The Heritage Alliance will be part of a partnership of three charities, with Civic Voice and the National Trust, which will take on responsibility for the national co-ordination of Heritage Open Days (HODs) as of 1 October 2011.
HODs is England's largest grassroots heritage event, delivered by an army of volunteers across the country (except London, which has Open House London) annually on the second weekend in September. Following the demise of the Civic Trust in 2009, which used to co-ordinate HODs, the future of the event had been uncertain. English Heritage, which rescued the event in 2009 and currently co-ordinates it at a national level, will continue to fund HODs until March 2015 and will remain responsible for Heritage Open Days in September 2011.Click here for English Heritage’s statement.
Our Chairman, Loyd Grossman, said: “We are thrilled to be working in partnership with Civic Voice and the National Trust as one of the three charities taking Heritage Open Days forward to a strong, sustainable future. Run by volunteers for the benefit of their local communities, it’s the largest voluntary cultural event in England; with over a million visits last year and over 40,000 volunteers giving up their time to share their passion and knowledge with their neighbours. We all know how extraordinarily popular our heritage is with people up and down the country, and Heritage Open Days gives us all an opportunity to showcase that heritage and the outstanding voluntary effort and commitment that makes it available to all.”
The priority of the new consortium will be to work with the event’s stakeholders up and down the country to develop a long-term vision and strategy for the sustainable future of HODs. Keep an eye on the HODs website and Twitter feed for news and details of the 2011 weekend.Back
Latest on the Localism Bill
The Localism Bill had its report stage and third reading in the Commons on Tuesday and Wednesday (17 / 18 May).
In advance of this, on 13 May the Alliance’s Parliamentary Liaison team issued a further briefing to MPs outlining the Alliance’s stance on the Bill as it stood at the time: welcoming Amendments 173 (restoring protection for Listed Buildings, their settings, and Conservation Areas where it had been removed in previous drafts of the Bill), 163 (permitting neighbourhood development forums to cross local authority boundaries) and 161 (encouraging diversity in the make-up of neighbourhood forums). Most importantly, our response highlighted the areas of the Bill over which the Alliance still had concerns for heritage protection, and offered suggested amendments to the current text of the Bill that would ensure protection for the historic environment would not be downgraded.
Our Parliamentary Liaison Team continues to work hard communicating the Alliance’s perspective to Parliamentarians: they’re currently preparing a briefing for the Lords in advance of the Bill’s passage to the Upper Chamber in the first week of June, and will be meeting with Peers shortly to discuss this in person. Further briefings will be posted on our website here. You can keep up-to-date with the passage of the Bill here.
One of the concerns we noted in our briefing - the level to which business interests should be involved in neighbourhood planning, referred to by the press as the ‘cash for permissions clause’ - has reared its head this week, as MPs voted in favour of adding a new clause to Section 70 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 that would make "any local finance considerations" material to an application. The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) slammed the move as “totally unacceptable”, CPRE (a member of the Alliance) described the amendment as “a brazen attempt to legalise cash for sprawl” and Civic Voice (a member of the Alliance) said the move would result in a “profound change with far reaching consequences for the integrity of the planning system and public confidence in its decisions.” Back
£10m boost for city & town centres under HLF Townscape Heritage Initiative
On Tuesday (17 May) the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) announced earmarked support totaling £10m for the regeneration of seven city and town centres, under its Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) programme.
The THI programme has successfully revived 387 historic areas in towns and cities, by fostering effective partnerships between local organisations and enabling repairs and other essential works in historic but often run-down areas to bring high streets back to life. The funding, integral to wider conservation and regeneration strategies, also helps provide employment and training opportunities.
However, the THI programme “is now operating in a challenging environment for regeneration” due to the twin pressures of public sector cuts and a drop-off in investment from the private sector, and one of the questions in the HLF’s recent consultation on its strategic plan 2013-19 concernedthe level of support for continuing the programme.
The Heritage Alliance’s members’ workshop on the HLF’s strategic plan, held in March, indicated strong support amongst members for the continuation of the THI programme - so the latest grant news from HLF is welcome and confirms, despite the economic climate,a continuing demand for these schemes. See The Alliance’s full response to the HLF consultation here.Back
Gove accepts all recommendations in the Wolf Review of Vocational Education
Education Secretary Michael Gove responded to Professor Alison Wolf’s Review into Vocational Education in a statement to the House of Commons last week (12 May).
In the official response to the Review Mr Gove said “hundreds of thousands of young people” were taking vocational “qualifications that have little or no value” and that to address this “we need to elevate the practical and treat vocational education not, as it has been seen in the past, as an inferior route for the less able but an aspirational path for those with specific aptitudes.” Mr Gove confirmed that the Government would accept all of Professor Wolf’s recommendations, and that she would be given a formal role within Government to help implement the reforms.
The Wolf recommendations include: considering paying businesses that take young people on to high-quality apprenticeships; evaluating the delivery structure and content of apprenticeships to ensure they deliver the right skills for the workplace; and incentivising young people to take the most valuable vocational qualifications pre-16 (currently schools and colleges are incentivised to offer lower grade qualifications that are easier to pass because they get paid on those results).
Professor Wolf said: "There are many excellent vocational qualifications, teachers and institutions - they are the examples that should be the norm. They prove that vocational education is a great choice for many young people.” More here. Back
HAVE YOUR SAY: CONSULTATION ROUND UP
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See The Heritage Alliance’s consultation responseshere
May
Henley Review of Cultural Education: call for evidence. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Department for Education have launched this independent review, to be led by Darren Henley of Classic FM, to consider how all children can experience a high quality cultural education. Deadline: 20 May.
Maritime Spatial Planning and Integrated Coastal Zone Management.A European Commission consultation to gather stakeholder feedback about the status and future of Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in the EU, and to assess where further EU action would be most useful. Deadline: 20 May.
EU consultation on the future of VAT.An opportunity has arisen to express concern about the way that VAT is levied on the cost of maintenance and repairs to historic buildings (but not on replacement or new builds) in response to the European Commission Green Paper: ‘Towards a simpler, more robust and efficient VAT system’. The aim of the consultation is to launch a debate on the structure of the current VAT system, ways to make it more coherent within a single market and to reduce the cost of compliance. Deadline: 31 May.
June
Establishment of a Register of Historic Battlefields in WalesA Welsh Assembly consultation.Welsh Ministers propose that Cadw should compile and maintain a non-statutory Register of Historic Battlefields in Wales. Deadline: 10June.
Historic Environment (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2011 - Draft RegulationsThis Historic Scotland consultation seeks comments on four draft Statutory Instruments that have been prepared under certain delegated powers in the Historic Environment (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2011. Deadline: 14 June.
Moving inland waterways into a new charity in England and Wales. A DEFRA consultation seeking views on the rationale for moving the management of the inland waterways in England and Wales out of the public sector and into a new civil society organisation, and the principles that should guide the Government in deciding on the way forward. Deadline: 30 June.
NEWS
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ACEVO urges Government to fill in the blanks on Big Society
The Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO), of which the Alliance is a member, launched its report Powerful People, Responsible Society on Monday (16 May) - a year on from the Prime Minister’s launch of the Big Society programme.
The independent, cross party report - put together by ACEVO’s Big Society Commission - criticisesGovernment for failing to articulate a clear plan on Big Society, as research conducted by the Commission found that only 13 per cent of the public believe the Government has a clear plan for translating the concept into action.
The report urges the Prime Minister to take more personal responsibility in driving forward the Big Society across Whitehall. It also calls on banks to commit to reinvesting a minimum of 1 per cent of pre-tax profits for social good, and proposes a new regulatory framework to ensure banks lend to financially excluded communities. And it warns thatGovernment risks alienating the very civil society leaders it will depend on to realise its vision, as research conducted by the Commission found that only 8 per cent of voluntary sector leaders think the Government has a good understanding of the voluntary sector. Instead of the proposedextra ‘Big Society bank holiday’, the report recommends that employees should be able to request time off, which the report suggests would cost the economy less and provide an army of 10 million more adults to engage in voluntary activity. Back
Campaign groups launch Manifesto for coasts and seascapes
The UK Marine Policy Statement, published in March, heralded the start of the development of a marine planning system across the UK. Seascapes are mentioned, but campaign groups (including the National Trust (member of the Alliance), the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE – a member of the Alliance), Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW), Campaign for National Parks, the National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Europarc Atlantic Isles) are concerned they are not given the prominence they deserve.
With the launch of their Manifesto for Coasts and Seascapes, the coalition of campaign groups calls on the Government to extend the same level of protection to our coasts and seascapes as it does to our landscapes, to ensure they are managed with care. More on this here.Back
SAVE publishes damning report on Pathfinder scheme
In a new report Housing Scandal! Pathfinder: a Post-Mortem SAVE Britain’s Heritage (a member of the Alliance) delivers a damning verdict on the discontinued Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Pathfinder programme.
The report includes a paragraph-by-paragraph critique of the recent Audit Commission report by researcher Bill Finlay, and an introduction by planner and Liverpool resident Jonathan Brown, detailing the effects of the scheme in his city.
SAVE’s report makes the following recommendations: new funding should be targeted mainly at repair and refurbishment; Mega-Social-Landlords driven by development ambitions must be brought under tight democratic control to make them better neighbours;area-based retro-fit to high environmental standards will help renew market confidence and generate economic opportunity in deprived areas much more effectively than expensive HMR quangos; the constitutional implications of Compulsory Purchase Order powers over private home owners need to be carefully reviewed by Parliament; a more respectful approach to deprived neighbourhoods that does not assume those with power necessarily know best is required.Back
Theatres took the lion's share of ACE cuts, says Theatres Trust
Over 73 per cent of the funding cuts announced recently by the Arts Council England (ACE) fell on theatres, according to an analysis by The Theatres Trust (a member of the Alliance).
97 theatres lost funding or were cut entirely, with 43 benefiting from an increase. In cash terms, theatre venues are set to lose a balance of £46.8m of public funding through ACE over the next four years. Director of The Theatres Trust, Mhora Samuel said: “theatres may have to close, and local and national economies will be worse off.In making its choices ACE has significantly redrawn the theatre landscape of England.”
The Trust will be releasing its 2011 Theatre Buildings at Risk Register in July, and will continue to assess the impact of the funding awards in the new ACE national portfolio and local authority funding decisions. Click here for more information. Back
Discovering Places is on the starting line....
Discovering Places is a London 2012 Cultural Olympiad campaign, lead by The Heritage Alliance, which aims to inspire communities across the UK to discover their local environment – with all its hidden places and extraordinary spaces. So much has happened in a short space of time, so here’s a quick update from the Discovering Places project team:
“On 12 May we launched our brand new Discovering Places website, which is packed full of information about our latest developments and exciting projects. We’d be happy for you to share this link on your website or social media pages, and if you haven’t already signed up there’s an easy link to follow to receive our monthly newsletters.
Our first major project, Meet The Species, delivered in partnership with the Bristol Natural History Consortium, is under starters orders and will be launching tomorrow (20 May) at the Bristol Bioblitz in the beautiful surroundings of the National Trust’s Tyntesfield Victorian estate. The race is definitely on, and hundreds of people will be on the hunt to uncover 2,012 wild and wonderful species.
For more information about other events running across the UK this spring and summer, please head to the website.E We’re keen to keep you informed about how you can get involved and would like to remind you about Open Weekend, which will take place 22 – 24 July. This is your chance to showcase the best of your region and celebrate one year to go until the games. Register your event by 27 June 2011 here.”
For more information on Discovering Places, email Back
ALSO THIS FORTNIGHT…
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Updated Departmental business plans published
On 13 May the Government published updated business plans for each Department, detailing changes made since the plans were first launched in November 2010.
The 2011 business plans reflect an updated assessment of when the Government will implement the commitments it set out in the Programme for Government. Main changes include actions on growth and social mobility, and presentational changes such as incorporating milestones into the main section of the business plans.