Heritage Update 194

Friday 8 october 2010
The Heritage Alliance is the largest alliance of heritage interests in the UK, representing 83 member organisations, with the aim of promoting the central role of the non-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
Register now for Heritage Day 2010
Select Committee Inquiry into arts and heritage funding: dates for oral evidence confirmed
Savings measures announced for Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme
DCMS published summary of responses to the Lottery Shares consultation
DCMS responds to key concerns in the Lottery shares consultation
Increased speculation over future of the heritage quangos prompts flurry of protest
Comments on National Heritage Protection Plan published
HAVE YOUR SAY: CONSULTATION ROUND UP
NEWS
A warm welcome to our newest member
HLF seeks Regional Chairs
Inland Waterways Association briefs on proposed ‘conservancy’
Uplands Entry Level Stewardship figures on the rise
From Morris to Mills: £15m from HLF for heritage projects across the UK
ALSO THIS FORTNIGHT…
John Penrose: speech on future Tourism management
EH: Archaeological Services in support of Marine Designation - summary of responses
Strawberry Hill: Horace Walpole’s Gothic revival castle opens to the public
Clothworker Conservation Fellowship 2011: Apply now
Promote your activities on BBC ‘Things To Do’ website
Urban Forum / bassac publish Local Action Handy Guide
CABE photographic competition: Areas of Outstanding Urban Beauty
PEOPLE
EVENTS AND COURSES
SITUATIONS VACANT
NOTES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
HEADLINES
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Register now for Heritage Day 2010
The Heritage Alliance’s annual Heritage Day, sponsored by Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, is one of the biggest events in the heritage calendar. This event offers you the chance to meet a wide range of colleagues from all corners of the sector, and hear eminent speakers address the latest issues affecting the future of our heritage.
The packed programme includes the AGM for members in the morning session, followed by a lunchtime reception open to all. In the afternoon session, also open to all, our Chairman Loyd Grossman will give a review of the year, followed by an address from Secretary of State for Culture Jeremy Hunt, and a Q&A session chaired by our Deputy Chair Ian Lush. The afternoon session will also feature the announcement of the winner of the first Heritage Alliance Hero Award.
The event will take place on 8 December at the Banqueting House, Whitehall, London SW1A 2ER. Alliance members are welcome from 11.30am for the AGM, and all are welcome from 1.00pm for the lunchtime reception and the speakers’ session and questions at 2.15am including those from the voluntary sector, local and regional authorities, government agencies, elected members, professionals, site managers and students. Click here for the full programme.
Advance registration is essential: please click here to download a booking form, and return it by email to or by post to Toks Ferguson, Office Manager, The Heritage Alliance, Clutha House, 10 Storey’s Gate, London SW1P 3AY. For non-members, tickets are priced at £25 per person (£5 for students). We look forward to meeting you there! Back
Select Committee Inquiry into arts and heritage funding: dates for oral evidence confirmed
Chairman of The Heritage Alliance Loyd Grossman has been invited to give oral evidence to the Select Committee on Culture Media and Sport’s Inquiry into funding for the arts and heritage, on 2 November. He will appear alongside the Heritage Lottery Fund.
It is understood that English Heritage and The National Trust have been invited to give their oral evidence to the Committee on 19 October. Arts bodies - the Arts Council England, Arts and Business and the National Campaign for the Arts - will be the first to appear in front of the Committee, on 12 October, followed by representatives from local government. Back
Savings measures announced for Listed Places of Worship grant scheme
The scope of the Listed Places of Worship grant scheme is to be amended in line with Government savings, Tourism and Heritage Minister John Penrose announced yesterday.
At the moment listed places of worship, of any faith or denomination, can claim a grant equal to the VAT paid on eligible works. However it has now been agreed to return the scheme to its original scope of eligibility, which will exclude works on clocks, pews, bells, organs and professional services such as architects’ fees, for the rest of this financial year. The future of the scheme beyond this financial year is still under review, and will be resolved as part of the CSR process on 20 October.
The Minister said: “Everyone is being asked to make savings so I’m afraid we cannot exclude this scheme, however much I would like to. We asked representatives of the major denominations how they would prefer the savings to be made, and it was agreed that reducing the scope was the least damaging option for making savings, whilst still allowing claims for all other sorts of work.”
Crispin Truman, Chair of Places of Worship at The Heritage Alliance and CEO of the Churches Conservation Trust, said:
“The LPOWGS has helped around 9000 communities to repair their historic places of worship. Any loss of scope under the scheme is to be regretted, but we appreciate that the Department needs to contribute to the savings needed, and are pleased that denominations had a chance to comment on the proposals. We welcome the decision to meet the VAT increase from January albeit on slightly reduced scope, and would renew our calls for the scheme to be continued from April 2011.”
The changes will come into effect from 4 January and will apply until the current end date of the scheme, 31 March. Although this clarifies the situation for the next five and a half months, the long term future of the scheme is by no means clear. Please keep up the momentum and ensure that the campaign continues! Click here and here for more on the campaign and how you can help. Back
DCMS published summary of responses to the Lottery Shares consultation
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) consultation on revising the Lottery shares allocated to the good causes of arts, sport, heritage, charitable expenditure, health, education and the environment, closed in August. 47 member organisations signed up to a joint Alliance response and several submitted their own responses. A full list of all the non-confidential responses will be published in due course.
A total of 362 responses were received from organisations in the arts, heritage (including both built and natural environment) and sport sectors, the voluntary and community sector and from the Lottery distributors, as well as from the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, local authorities and other statutory bodies; and from individual members of the public and others writing in a personal capacity. 264 responses (73.2%) supported the proposed changes to Lottery shares, 45 (12.4%) opposed them, and 52 (14.4%) did not take a clear position either way. 194 responses (53.6% of the total) came from the arts, heritage and sport sectors.
Most respondents thought that the anticipated increase in Lottery funding for these sectors would allow new projects to be taken forward and more outreach work, particularly with disadvantaged and hard-to-reach communities. However, this optimism was tempered with a general recognition that cuts in other public funding were likely, and that these could have a significant adverse effect on these sectors. Many respondents cautioned that increased Lottery funding should not be used as an excuse for reductions in other public funding or to compensate for such reductions.
Many respondents (including The Alliance) commented on the Government’s intention to reduce Lottery distributors’ administration costs to 5% of total Lottery income. Respondents were particularly concerned that distributors might reduce or abandon the work they do in advising, mentoring and supporting applicants and grant recipients. There was particular praise for the expertise that the Heritage Lottery Fund provides to organisations in the heritage sector, and for the research and monitoring role of the distributors, which helps to inform grant decisions and ensure that Lottery funding is used effectively. Some suggested that this expenditure should be excluded from the calculation of administration costs.
For the full review click here. Back
DCMS responds to key concerns in the Lottery shares consultation
In a statement addressing the key concerns raised in the Lottery shares consultation (summary of responses above), the Department said it was “pleased to note the overwhelming majority support for the proposed change”, but despite some pleas for the option of implementing the change fully on 1 April 2011, confirmed that, because the Olympic diversion does not end until 2012 the preferred option remains to make the change in two stages.
DCMS agreed with the views expressed by many that Lottery funding should not be used as an excuse for reductions in public funding and reaffirmed its commitment: “We will continue to support the principle of additionality of Lottery funding, that the Lottery is in addition to core Government spending.”
Many voluntary and community sector respondents were concerned about a potential adverse effect in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. DCMS responded to this somewhat enigmatically: “We appreciate, as pointed out in the draft Impact Assessment, that some UK wide distributors (those for heritage, elite sport and film) do not have funding formulas to divide money between the countries. But if the actual historic funding position is taken into account for heritage and film, and an assumption based on population for elite sport (where locations of grants to elite athletes are not attributed for reasons of data protection) each country will have more funding after the change.”
DCMS will also consider the suggestion that the return of funds to the Lottery from the sale of land at the Olympic site after 2012 should be made in the same proportions that existed when the original transfers were made, but warns that the Lottery landscape is likely to be different by the time the monies are available. It will consider how the amounts going to the voluntary and community sector can be made transparent.
For the full statement, click here. Back
Increased speculation over future of the heritage quangos prompts flurry of protest
Leaked Cabinet Office documents detailing various scenarios of quangos for possible abolition, mergers, review and retention - published by The Daily Telegraph and the BBC – have prompted a flurry of statements. The Daily Telegraph’s undated list appears to be based on a leaked Cabinet Office memo, and the BBC leak shows a table and letter dated 26 August from the Cabinet Office to the Deputy Prime Minister. Neither has been confirmed by the Government as final, and Cabinet Office press officers have stated that negotiations are still ongoing.
Commenting on the ongoing speculation that English Heritage may merge with the Heritage Lottery Fund and National Heritage Memorial Fund, Director of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC – a member of The Alliance) Sean O’Reilly laments: “Any decision on merging the HLF and English Heritage without substantial consultation across the UK‘s heritage sector and communities could represent exactly the sort of public and local disenfranchisement that the coalition government seemed to want to overturn. We all rely on a tourist industry that is underpinned by our built heritage and its funding. Whether outside or inside England, people should be at the heart of these discussions, shaping their outcomes in line with the new government’s people-led agenda.” Click here for more.
The Heritage Lottery Fund has commented that it will prioritise best outcomes for heritage and its independence. Carole Souter, Chief Executive of both the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), said: “Our priority is to secure the very best outcome for heritage, ensuring that Lottery funding continues to be available for a broad range of heritage projects - big and small - right across the UK…It is also important that lottery investment in heritage – which has been so transformational over the last 16 years – continues to be administered independently.” Carole Souter also confirms that no changes have yet been finalised, and that HLF is operating as usual: “No formal proposals have yet been made. Once they have, we look forward to discussing them with all those concerned. In the meantime, we would like to assure all our applicants that it is ‘business as usual’ and money set aside for any HLF project currently underway is absolutely safe.” Click here for more.
Also commenting on rumours of a merger, Head of Communication at the Museums Association (MA) Maurice Davies warned of the problems that could stem from the incompatibility of the two organisations’ different areas of responsibility: “The problems will come if HLF merges with a body like English Heritage that has a more strategic role and a bigger remit. Then we would see the very strange situation where museum policy is the responsibility of the Arts Council, itself a lottery distributor, but lottery funding for museums is determined by another strategic body.” Click here for more. Back
Comments on National Heritage Protection Plan published
The results of English Heritage’s pre-consultation survey on the National Heritage Protection Plan (NHPP) are now available here.
The results of the NHPP survey reveal that despite general support for the Plan, sector buy-in depends on the implementation of real partnership and collaborative working, with many respondents citing communication as essential to achieving this style of working with EH on the Plan. As such, respondents would welcome greater clarity / simplification of the NHPP consultation process and language. The results of the survey also reveal an underlying concern about resources for the NHPP and a need for EH to clarify its role and the ultimate direction of the Plan before the sector will take ownership.
The report summary suggests that “cross-sectoral consensus has largely been achieved; though some, particularly those involved in change management, were not as clear as others as to where the Plan begins and ends”. Again, though the benefits of some sort of national plan are generally accepted, some respondents find it difficult to understand how the Plan would be translated into positive local outcomes, whilst others consider it to be too unrealistic in view of a future lack of resources. English Heritage recognises that there is therefore a need for clear outcomes that would reward the effort the sector would need to put in to make the Plan work. English Heritage will be publishing an interim version of the NHPP in November, which will answer many of the points made in the responses to the survey. EH then expects to finalise the Plan, which will be published by April 2011. Back
HAVE YOUR SAY: CONSULTATION ROUND UP
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October
Consultation on a draft UK Marine Policy Statement. A Defra consultation: deadline 13 October.
Skills for Sustainable Growth: Consultation on the Future Direction of Skills Policy. A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills consultation seeking views on the government’s draft vision for skills and what it expects to be the key elements of a strategy for delivering it. Deadline 14 October 2010.
The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2010: Consultation on draft regulations. This consultation from the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) seeks views on the consolidation of the 1999 Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations. It explains amendments for screening changes and extensions and the requirement for the competent authority to provide reasons for screening decisions. Deadline 25 October.
Consultation on new policy direction for BIG Lottery Fund. A Department for Culture, Media and Sport consultation. Deadline 29 October.
Wolf Review of Vocational Education: call for evidence. An independent inquiry for the Department for Education. Deadline 29 October.
Consultation on the draft Management Plan for the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site. Comments are invited before the end of October.
November
The Setting of Heritage Assets. An English Heritage consultation. Deadline 26 November.
December
Consultation on a future EU Culture Programme. Give your views on the future EU Culture Programme by taking part in the online public consultation. The results of this consultation will be analysed and summarised in a report that will be published on this website in the first quarter of 2011. Deadline 15 December.