PROTECTING HERITAGE ASSETS AND THE HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT

Purpose

This Policy Position Statement reviews the importance of the UK’s heritage assets and the historic environment and the threats they face, particularly in the context of the water environment and climate change. Our heritage is all around us - in our everyday buildings and landscapes. It is irreplaceable and often fragile.

Heritage water assets are diverse. They include man made and naturalised features, with decorative, functional and industrial aspects. Examples include fountains, ornamental ponds, lakes within designed landscapes, canals, dams, drainage and sewer systems, pumping stations, water treatment buildings and watermen’s cottages. Important historic land-uses include water meadows, historic gardens and parklands.

Managing our heritage assets and the historic environment requires high levels of professional expertise and the engagement of the public and local communities. CIWEM supports action to further protect and enhance heritage assets, and recommends the following key actions for policy-makers.

CIWEM calls for:

1. Greater government and public recognition of the contribution of heritage assets and the historic environment to: the identity of individuals, communities, and the nation; the character of regions and places; and tourism and economic regeneration.

2. Continued support for initiatives to improve the knowledge base and wider appreciation of heritage resources, especially those related to water resources, water recreation, and wastewater management.

3. Greater support for initiatives that seek to understand and conserve our heritage at a landscape scale rather than a site scale; and to understand the links between the built and natural heritage, especially in water management.

4. Active protection and conservation of heritage assets and the historic environment through the planning and development control system.

5. Better understanding of the impact of climate change on the historic environment and future conservation management needs, and greater recognition of associated wider water and environmental management issues.

6. English Heritage’s Conservation Principles to be widely adopted by public and private bodies.

7.  More resources devoted to ensuring that all communities have a better understanding of heritage and the contribution it can make to the enrichment of people’s lives, locally.

Context

Heritage assets may be large or small, static or mobile, and vary in age from 30 years (the point at which buildings and landscapes become eligible for protective designation) to several thousand years. They are mostly created by human effort, but the concept of ‘natural’ or ‘cultural’ heritage recognises that features such as veteran trees are as important in terms of culture and history as in their biodiversity.

Heritage assets are vulnerable to both natural and man-made threats. They can be degraded or destroyed by inappropriate actions or lack of protection. Given unlimited resources, buildings or artefacts can be re-created but only as copies which give an illusion of the original but lack authenticity. Some assets cannot be re-created except by time – a lost veteran oak can be replanted, but it will be a different tree and 500 years before it is effectively replaced, and the distinctive range of flora and fauna associated with its veteran stage will have been lost.

Each part of the UK has its own Heritage Agency: English Heritage in England; Cadw in Wales; Historic Scotland in Scotland and the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland.  Each body has a similar oversight and role, although the legislative background and specific responsibilities vary considerably.

Key Issues

Heritage assets are important because they:

• Provide continuity and a link with the past
• Can be aesthetically pleasing and widely enjoyed
• Provide a ‘sense of place’ at local, regional  and national levels
• Provide the bedrock for tourism in the UK
• Are increasingly important as a focus for economic regeneration
• Contribute to community cohesion and identity

Policy-makers need to recognise that heritage assets link us to our collective past and help us not only to understand the past but also to avoid future mistakes.

Heritage assets are under threat from:

• Development: Threats range from total destruction and replacement with new structures to inappropriate conversions which destroy their unique values. Development which affects the setting of an asset can also be highly damaging.
• Neglect: Failure to maintain an asset will lead to its loss through neglect. This is particularly a problem where suitable uses cannot be found for old buildings and structures. English Heritage publishes an annual review of ‘Buildings at Risk’.
• Inappropriate repair: Inappropriate or poor repair work can be as damaging as neglect. There is a strong need for informed, skilled, conservation.
• Climate change: Future climate scenarios include drier summers and wetter winters with more ‘extreme’ events – high winds, heavy rainfall, and flooding. These can have serious impacts on heritage assets not designed for them.
• Pollution: Limestone and certain types of sandstone, often used in historic buildings and monuments, are particularly at risk from ‘acid rain’.
• Health & Safety: Excessive concerns over health and safety can lead to the removal or dismantling of historic monuments - particularly funereal monuments such as gravestones - to reduce a ‘perceived risk’ from their stability.

Discussion

Despite a range of positive legislation and policy documents, many heritage assets are threatened. Action is required to safeguard all heritage assets and ensure that the need to protect them and their environment is reflected not only in the policies but also in the actions of all relevant stakeholders, both private and public.

CIWEM calls for greater government and public recognition of the contribution of heritage assets and the historic environment to: the identity of individuals, communities, and the nation; the character of regions and places; and tourism and economic regeneration. This will require the public and private sectors to recognise their responsibilities to society for these assets and provide sustained and reliable funding to maintain them. A particular responsibility falls on the water sector, given the UK’s important historical legacy of reservoirs, canals, drainage and sewer systems, and other structures.

CIWEM calls for continued support for initiatives to improve the knowledge base and wider appreciation of heritage resources, especially those related to water resources, water recreation, and wastewater management. Reliable information is vitally important when making planning policy decisions. It is also important that this information is widely disseminated and understood so that the maximum number of people can appreciate our historic environment and the reasons for protecting it.

CIWEM calls for greater support for initiatives that seek to: understand and conserve our heritage at a landscape scale rather than a site scale. The interaction between diverse historic assets in any one area and their surrounds often gives them a unique value. A ‘landscape-scale’ approach is particularly needed in delivering ‘sustainable communities’ - designing them with sensitivity for the historic landscape.

CIWEM calls for greater support for initiatives that seek to understand the links between the built and natural heritage, especially in water management. The built and natural heritage are deeply interconnected - ancient monuments are often rich in threatened grassland species, for example. Co-operation and understanding is needed between the various stakeholders to promote all their interests jointly.

CIWEM calls for active protection and conservation of heritage assets and the historic environment through the planning and development control system. A robust approach is needed which recognises the central importance of our historic environment and works to stop the gradual and piecemeal loss of our heritage.

CIWEM calls for better understanding of the impact of climate change on the historic environment and future conservation management needs and greater recognition of associated wider water and environmental management issues. Proper funding is required for targeted and ‘joined-up’ research to inform policy on how to tackle the impacts of climate change on the historic environment.

CIWEM calls for English Heritage’s Conservation Principles to be widely adopted by public and private bodies. These six principles recognise that:

• The historic environment is a shared resource
• Everyone should be able to participate in sustaining the historic environment
• Understanding the heritage value of places is vital
• Significant places should be managed to sustain their values
• Decisions about change must be reasonable, transparent and consistent
• Recording and learning from decisions is essential

Applying these principles to historically important heritage assets means:

• Restraining the process of decay without damaging the asset’s character
• Keeping repairs to the minimum required to stabilise and conserve the asset and ensure its long term survival
• Avoiding unnecessary damage
• Analysing and understanding historic development
• Analysing the cause of defects
• Adopting proven techniques
• Ensuring repairs are accurate in all aspects
• Safeguarding the future

CIWEM calls for more resources devoted to ensuring that all communities have a better understanding of heritage and the contribution it can make to the enrichment of people’s lives, locally.  There must be effective coordination between government agencies, local authorities, parish councils, charities and other community groups in maximising the opportunities our heritage presents.

Useful References

British Standard BS7913: 1998 The principles of the conservation of historic buildings

Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments  www.cadw.wales.gov.uk

Clark, K 2001 Informed Conservation

Department for Culture Media and Sport and Welsh Assembly Government 2007 Heritage Protection for the 21st Century - White Paper

English Heritage  www.english-heritage.org.uk

English Heritage 2000 Power of Place: The future of the Historic Environment

English Heritage 2001 Enabling Development and Conservation of Heritage Assets

English Heritage 2006 Guidance on conservation area appraisals

English Heritage 2007 Conservation Principles Policies and Guidance for the Sustainable Management of the Historic Environment - Consultation Paper

Environment and Heritage Service Northern Ireland  www.ehsni.gov.uk

Historic Scotland  www.historic-scotland.gov.uk

UNESCO 2005 Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention

World Commission on Environment and Development 1987 Our common future

ICOMOS 1994 The Nara Document on Authenticity

Appendix 1: Key Heritage Legislation/Policy and Conventions

International charter for the conservation and restoration of monuments and sites (1964)
 
Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972)

The Illustrated Burra Charter (2004)

Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe (1985)

European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (1992)

The European Landscape Convention (2000)

Framework Convention on the Values of Cultural Heritage for Society (2005)

Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 Created the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, the ‘Schedule of Monuments’ and enabled monuments to be taken into ‘Guardianship’.

Historic Building and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 Introduced new procedures for the protection of Ancient Monuments, amending the Ancient Monuments Act 1931.

Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 Protected Scheduled Monuments by requiring owners to obtain Consent for any works which might affect them.

National Heritage Act 1983 Created English Heritage, Historic Scotland and Cadw.

Town and Country Planning Act 1972 Consolidated previous planning law on listed buildings, and introduced the concepts of ‘Conservation Areas’ and Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs).

Natural England and Rural Communities Act 2006 Requires every public body, in exercising its functions, to ‘have regard…to the purpose of conserving biodiversity’.

Planning Policy Guidance

• Planning Policy Statement 1 (2005): Delivering Sustainable Development
• Planning Policy Guidance 15 (1994): Planning and the Historic Environment
• Planning Policy Guidance 16 (1990): Archaeology and Planning

Planning Policy Guidance (PPG), now being replaced by Planning Policy Statements (PPS) sets out the Government’s policies on different aspects of planning in England.

Note: CIWEM Policy Position Statements (PPS) represent the Institution’s views on issues at a particular point in time. It is accepted that situations change as research provides new evidence. It should be understood, therefore, that CIWEM PPS’s are under constant review, and that previously-held views may alter and lead to revised PPS’s. 

March 2007