6 Government Departments as Land and Property
owners
86. The DCMS has published advice to other Government
departments on the disposal of their historic assets which suggests
that the maximisation of land sale receipts should not be the
overriding objective in heritage disposals. Evidence to the Committee
suggested that this guidance is not being applied. The Regeneration
Through Heritage organisation commented:
"Notwithstanding government policy that empowers
government departments and agencies to dispose of heritage property
at less than market value in support of wider economic objectives,
we have found that they still feel driven by the need to maximise
returns and achieve government financial targets. Too often wider
regeneration objectives are lost as a consequence of pressure
to maximise capital receipts. Like private developers, government
departments seek maximum incomes and, therefore, promote the highest
value uses, such as offices, in preference to more appropriate
uses, such as cultural, leisure or workshop uses. These might
make better use of buildings and bring about a better outcome
in terms of economically and socially sustainable outputs. We
have found that government departments often do not promote mixed-uses,
which usually work best in heritage areas and are inherently more
sustainable, with a consequent reduction in the potential public
benefits. This obsession with maximising returns leads to sterile
heritage regeneration schemes."[78]
87. The United Kingdom Association of Preservation
Trust points out:
"There is considerable evidence that the central
importance of an area's built heritage and - by extension - its
identity and links to its civic past are still not central within
the regeneration thinking of some organisations. Worse offenders
are often government departments - see the demise and redundancy
of the health and military estates, where large historic building
complexes are often allowed to degrade over time and withdrawal
of maintenance until demolition or sale as enabling land for larger
often unsympathetic development seems the only answer."[79]
The Civic Trust suggested that the Defence Estates
are "too often sold to maximise financial return without
regard to their historic value."[80]
British Waterways is another public agency which is alleged not
to be respecting the heritage value of its estate in some of its
redevelopment schemes. Regeneration through Heritage said:
"BW is still driven by the need to maximise
economic returns and promotes projects that over-develop buildings,
have inappropriate uses, or involve schemes that do not deliver
a sufficiently wide social benefit. Some of their alterations
to heritage buildings fall short of what they could deliver, reflecting
a lack of conservation skills within their organisation."[81]
88. The 1996 DCMS disposal guidelines to Government
departments suggested that the aim should be to obtain the best
return for the taxpayer having regard to a number of factors which
include Government policy for historic buildings and areas and
archaeology as set out in PPG15 and PPG 16. "The clear recognition
in these documents that the most appropriate long-term use for
a historic building (when account is taken of the need to protect
its fabric, interior and setting) may not be the use which generates
the optimum financial return."[82]
89. Some Government departments are felt to be
neglecting the historic buildings on their estate and disposing
of their properties for inappropriate redevelopments which maximise
commercial return and fail to enhance their historic qualities.
We recommend that the Government monitor the implementation of
its guidelines on the sale of Government assets and take action
where they are not applied and report biennially to the House
on the outcome.
78 HIS17 Back
79
HIS34 Back
80 HIS11 Back
81
HIS17 Back
82
The Disposal of Historic Buildings DCMS 1996 para 9.1 Back
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