Memorandum by Leeds City Council (HIS
25)
INTRODUCTION
This memorandum is submitted by the Development
Department of Leeds City Council. The Department provides the
planning, economic development, highway design and property functions
of the Council, working closely with the Department of Neighbourhoods
and Housing to deliver regeneration in the city of Leeds.
CONTRIBUTION OF
HISTORIC BUILDINGS
Regeneration does not start with a clean slate.
However run down an area may be, it has existing features and
characteristics which should not be ignored. Any SWOT analysis
in advance of a regeneration scheme would identify heritage structures
and spaces as important elements, but they may appear in more
than one category. Successful regeneration schemes have almost
always had heritage as a key ingredient and have managed to transform
historic buildings and spaces in decay from the weakness/threat
categories to the strengths/opportunities. Obvious examples are
Covent Garden and more recently Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter
and Newcastle's Grainger Town.
In Leeds, four examples where historic buildings
and spaces are major ingredients in regeneration are:
— City Centre (Victoria Quarter, Exchange
Quarter, Yards and Arcades, Millennium Square, The Light);
— Riverside (The Calls, Bank Mills,
Granary Wharf);
— Holbeck Urban Village (Marshall's
Mill, Round Foundry); and
— Little Woodhouse (Woodhouse and Hanover
Squares, Denison Hall).
ROLE AND
EFFECTIVENESS OF
ORGANISATIONS RESPONSIBLE
FOR HISTORIC
ENVIRONMENT
— Leeds City Council is a large organisation
with sometimes competing responsibilities but working towards
a sustainable future for the historic environment. Heritage is
being recognised as an important factor in the Council's asset
management and an essential ingredient in community strategies.
Historic environment conservation is now part of the sustainable
development function. However, the growth in public interest in
the historic environment and in the number of protected structures
and areas has not been matched by growth in resources to manage
change to them.
— Government Departments have fragmented
responsibilities which diminish their effectiveness in this field
(see below).
— English Heritage is a major player
in the planning system and as a grant giving body, particularly
as a partner with the City Council in CAPS and HERS. However,
in its other role as property owner, EH has no presence in Leeds.
Regionalisation (in part) has been the key to greater success
and influence. There could be benefit to follow through and to
regionalise other EH functions eg listing. The City Council contributed
to the EH review of local authority-owned heritage assets and
welcomes the publication of the same name. The Council notes with
dismay that the funding of English Heritage has not kept pace
with inflation and that this is likely to diminish its ability
to work in partnership with local authorities in the future.
— Heritage Lottery Fund. Leeds is benefiting
from several substantial grants at Kirkstall Abbey, the Abbey
House Museum, Temple Newsam and Roundhay Park. Stage I approval
has been given for conversion of the Leeds Institute into the
city museum. As with English Heritage, the opening by HLF of a
regional office has greatly improved local liaison. This should
help to avoid problems such as that which occurred some years
ago with the failure of HLF to support an application for restoration
of Leeds Town Hall. There have been some smaller HLF grant-aided
schemes in conjunction with English Heritage such as the Clarendon
Road Conservation Area Partnership. More projects are expected
to be encouraged through the Local Heritage Initiative but bizarrely
this is run by the Countryside Agency and thereby perceived by
some as of little relevance to urban Leeds.
— West Yorkshire Joint Services is
funded by the five metropolitan districts in West Yorkshire. Two
divisions of this—the Archaeology Service and the Archive
Service—give invaluable support and expert knowledge eg
on industrial archaeology and through the provision of copies
of original building plans. They maintain the Historic Environment
Record for this area.
— National Amenity Societies. These
provide invaluable advice and comment on development proposals
as statutory consultees. The City Council is a corporate member
of the Civic Trust and a keen participant in and promoter of Heritage
Open Days. Indeed in 2000 HODS had its national launch from Marshall's
Mill, Holbeck, Leeds 11. The Victorian Society is active mainly
through its local presence.
— Local Amenity Societies/Residents
Groups. Leeds Civic Trust is an effective pressure group with
a growing umbrella role to co-ordinate and promote the work of
smaller affiliated societies; Little Woodhouse Community Association,
Pudsey Civic Society and the Friends of Roundhay Park are examples
of lively groups with on-the-spot commitment and knowledge.
— Larger Local Landowners. These include
the major estates and the two universities. British Waterways
is a partner with the City Council in the regeneration of the
waterways and adjoining land, notably in the city centre and along
the lower Aire valley. Some landowners, such as Harewood House
and Estate, have their property held as trusts and encourage public
access for the benefit of the local economy. The National Trust
has surprisingly no property in the Leeds district.
REGARD PAID
TO HERITAGE
BY REGENERATION
BODIES
— Yorkshire Forward is the main regeneration
agency in the Leeds district. Its significant investment in the
Holbeck Urban Village is very welcome. The recent initiative on
the theme of urban renaissance has much potential.
— CABE: The advice issued jointly with
English Heritage on new development in existing areas is a promising
start. We have yet to see the impact of CABE on the historic environment
of Leeds.
PLANNING AND
LISTING: AID
OR HINDRANCE
TO REGENERATION?
— The City Council feels that listing
is an essential tool because it identifies heritage of significance
and gives protection from hasty, ill-considered demolition or
alteration. Many successfully restored listed buildings would
not be here today had they not been given this protection. Heritage
most at risk is industrial stock within areas of economic deprivation.
It is tempting here to demolish these because funding is often
tight and buildings are thought to blight these areas. Mothballing
is sometimes useful to await changing fortunes. Examples in Leeds
of large unused listed buildings awaiting rescue schemes are Hunslet
Mill and Mt St Mary's Church, Richmond Hill.
— Listing is only a means to an end
not a guarantee. It does not freeze change if properly used but
allows time to find workable solutions to problems of unused or
threatened buildings. The planning process including the appeal
system ensures that listed building issues are properly aired
and, if necessary, it permits demolition if greater goals are
identified.
— Listing is about giving due recognition
to the importance of a building or structure. In economically
deprived areas, there may be few listed buildings but those that
there are may well be local landmarks whose retention is important
to maintain local pride and distinctiveness. Listing can also
help to give greater certainty to an area—an attribute of
keen interest to developers. Examples where large listed buildings
have been a focal point to investment in Leeds are the Kirkstall
Brewery conversion to a student village and the Corn Exchange
restoration to enhance a secondary retail area.
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS:
ACCOUNT TAKEN
OF THE
HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT
— ODPM/DCMS: The split between DCMS
and ODPM and their roles of heritage protection and management
through the planning system does not help a strategic, co-ordinated
approach. Similarly, rural regeneration is partly with ODPM and
partly with DEFRA. The Council welcomed the publishing of The
Historic Environment: A Force for our Future as an attempt
to bring a more coordinated approach to the subject. It picks
up many of the points made in response to the initial consultation
document, Power of Place, by consultees including LCC.
There are already useful results from this including the issuing
of several consultation papers and the publishing of the State
of the Historic Environment report. We have yet to see whether
these result in real shifts in resource allocation. Regional Economic
Strategies and Sub-Regional Action Plans being developed by the
Government Offices ought to include consideration of the importance
of a place as a key factor in determining priorities.
— DCMS is remote the from the local
scene with virtually no regional presence. Heritage is only one
part of its brief and perhaps this sector is less vocal than the
arts, sport and media interests? Useful guidance was published
by the then Department of National Heritage on the disposal of
government-owned historic buildings. More recently the advice
to local authorities on the management of heritage assets prepared
by EH has been endorsed by DCMS.
FISCAL AND
LEGISLATIVE CHANGES
NEEDED
— The Council has made a number of
suggestions for changes in its response to the recent government
consultation on the review of heritage protection.
— Amongst these, the Council has added
its voice to the familiar cry for the removal of the anomaly whereby
restoration and repair of listed buildings is subject to VAT at
17.5% whereas alterations and indeed demolitions are not. This
flies in the face of the government's wish to promote sustainable
development. The balance could be slanted the other way by offering
tax breaks for restoration work particularly if this is part of
a planned maintenance regime agreed with the local planning authority.
— There is a need for a general duty
on the owners of listed buildings to maintain them in reasonable
repair, ideally complemented with some financial help through
grants or taxation allowances to provide for that maintenance.
— A single system of planning control
is desirable combining applications for planning permission, listed
building consent and conservation area consent as canvassed in
the reforms of the planning system.
— There should be minimum statutory
requirements for the information to be included in such applications
to ensure a higher standard of application. This would thereby
increase the speed and lower the cost of determination whilst
at the same time improving the quality of the built environment.
More on-line access to information including archives, both written
and photographic, would aid this process.
— Historic parks, gardens and battlefields
on EH registers should be given statutory protection akin to that
for listed buildings.
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