Memorandum by English Heritage (EMP 17)
1. English Heritage is in direct contact
with all the Pathfinder Partnerships and this note summarises
our experiences to date. Together with CABE, the Environment Agency,
Commission for Integrated Transport and the Sustainable Development
Commission, we jointly published Building Sustainable Communities:
Actions for Housing Market Renewal in 2003. We are publishing
a further guidance note, Low Demand Housing and the Historic
Environment, on 26 January 2005. We sit on the CABE Design
Task Group which meets every two months in a Pathfinder area.
The Group's focus is on design quality, sustainability and heritage
issues, and includes all nine Pathfinder Partnerships, local authorities
and other public agencies. We view this as an important vehicle
in sharing best practice, undertaking research and providing advice.
2. Many of the places that form part of
the Pathfinder programme represent the heartlands of England's
industrial pre-eminence—the textile towns of Lancashire
and Greater Manchester, housing for the coal, steel and ship building
workers of Yorkshire and the North East, and for the potteries
of North Staffordshire. Dwellings within Pathfinder areas vary
both in terms of age and building type, but the older terraced
house predominates. Nineteenth-century terraced houses are a distinctive
national building type and are often associated with factories,
mills, shops, pubs, schools and other public buildings. The majority
do not receive any form of statutory protection, but nevertheless
give places a distinctive identity and character.
3. English Heritage acknowledges the considerable
challenge facing the Pathfinder Partnerships. Many of these areas
are suffering from a lack of housing choice, poor housing mix
and a perception that the existing dwellings do not meet the aspirations
of current and likely future populations. As a result, there has
been a significant drop in market value in some areas. A range
of actions is needed to address the problem of low demand and
create a balanced and sustainable housing market. It is inevitable
that this will involve some demolition, but it is equally important
that we learn from the past and do not unnecessarily sweep away
places with real value that have the potential for imaginative
renewal.
4. Much historic housing is robust and highly
adaptable, and with regular maintenance could survive indefinitely.
Recent research by English Heritage in the North West of England
found that on the basis of repair cost projections stretching
over 30 years, the cost of repairing a typical Victorian terraced
house was between 40 and 60% cheaper (depending on the level of
refurbishment) than replacing it with a new home. Well-designed
extensions, and the imaginative use of rear yards and roof spaces
can help some older houses meet today's needs while retaining
the strong relationship between built form, street network and
landscape that is part of their value. The problem of size can
be overcome by combing houses to create large dwellings, whilst
additional open space can be created by selective demolition.
5. A major concern for English Heritage
is that the strategies which the Pathfinders have submitted to
Government should take sufficient account of the historic environment.
We welcome the emphasis on evidence-based decision making, but
would argue that it needs to take all the relevant environmental
considerations into account, including an assessment of the significance
and potential the historic environment. Once this information
is available it can be integrated with other social, economic
and environmental data to enable informed decisions to be made
about the future of an area.
6. English Heritage has been working with
the Liverpool City Council Housing Market Renewal Delivery Team
to develop rapid and cost-effective methods for assessing historical
significance, especially in areas that have been targeted for
possible clearance. This work has been welcomed by the City Council
for offering sensible practical advice that helps to retain a
sense of place and assists in the design of new housing areas.
Assessments of the historic environment are now being undertaken
in other Pathfinder areas by Newcastle City Council, Gateshead
Council, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and Burnley Council.
English Heritage welcomes this approach and would like to see
it adopted elsewhere as part of the masterplanning and design
process. A model brief which sets out how to undertake and commission
an assessment of historical significance in Pathfinder areas has
been prepared to support the our position statement: Low Demand
Housing and the Historic Environment.
OTHER ISSUES
7. A concern which has arisen from the Area
Development Framework (ADF) process is the effect of the necessarily
long term planning of the housing market. While some programmes
of action will emerge from ADFs in the immediate future, in other
cases the need for intervention, including demolition, will be
identified at a much later stage. Unless this is handled extremely
carefully the knowledge that some places may be targeted for a
reduction in the supply of housing in eight to 10 years time runs
the risk of creating a self fulfilling prophecy, blighting the
area, increasing the volume of empty homes and creating the consequent
economic and social problems.
8. English heritage's experience suggests
that the way the schemes are being presented and engage with the
public could be improved. Current practice suggests local residents
are unclear about some of the terminology, options and possible
outcomes that are being put forward by the Pathfinder Partnerships.
This could be resolved by providing generic guidance on how communities
should be consulted and engaged in each stage of the process.
9. At Nelson in the Borough of Pendle, Lancashire,
proposals for neighbourhood renewal were developed and in process
before the Pathfinders initiative and the Sustainable Communities
Plan were published, and a public inquiry into the proposed compulsory
purchase of properties in the Whitefield Ward was held in January
and February 2002 and reopened in early 2003. In September 2003
the First Secretary of State decided not to confirm the Compulsory
Purchase Order on the basis that the best interests of community
cohesion would be served by an approach which took advantage of
the distinctive Victorian landscape. Since then, English Heritage
has been working closely with Pendle Borough Council, Elevate
East Lancashire, the Prince's Foundation and historic environment
groups to prepare a comprehensive scheme for the regeneration
of the area in its wider urban context. A week long Enquiry by
Design, carried out by the Prince's Foundation on behalf of the
key stakeholders, resulted in the agreement of all parties to
a regeneration strategy and marks a significant turning point
in the fortunes of Whitefield, where for many years there was
no consensus of the best way to regenerate the area. Although
an intensive and expensive process, it is a methodology that has
much to commend it in places where it would otherwise be difficult
to achieve an agreed approach to regeneration.
CONCLUSION
10. Whilst English Heritage recognises the
considerable problems that need to be addressed within the Pathfinder
areas, it is important that the emerging strategies recognise
the positive benefits that the historic environment can offer
in the creation of sustainable communities in locally distinctive
settings. In the past, programmes of large-scale intervention
have often cut across earlier settlement patterns, causing dislocation
and a loss of community cohesion.
11. The key to unlocking the potential of
the historic environment in the successful regeneration of these
areas is by understanding their character. This understanding
is best achieved by undertaking an assessment of the historic
environment to inform the decision-making process. The assessment
should consider the local community's aspirations for the historic
environment in the planning and regeneration of their area, and
involve the local authority historic buildings officer, archaeological
officer and English Heritage.
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