Memorandum submitted by Cornwall County
Council
HERITAGE PARTNERSHIP
AGREEMENTS
1. Cornwall County Council was pleased to
work with DCMS, English Heritage and North Cornwall District Council
on the pilot Heritage Partnership Agreement on designated bridges
and roadside structures in North Cornwall. The comments below
reflect the experience and views of staff who were involved from
the Historic Environment Service and Transportation Department
(Structures) of the County Council.
1.1 The establishment of agreed specifications
enabling necessary works to be carried out for the duration of
an HPA, obviating the need for individual consents, is recognised
by both the Historic Environment Service and the Transportation
Department as a mechanism for increased efficiency and consistency,
whilst sustaining heritage significance. Preliminary figures from
this particular pilot suggested that time spent by all parties
in preparing and processing consent applications could be reduced
by approximately one-sixth, in addition to savings in the logistical
costs of handling each application.
1.2 We therefore would welcome the introduction
of HPAs through the Heritage Protection Bill in that it promises
the opportunity to streamline the consent process whilst retaining
the protection for our designated Heritage Assets. Through our
experience in piloting the Heritage Partnership Agreement with
North Cornwall District Council and English Heritage we would
anticipate future improvements in the delivery of maintenance
projects for heritage structures along the highways of Cornwall.
1.3 As an individual Authority we are not
in a position to verify the estimates contained within the overall
Impact Assessment, however subject to the HPAs being successfully
developed, we foresee savings being generated for the Authority.
However, we would emphasise that the HPAs will only be successful
if they can be quickly and efficiently developed and implemented;
this will require adequate resources for the creation of Heritage
Asset Records and preparation of the HPA documentation.
1.4 As this Council will become a unitary
authority from April 2009, and so the owner of and planning authority
for highway structures (and other property), we presume that we
will not be able to agree HPAs with ourselves; we assume that
other unitary authorities will be in the same position in relation
to consents and HPAs. We conclude that this will require the commitment
of English Heritage staff resources at regional offices to deal
with such instances, thus it is important that an appropriate
level of resource be made available to English Heritage to do
this.
June 2008
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