Memorandum submitted by English Heritage (EE 19)

 

 

Summary

 

§ English Heritage properties form part of the regional tourism offer and will be at the forefront of changes to visitor patterns;

§ Many English Heritage grant funding streams rely on matchfunding but we have offered grants totalling £8,372,332 over the past three years in the region;

§ English Heritage grant funding streams can help both businesses and historic assets during the economic downturn and help investment in the future;

§ English Heritage has ensured Heritage Open Days will continue following the Civic Trust going into administration;

§ Both English Heritage and the sector are investing in training by providing free courses or helping people add skills to diversify their business.

 

Response

 

1. English Heritage is the Government's statutory adviser on the historic environment. Officially known as the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England, English Heritage is an Executive Non-departmental Public Body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Our powers and responsibilities are set out in the National Heritage Act (1983) and today we report to Parliament through the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Although sponsored by DCMS, English Heritage works with a range of Government Departments, notably CLG and Defra, to help realise the potential of the historic environment.

 

2. In the region, a number of different roles performed by English Heritage are affected by the economic downturn. Our properties, such as Audley End House or Castle Acre, form part of the tourism offer of the region and, as part of the commercial arm of English Heritage, are at the forefront of the changes in visitor patterns which can affect overall visitor spend and, therefore our ability to invest in the historic environment.

 

3. Our significant grant funding streams in respect of repair grants for places of worship, conservation area grants, capacity building for the sector, and those for historic buildings, scheduled monuments and designated landscapes, require elements of matchfunding which has the potential to be affected by the economic downturn, but also is an opportunity to ensure that core skills bases are maintained through work on such structures. For example, English Heritage offered grants totalling £8,372,332 over the past three years in the region. This excludes the Heritage Lottery Fund contribution to the joint Repair Grants to Places of Worship scheme.

 

4. Through joint working with the other cultural non-departmental public bodies, East of England Regional Development Agency, Heritage Lottery Fund and Screen East, English Heritage is involved in ensuring that cultural programmes and events continue investing in communities and providing work and inspiration for local people. In particular, English Heritage has stepped in following the Civic Trust going into administration, to take on the organisation of Heritage Open Days, England's biggest cultural event when more than 3,500 historic and unusual buildings open their doors to the public for free and put on tours and events during the second weekend in September. 90 per cent of the population live within 30 minutes of a Heritage Open Days event and over one million people took part in the event in 2008 with over 41,000 volunteers supporting the local activities.

5. The Repair Grants for Places of Worship in England is a scheme is jointly funded by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund and gives grants for urgent repairs to listed buildings which are in regular use as public places of worship. rants are offered in two stages. Stage-one development funding enables projects to be planned and the repair costs established. Stage-two repair grants will only be offered once projects have been fully developed and the costs are known. The main focus of the scheme is on urgent repairs required within two years, to high level elements of buildings such as roofs, spires, towers, associated masonry and rainwater disposal systems. Other urgent repairs to historic fabric at risk of loss can also be considered.

6. Local Authority Area Partnership Funding schemes are run on a day-to-day basis by Local Authorities and are designed to target funding for the preservation and enhancement of conservation areas. They are based on a partnership between English Heritage, the Local Authority and other funding bodies and are designed to ensure the long term sustainable future of conservation areas, in particular through supporting heritage based regeneration initiatives. These schemes can be run in historic high street areas to help regenerate areas. However, the scheme requires match funding from the local authority or other sources.

 

7. The historic environment sector covers the public, private and voluntary sectors each of whom will be affected in different ways by the economic downturn. However, continuing training to ensure the sector has the skills it needs is essential. English Heritage has funded a programme of four free training workshops in 2009-10 to follow on from three in 2008-09 to ensure the sector has access to information on issues such as public realm, climate change and the historic environment, and incorporating other community services into places of worship.

 

8. The sector also is continuing training with the Churches Conservation Trust offering a one week Craft Skills Course in the region in August aimed at builders who want to learn conservation skills, general maintenance contractors, glaziers who want to learn conservation skills, students carrying out post-graduate conservation courses, Diocesan officials involved with maintenance and repair of churches, churchwardens and anyone else interested in gaining practical experience of historic building conservation. This should help the voluntary sector sustain the buildings they are charged with looking after and helping those in the building sector to develop skills to diversify and maintain traditionally built buildings whose construction requires different methods of maintenance and repair to modern construction. English Heritage also has recently award Easton College Regional Capacity Building grant to develop courses to increase the skills base in traditional building techniques.

 

 

21 May 2009