24 CONTEXT 184 : JUNE 2025 and how troublesome it was all going to be, and only then began to designate the areas in the light of that newly acquired knowledge, they would no doubt designate more sparingly… So we advised the local authorities to designate first and think later, and this, broadly speaking, is what they did’.3 Wayland Young’s commitment to conservation areas was very much in keeping with the zeitgeist, but whereas Duncan Sandys popularised the option by pushing it through a private members bill, it was Young who found ways to implement the policy. This was not a case of following orders but instead Young’s interest in the group value of historic buildings pre-dated the Civic Amenities Act. Indeed, perhaps in keeping with Young’s predilection for foreign affairs, he spent time in both France and Italy trying to understand how both countries extended formal protection to the areas surrounding historic monuments. Young concluded that the zone protégée law ‘seemed superior to ours in the protection it gave against ugly or over-large new developments’.⁴ He went further to examine practice, law and finance to understand how these ideas could be implemented in the UK by taking a keen interest in the central/local delivery mechanisms, as well as the role of the Caisse des Depots and the Société d’Economie Mixte, in funding the conservation of historic parts of Paris, Lyon and Avignon. He did not just go on travels abroad but also sought to understand preservation from the perspective of places in the UK. He recalled visiting Poole, Gosport, Peterborough, York, Oxford and Cambridge, and it is this experiential dimension of his work that allowed him to match an awareness of cultural changes with his ability to implement legislative and administrative changes. Indeed, Young recounted: ‘There was a general shift of our national consciousness towards the visual, and a greater flow than ever of good and readable scholarship about architecture and the arts. Everywhere local amenity societies sprang to life, and more and more people became conscious that their street, their village, their town, their quarter of the city, was different from others because it had grown differently, and that was interesting… It was my job to see that, in the restricted field of architectural heritage, no less than in others, the structure of public law and administration was adequate to meet this new and rightful public demand’. The later years of Young’s involvement saw him chair the Preservation Policy Group, comprised of an esteemed group of individuals including Sir Nikolaus Pevsner. The remit of the group was to use the Four Town Studies (Bath, Chester, Chichester and York) to support the implementation of conservation policies. Kennet was also involved in plans for financing the repair of older houses. He did not leave conservation behind when he left the MHLG, going on to hold a range of positions across the built environment, including parliamentary vice president of the Local Authorities World Heritage Forum, honorary fellow of RIBA, and president of the Avebury Society and the Stonehenge Alliance, to name just a few. With the latter, Young displayed the same commitment to conservation as he had within the MHLG. He and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Young, were part of the earliest campaign movements to prevent traffic issues around the world heritage site. Wayland Young stated that the plans for a tunnel in 2004 were ‘barbaric… No other country in the world would contemplate treating a site which is a world icon in such a way.’⁵ Young died in 2009, leaving a legacy of passionate commitment to both historic places and procedural work. Perhaps this drive to conserve historic places, both inside and outside of government, came from his deep understanding of why historic places are important to people and how this motivates action. In the first few pages of his book Preservation he hints at his understanding of the emotional effects of old places and how this informs action: ‘If something moves people, they are bound to want to keep it’.⁶ The years inside the MHLG were the highlight and show how Lord Kennet combined this perception of why historic places matter with an understanding of the inner workings of government to push forward a whole raft of initiatives that have ensured that historic places have a better chance of become part of the future of places. For that, and much else, the conservation profession owes a degree of thanks to him. ³ Wayland Kennet (1972) Preservation, Temple Smith, London. ⁴ Kennet (1972) ⁵ www. stonehengealliance. org.uk/thestonehenge-sagacontinues/ ⁶ Kennet (1972) Rebecca Madgin is professor of urban studies at the University of Glasgow and programme director for the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s placebased research programme. Her latest book is Why Historic Places Matter Emotionally (Cambridge University Press, 2025). Young examined the conservation funding mechanisms used in the historic city of Avignon. (Photo: Gillag, Wikimedia)
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