Heritage Now

HERITAGE NOW (01/2021) AUTUMN 2021   31 FROM THE SECTOR AND DIARY News from the heritage sector Lucie Carayon looks at the latest news and views in the world of heritage and heritage protection HISTORIC ENGLAND LISTING REVIEW Historic England is due to publish a re- view of listing this autumn. The purpose of the review is to ‘consider afresh how best to administer the National Heritage List for England’. As part of the review exercise, our ecclesiastical caseworker (former newsletter editor and AMS sec- retary) Matthew Saunders produced a report giving his impressions from the voluntary sector. This can be found on Historic England’s website at https://his- toricengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/about- the-list/saunders-report/. Matthew’s report, which he presented in the last newsletter, calls for a national re- survey of the list to include a systematic review of omissions, and an improvement to the ‘minimalist’ content of the majority of list entries, among other concerns. We will comment in greater detail in the next issue of the magazine, once Historic England has published its full review. PLANNING REFORM At the time of writing news has emerged that the government may be scaling back its proposed planning reforms, which were put forward last October in the Planning for the Future White Paper. The Times re- ported on the U-turn on 11 September, stat- ing that ‘the need for wholesale reform has been questioned after developers set new records for housebuilding, with the 244,000 homes built between 2019 and 2020 mark- ing a nearly 30-year high’. We should find out at the end of Septem- ber whether this is the case, when a gov- ernment response to the Planning White Paper consultation is published. We raised concerns about the proposals, in particular the introduction of a zonal system and the ensuing loss of community involvement in decision-making, and joined others in the sector in asking for a rethink. Our 2020 response can be found in the news section of the website. We will comment on the government’s response in the next issue of the magazine. Meanwhile, the government recently published amendments to permitted develop- ment rights which have caused concerns, notably those introduced at the beginning of August which allow the conversion of buildings from commercial to residential use without the need to apply for planning permission. There is concern that this may affect the character of high streets. Simon Jenkins in his Guardian editorial recently commented that ‘This deregulatory move will make it far more difficult for local authorities to plan for the precarious post-Covid future of town centres, and for communities to hold them to account’ adding ‘this does seem a shame when so much has been done since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic to try and revi- talise historic town centres’. PEOPLE It was announced in February 2021 that Dr Simon Thurley had been appointed as the new chair of the Lottery (formerly heritage Lottery Fund). The current chief executive Ros Kerslake will be stepping down at the end of the year and a replacement is being sought. At the time of writing the Heritage Alliance was seeking a new chairman following the sudden death in April 2021 of Peter Ainsworth, a highly-respected figure in the heritage world who was also chairman of the Churches Conservation Trust, chair of the Big Lottery Fund (now National Lottery Community Fund) from 2011 to 2019 and board member of the Environment Agency. HERITAGE STATEMENT A new government statement on heritage is expected in the autumn. This will set out the government vision and strategy for heritage and will focus on four key priorities: (1) recovery & resilience, (2) levelling up & placemaking, (3) environment & climate and (4) diversity & inclusion. The sector has attended a series of meetings with the Department for Culture, Digital, Media & Sport to discuss each theme and views have been in- vited to inform the final document. Buildings in decline on our high streets. For more on revitalising the high street see Hannah Hamnett’s article on page 12.