City ‘not shying away’ from heritage and conservation duties (From Hampshire Chronicle)

City ‘not shying away’ from heritage and conservation duties

4:03pm Wednesday 1st July 2009

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Sir: Your front-page report last week highlighted the threat to Britain’s historic street scenes and townscapes from ‘“clutter” and unsympathetic building alterations.

We welcome English Heritage’s initiative to raise awareness of growing concern about the national approach to protecting our historic environment. However, the article mixed potential future danger with current performance.

Winchester district has one of the richest and most diverse historic environments in the country. This is reflected in its cathedral city, its 3,000 listed buildings, 37 conservation areas, 110 scheduled monuments, 10 historic parks and gardens and one battlefield. We know this is what makes this a special place to live, work and visit — and underpins our economic prosperity and wellbeing.

Although budgets are increasingly constrained, we are proud of our historic environment service. Our officers work to protect both the built and buried heritage through around 500 planning consultations a year and 1,300 enquiries from householders and agents.

Next month sees the launch of a new Historic Environment Panel to establish a partnership approach to development of local conservation policy with practising architects, amenity groups and historic buildings experts.

The council has a duty to protect and enhance its conservation areas, which were the subject of the recent English Heritage survey, when 24 out our 37 conservation areas were considered “at risk”. However, the truth is that many of the threats have arisen not as a result of the council’s performance, but from changes to national Government planning policy. There are now a large number of changes in conservation areas which do not require permission, and over which the council has no control.

The council is trying to combat this through development of Article 4 Directions and careful compilation of Conservation Area character appraisals and management plans. These will, of course, require additional resources which are not easy to come by when the council is committed to keeping tax rises to a minimum.

I would reassure your readers that we are by no means shying away from our responsibilities, and that our treasured conservation areas are not going to suffer from neglect.

We look forward to continued partnership working with English Heritage to avert the threats, and to ensure that this district continues to enjoy its worldwide reputation for a cherished historic environment.

Cllr Patricia Stallard, WCC portfolio holder for heritage, culture & sport; and historic environment champion.

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