English Heritage, Management & Values: Heritage Management Practices in England
John Schofield
John.schofield@english-heritage.org.uk
English Heritage, Management & Values: Heritage Management Practices in England
John Schofield
John.schofield@english-heritage.org.uk
Heritage, management and managing the heritage
What is the heritage?
Cultural – eg. monuments, buildings, landscape
Natural – eg. AONBs, National Parks, contemporary farming landscape
Tangible – eg. all of the above
Intangible - eg. traditions, dialect, music etc.
Old – eg. Neolithic, Roman field monuments
New/Contemporary – The world we shape and experience
Heritage is all of these, combined. Its everything, everywhere.
After Porteous, J.D. 1996. Environmental Aesthetics : ideas, politics and planning. Routledge.
Experiencing the heritage
According to Porteous and others, we experience the heritage and the world in various ways, through the Jungian supports of:
Thought (mind)
Feeling (heart)
Intuition (soul)
Sensation (gates of the body)
Sensation relates directly to aesthetics, which generally associate with appearance, determined by smell, sight, sound and taste.
What is management?
International conventions and protocols
National laws and spatial planning guidelines
Govt policy
Regional planning guidance
Local policies and decision making
Community participation
How to manage:
By statute?
By advice/guidance?
By influence, participation and engagement?
By education?
English Heritage is the public body charged with the responsibility for all aspects of promoting the historic environment of England.
Similar separate bodies exist for the other elements of the UK: Historic Scotland, CADW (Wales) and the Environment and Heritage Service for Northern Ireland
English Heritage is a non departmental public body sponsored by the department of Culture Media and Sport and works closely with a number of other government departments
Roles and responsibilities
Main imperatives
- Conserve and enhance the historic environment
- Broaden public access to the heritage
- Increase people’s understanding of the past
Actions
Act as national and international “champion” for heritage
Award grants
Advise on presentation of historic environment
Maintain registers of England’s most significant buildings, monuments and landscapes
Promote education and research
Care for over 400 historic sites and properties
Maintain the National Monuments Record
Informed conservation
Some key points:
understanding is the bedrock of conservation; without it, conservation is blind and meaningless
understanding is the best basis for decision-making. We must understand buildings/monuments etc before we change them, not because we change them
understanding can demonstrate ways to minimise destructive change, rather than necessarily preventing it
Frameworks
1 Does the archaeological heritage need the law?
2 Does the archaeological heritage have public support?
3 Is the archaeological heritage finite and non-renewable
Does heritage need the law?
Conventions, charters and protocols – eg. World Heritage Convention; Valletta Convention, Burra Charter etc.
Planning advice and guidance
Popular support
What can the law do for the archaeological heritage?
Eg. of scheduling and listing
Social significance
Eg. of Australia – Aboriginal heritage
Eg. of UK – cultural diversity
Historic Landscape Characterisation – enshrined in planning policy, but not in law
(Potentially) accommodates multiple views/multiple perspectives Single ‘true’ view (‘objective’/positivist) (Potentially) more democratic/plural Linked to state authority An aid to understanding, valuing, decision making Imposes specific legal controls Doesn’t (inherently) ascribe relative importance Ascribes relative importance Continuous in space (area based characterisation) Draws lines round things (discontinuous in space) Comprehensive Selective Characterisation Designation
Comments