FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE:
GOVERNMENT'S REVIEW OF POLICIES RELATING TO THE HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT
AN INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE

1.0     Introduction

1.1     The Government has been considering the future development of
strategy for the historic environment and has announced that it intends
to undertake a review of various aspects of current policy.  As the
first stage of the review, government has asked English Heritage to
examine a number of specific policy issues and prepare a report, to be
presented to Ministers in September 2000.

1.2     This will be the first ever comprehensive review of policies
relating to the historic environment.  Coming at the start of a new
century, this review is most timely. Many of the policies and
instruments which have served us so well during the 20th century are
now many  decades old, and are sometimes based on 19th century ideas. 
Horizons have broadened, as have aspirations for the heritage and the
role it plays in modern life.  Only in the last ten years or so has
heritage been recognised as being central to today's major issues of
social inclusion, sustainability and cultural diversity.  It is time to
consider whether all our policies and actions are as adequate or as
imaginative as they might be.

1.3     The term historic environment is itself new in its general
application.  Over the last few years it has been broadened to its
present all encompassing definition: the material remains of the past
in England.  The historic environment:  
        knows no chronological limits, covering everything from Boxgrove man
to Greenham woman, and beyond;
        knows no thematic limits, covering everything from an individual
site or building to the whole historic landscape of England;
        knows no geographic limits, being applicable in town and country
alike;
        knows no limits to its scale, the locally distinctive now being 
recognised as equally worthy of consideration, in own its way, as the
internationally significant;
        knows no limits of culture or ethnicity.

1.4     The way the word heritage is understood often fails to reflect this
richness and diversity.  Indeed, to some it signifies a selective,
exclusive definition, suggesting that only those things validated by
officialdom are significant.   In  reviewing policies for the whole
historic environment, by contrast, we will aim to help all communities
to define and value what is important for them.  Our report will
encompass the contemporary and future culture of England and examine
the relevance of the past to the future.  It will build on the value of
continuity, but also on the evidence within the historic environment
for the impact of change, and of new ideas, cultures and peoples.

2.0             Producing the Report

2.1     The report will aim to be visionary.  It will be the product of
wide-ranging consultation and will engage representatives from across
the heritage sector.

2.2     A Steering Group, at first chaired by Sir Jocelyn Stevens and from
April to be chaired by Sir Neil Cossons, his successor, will draw
membership from the principal heritage bodies and other interests, and
include representatives from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport
and from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. 
Working Groups will take forward detailed consideration of the topics
raised.  These Groups will be chaired by leaders in their fields, who
will be members of an Executive Group reporting under Pam Alexander to
the Steering Group.

2.3     There will be two rounds of consultation.  This paper seeks views
from a broad range of heritage and other interests, and concentrates on
principles and aims and on the scope of the Working Groups.  The ideas
set out in this paper are English Heritage's first thoughts, and we
very much welcome other views.

2.4     The second round will be based on Discussion Papers that the
Working Groups will have produced.  At that stage, we would intend to
seek the views of the public more widely through the new English
Heritage Web site to be launched in April.

2.5     A number of question to be addressed in the report have been
identified by Alan Howarth, Minister for the Arts and Heritage.  These
have been taken into account in parts 3 and 4 below.

3.0     The Principles, Aims and Objectives of the Report

Whatever the outcomes, the report should include:

a)      a long term vision (at least 25 years) for strengthening our
appreciation, conservation, management and use of the historic
environment, and our recognition of its greater social relevance;

b)      a shorter?term agenda for action, with broad targets for the next
10 years;

c)      a broad, holistic and comprehensive definition of the historic
environment, fully integrated with other environmental concerns,
biodiversity and countryside character;

d)      how the historic environment can fulfill its fundamental and
necessary role in modern and future culture, being relevant to modern
life styles, quality of life and cultural diversity;

e)      more efficient and effective instruments to protect and enhance the
historic environment, including a broader characterisation-based
approach,

f)      ways to allow heritage and economic growth to work together to
create regeneration and sustainable development;

g)      improvements to the institutional structure which manages the
historic environment at national, regional and local levels;

h)      a framework of new research, data collection, and evaluation as
essential pre-requisites for future action;

I)      ways of providing further physical and intellectual access to, and
appreciation and enjoyment of, the historic environment.

4.0     Overall Themes

4.1     The Working Groups, who are likely to create smaller short term sub
groups to consider particular issues, will be organised on the basis of
the challenges facing the historic environment. Their work will be
pulled together by a range of common themes, including:

        the holistic definition of the historic environment;
        cultural diversity and social inclusion;
        subsidiarity (from European and national through regional to local
levels);
        the balance between public and private involvement with the
heritage;
        the role of community and interests groups;
        the closer integration of the historic with the natural environment;
        the need for improved databases and records;
        ways of improving the working connections between organisations.

4.2     We propose five Working Groups:

        Working  Group 1 :
        The Historic Environment - Condition, Trends and Future Contexts
This Group will aim to develop a clear, inspiring new definition of
what the historic environment is, what it means and how it could be
valued.  They will identify its diverse character and significance, its
relationship to the natural environment  and its relevance to the
present and to the future.  They will take into account recent work,
such as the Buildings at Risk Register and the Monuments at Risk
Survey, to suggest practical new measures and indicators of condition;
they will also review current threats and opportunities, as well as the
prospects for future change, which range from the effects of climate
change or rising sea levels, to the impact of new forms of regional
government and European regulation, of population growth, change and
movement, or of the re-structuring of agriculture and the further
growth of leisure and service industries.  They will also consider the
implications of the creation of "new" heritage by continued industrial
and cultural change.
        
        Working Group 2 :
        Public involvement and access
This Group will take a new look at how people of all ages and cultural
backgrounds engage with the historic environment,  and with the
information systems that have been created for its understanding and
management. They will consider how to strengthen public understanding, 
education at all levels, and professional and vocational training to
ensure the availability of the necessary skills; they will consider
provision for access to information, and whether our 20th century
databases and archives will be able to meet 21st century expectations. 
The Group will consider the need for continued scientific, academic and
technical research to continue to build understanding of local
awareness; they will also examine the role of access in fostering
social inclusion.

                Working Group 3 :
                Tourism
This Group will explore further the already-fruitful relationship
between heritage and tourism.  They will look particularly at the need
for sustainable tourism and visitor management, at how to enhance
visitor experience at heritage sites, and at the cultural as well as
the economic aspects of tourism.  They will  gauge the effect of new
tourism products and markets, and the opportunities for the promotion
of England's heritage overseas.  They will also consider the greater
integration of tourism with other aspects of public access to the
environment.
        
                Working Group 4 :
                Regulation, statutory procedures, protection and characterisation
This Group will look at some of the detail of our current legal and
other protective instruments, and identify possibilities for
streamlining in the context of the Government's Modernising Planning
initiative. They will review the scope and effectiveness of existing
statutes, the opportunities for simplifying or delegating statutory
control, and the most appropriate levels at which controls should be
operated; they will also look for better ways of resolving conflicts
more effectively. They will also examine the relationship between the
planning process and the historic environment, the balance between
conservation and development, between designation-based protection and
other methods such as characterisation and broader measures of
significance, in order better to define opportunities for development.

                Working  Group 5:
                Sustainability and economic and social growth
This Group will move beyond the historic environment to the wider
sphere of sustainable development, as set out in the government's
recent White Paper A Better Quality of Life.  They will make particular
reference to better indicators, a stronger articulation of the
relationship between sustainable development and the historic
environment, the all-important connections with the natural
environment, and the contribution which heritage can make to
stimulating sustainable growth and regeneration.  They will also look
at the importance of high quality new architecture and urban design and
at the place of community-building, the role of heritage in fostering
social inclusion through sense of place, and the involvement of young
people in their local environment.

5.0             How to participate

5.1     We will take into account a broad range of views in preparing our
report, and this early consultation is the first step. It would be very
helpful if views on the proposed scope of the report, on its aims and
objectives, or on the issues and themes that the Working Groups should
consider, could be sent to English Heritage by Friday 17th March.  This
will help to establish the Working Group agendas, and will allow a wide
range of views to be taken into account before the Discussion Papers
for the second consultation are prepared.   It would be helpful if
detailed views can be reserved for the second stage of consultation.

5.2     Please send your views, if possible by Friday, 17th March, to:

Graham Fairclough,
Historic Environment Review Co?ordinator,
Room 208
English Heritage,
23 Savile Row,
London
W1X 1AB
Tel:  0171 973 3124/3010, fax 3111

or by e-mail to the following electronic mailbox :
histenv.rev@english-heritage.org.uk.