48 C O N T E X T 1 3 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 4 in partnership with other funders. The AHF is funded from government, English Heritage and others, and from interest on loans and donations. Loans can be provided for acquisition or working capital, viability work and project development, including capacity building. Regional support officers are working to target heritage at risk. Mary Cook of Cornerstone Barristers led delegates through the range of land ownership powers. The Local Government Act 1972 provides for acquisition by agreement (s122) or compulsion (s123). Power to dispose is under s123. The Localism Act 2011 gives the community an opportunity to buy assets of community value which are on a list drawn up by the local authority. There was a possible clash between a local authority’s desire to maximise assets’ value and its social role, for example, in providing free schools. Heritage partnership agreements under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2012 largely codify previous practice for listed buildings (and now also for locally listed buildings). Acquisition powers under s47 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 enable compulsory acquisition of buildings in need of repair. Exceptions are Crown land, ecclesiastical buildings and scheduled ancient monuments, which are provided for in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological areas Act 1979. A s48 repairs notice is required before the compulsory purchase order (CPO). This will need some forward funding, but grants may be available. After dealing with the procedural details of CPOs, Cook outlined other powers, including s17 of the Housing Act 1985, which was used successfully to acquire a listed property in Southwark. Mike Harlow, English Heritage’s governance and legal director, talked about tackling heritage crime. He explained that there was no definition of heritage crime, but it can be anything that harms a heritage asset or impairs its enjoyment. The crime can be regulatory, such as not applying for consent, or it can be anti-social behaviour around a heritage asset. Heritage assets were susceptible to irreversible harm but much of the value was intangible. Instances of investigation, prosecution and sentencing appeared to reflect this. Fines for damage to heritage compared poorly with damage to art, which is higher in our social consciousness. In Harloe’s experience, other professionals were unlikely to have come across the concept of heritage value. Damage could not be fully measured in money.We needed local networks to market heritage value with the local community, and the police to promote prevention and action. Mark Harrison, English Heritage’s national policing and crime advisor, championed a multi-disciplinary approach to heritage crime through the Alliance to Reduce Crime Against Heritage (ARCH). He posed the question of how we should highlight irreversible loss and harm to our shared cultural heritage. His strategy was to define heritage assets, raise awareness of their existence and significance, and develop a coordinated intelligence-based response. The National Heritage Protection Plan has heritage crime in its work programme and there is a suite of guidance on the English Heritage website. Crimes are being reported, but the ‘aggravated’ nature of them is still missing from general understanding, Harrison said. Nigel Crowe, head of heritage at the Canal and River Trust, presented a case study of regenerating NorthWarehouse at Sharpness Docks. The 1870s grain warehouse had fallen into disuse. Re-use was not initially seen as practicable because of the warehouse’s location in the middle of a working commercial dock catering for large cargo vessels. Successive applications for consent to demolish had been rejected and there was no market interest in re-use. A condition report was procured and repairs identified. The repairs were undertaken and the building temporarily mothballed. A conservation strategy for the docks had now been prepared. Crowe concluded that disuse and no strategy equalled neglect and decay. Heritage assets were repairable and attempts to demolish may lead to reputational damage. Finding new uses was not easy, but organisations and times changed. Mark Challis, a partner in Bircham Dyson Bell’s major projects group, dealt with enabling development. He used as his definition that contained in (the now defunct) PPS5: ‘development that is unacceptable except for heritage (or other) benefits that justify it’. It was an important material consideration. He cited the case of Covent Garden Opera House, where office development was contrary to policy but the proposed development was accepted to fund works to the listed building. Proximity to what was being saved was crucial. Enabling development appeared in English Heritage policy and guidance from 1999 to the PPS5 Planning Practice Guide, which still survives, as well as in the National Planning Policy Framework, paragraph 140. English Heritage policy requires all of its criteria to be met. These are: no material harm; site fragmentation avoided; long-term future secured; a response to the needs of the place, and not the circumstances of the owner or purchase price; no other subsidy or grant available; development the minimum necessary; and public benefit outweighs the loss. The main issues included the need for a financial assessment to show the conservation deficit. This might remain confidential at application stage, although it would have to be made public at an appeal. It had to be a oneoff fix, and the minimum necessary for a long-term solution. Challis concluded that the English Heritage guidance was demanding and set a very high benchmark. Delegates were enthused by a thoroughly engaging talk by Marianne Suhr of Old House Consultancy about restoring a 300-year-old house. She circulated samples of products through the auditorium for delegates’ inspection. Following a repairs notice in 2001, an application for consent for demolition had been refused, following which the house had been put on the market. Suhr and her project partner purchased it and the building was saved. But there was certainly no fortune to be made in doing it, she warned. ChristineWhite, IHBC London branch events coordinator and principal heritage officer, London Borough of Enfield
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