C O N T E X T 1 4 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 5 13 democracy. Professionally trained planners, architects, archaeologists, architectural historians and conservationists are increasingly seen to play onlyapart rather than the part in determining the future for places.The knowledge on which these professionals based their decisions is increasingly challenged and questioned both by those in other related professions and from those outside the professions. Perhaps then, the question is not what is of value, nor who is an expert but where is expertise located? Reframing it in this way gives rise to a broader debate concerning ‘local’ and ‘national’ experts, and questions the extent to which these levels of expertise can work together. Three examples show the interplay of national and local ‘expertise’, and how we should neither elevate communal value nor denigrate it as too subjective.The first two are drawn from Leicester and the third from London, where young people demonstrated their values in relation to ‘the world’s oldest surviving skate spot’. Leicester’s Clock Tower (listed at Grade II) is at the functional and emotional heart of the city centre. It stands close to the site of the Roman and medieval East Gate in what was once a key traffic intersection but is now a vehicle-free public space. Built in 1868 over an important junction of the borough’s sewers, the Clock Tower is neither the finest work of its highly competent architect Joseph Goddard (1840–1900) nor that of his favourite architectural sculptor Samuel Barfield (c1830–89). For Brandwood and Cherry it displays ‘an excess of ornament but no firmly articulated structure to go with it – like some mightily elaborated flagpole’3. Others have echoed this less-than-enthusiastic assessment. In a recent series of focus groups about Leicester’s built heritage, a number of older people instantly named the ClockTower as the landmark they most readily identified with the city. More surprisingly a multicultural group in their teens and early-twenties equally readily identified the ClockTower as the place they met friends and which they, too, saw as the place that most evoked Leicester. In the terms of English Heritage’s Conservation Principles4, the Clock Tower would therefore hold relatively little evidential, historic or aesthetic value but would score very highly on communal value. A mile or so from the Clock Tower, the route northward passes along Belgrave Road, dubbed the ‘Golden Mile’. The area developed from the 1860s as a radial road, with a series of connecting streets of terraced housing interspersedwith industry, churches and schools. Over the decades from the 1960s, Leicester’s Hindu community has made Belgrave Road its own, with shop signs and displays, posters, and snatches of music and, more recently, by brightly painting the fronts of buildings. The painting would not normally be recommended in terms of retaining the area’s architectural character or on conservation grounds, but it has undoubtedly heightened an already remarkable visual atmosphere in Belgrave Road.The Hindu community has not just arrived but is confident, energetic and well-established. It has created a place enjoyed by the community itself and by many others who visit for events, shops and, especially, food. Over the last 40 or so years the significance of Belgrave Road has evolved from that of a site displaying evidence of late-19th century urban development to one that demonstrates the contemporary evolution of a multicultural society in Britain. In both these Leicester examples the value of the historic environment and the local memories of experience, use and enjoyment embedded within place are perpetuated, albeit in a Leicester’s Hindu community has made Belgrave Road its own, brightly painting the fronts of buildings. References 3 Brandwood, G, and Cherry, M (1990) Men of Property: the Goddards and six generations of architecture, Leicestershire Museums, Arts and Records Service 4 English Heritage (2008) Conservation principles policies and guidance for the sustainable management of the historic environment
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