C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 35 DAN LONGMAN Heritage at risk: prevention and cure What makes a heritage-at-risk officer? The cautious outlook of a conservation officer, the dogged tenacity of a detective, the calm demeanour of a diplomat, and journalistic panache. Before joining Sefton Council as its new heritage-at-risk officer I had only a vague idea about what the job would entail. ‘Heritage at risk’ is one of those phrases that sounds interesting, but when I explain to people what I do, I am often met with polite but feigned awareness, or blank stares. The position of heritage-at-risk officer is something of a rarity, with only a handful of posts in the entire country. The job is tricky to pigeonhole, calling for the work of several professionals rolled into one: the cautious outlook of a conservation officer, the dogged tenacity of a detective, and the calm demeanour of a diplomat. These attributes, combined with a little journalistic panache and jester-like juggling, are all needed to get through the day-to-day workload in heritage at risk. The focused nature of the job allows work to be carried out without the many distractions that would otherwise burden a standard conservation or enforcement officer. We can strive towards specific objectives with relative ease. In the beginning, Historic England’s heritage-at-risk programme was designed to help our understanding of the overall condition of historic sites across the country. Launched in 2008, the scheme identifies those sites that are most at risk of being lost as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development. Every year Historic England updates the Heritage-at-Risk Register, providing a dynamic picture of those places most in need of safeguarding for the future. There are just over 5,000 entries named on the register, with 11 entries under my watch in Sefton.We have two buildings, two places of worship, one scheduled monument and six conservation areas deemed to be worthy of the list. On the face of it that number does not seem large, but the multitude of different properties within those conservation areas does pose problems. Fortunately, this council takes conservation very seriously, and I am not on my own. I have the support of council members who innovatively approved a subsidy from the Community Support Fund to pay a salary. I work alongside two full-time conservation officers and a small team of enforcement officers who assist me in tackling decay and inappropriate development across the borough. The job involves plenty of site visits, getting out from behind the desk and personally assessing all sorts of buildings out in the field. Lord Street, Southport, with its distinctive, castiron verandas, inspired the tree-lined thoroughfares of Paris (Prince LouisNapoléon Bonaparte, the future Napoléon III, having lodged here in 1846). Some of the verandas have become serious eyesores, while others have been restored.
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