C O N T E X T 9 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 23 Chelmsford and Lincoln, while £28 million has helped find new uses for 43 redundant buildings such as St Paul’s Church in Bristol, which now houses a circus skills centre, or Christchurch in Belfast, which is now an archive centre. Skills In a pioneering piece of research, the HLF identified a particular problem with lack of heritage skills. The fund introduced a requirement for training into its large projects, and more recently has launched a £6 million training bursary scheme to address heritage skills shortages. Needs assessment A huge amount has been achieved but there is more to be done. The government has announced that in late 2005 it will consult on the priorities and future shares of lottery funding to arts, sport and heritage. In preparation for this the HLF has analysed published data and evidence for needs and priorities across heritage, and also held a series of seminars with different heritage groups to identify key priorities. Many heritage assets face an uncertain future: • around 20,000 buildings across the UK are ‘at risk’ • one in ten parish churches has been abandoned since 1969 • nearly half of all rural vernacular buildings in Northern Ireland have been lost since 1909 • one monument has been lost every day since 1945 in England alone • the National Trust has identified around 500 archaeological sites, 38 parks and gardens and 600km of coastline in its ownership that will be vulnerable to sea level rise • there are still 800km of derelict inland waterways. Assets are at risk for different reasons, for example: • lack of maintenance – There are few incentives to maintain older buildings, and lower VAT on new construction means that it can be cheaper to build a new building than repair an old one. • shortage of skills – The recent NHTG report has estimated that some 6,590 additional skilled craftspeople are needed to meet shortages in the built heritage sector. • lack of data – Some 60 per cent of heritage records do not meet benchmark standards.Without good data local authorities or other government agencies can not take heritage into account when making strategic decisions and conflicts can arise. • lack of core support for voluntary organisations – Without volunteers, transport heritage, places of worship, organisations such as the National Trust and many of our best loved historic attractions would suffer or have to close. At the heart of many of the problems faced by the historic environment is a failure to connect people with their heritage, which in turn results from a lack of opportunities to engage with heritage. For example, the AttinghamTrust surveyed 400 historic sites and found Kate Clark is deputy director, policy and research, for the Heritage Lottery Fund. References 1 Data valid to 31 July 2004 2 Nicholas Balaam, 2005. HLF Expenditure on Building Conservation. Internal report for the HLF 3 Ecotec 2002. The Economic Impact of the Restoration of the Kennet and Avon Canal. For BritishWaterways 4 Grover, P and Reeve, A 2005. Townscape Heritage Initiative: long-term evaluation. Department of Planning, Oxford Brookes University for the HLF 5 Catling, C 2004. Heritage Needs and Priorities: a review of current needs based on existing evidence, with recommendations for future work. Report for Heritage Lottery Fund 6 Based on an estimate of 17,000 for England (Heritage Counts 2003) and available data for Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland 7 English Heritage Monuments at Risk Survey 8 Halcrow Group. 2004. National Trust Coastal Risk Assessment Phase One Report. Internal report to the National Trust 9 InlandWaterways Amenity Advisory Council, 2001. A Second Waterway Age: review of waterway restoration and development priorities. IWAAC 10 National Heritage Training Group, 2005. Assessing the Need, Meeting the Challenge. Skills needs analysis of the built heritage sector in England 2005. London: NHTG 11 Waterfield, G (ed). 2004 Opening Doors: Learning and the Historic Environment. Attingham Trust 12 PLB Consulting 2001.Developing New Audiences. Internal report to HLF 13 Based on EH data for the cost of repairing Grade I and II* buildings at risk 14 Data from Council for the Care of Churches The HLF has given over £1 billion to the conservation of historic buildings. That funding has: • benefited over 8,000 buildings • contributed £148 million to 468 townscape heritage initiatives • repaired around 1,800 places of worship • supported 182 projects conserving 263 buildings at risk • helped remove 61 buildings from the English Heritage Buildings at Risk register since 2001 • helped 67 building preservation trusts save 139 buildings. The HLF has also given £300 million to over 2,000 churches, chapels and cathedrals, including over £100 million in dedicated repair grants programmes. that half spent less than £1,000 a year on educational resources. Only 15 local record offices out of 121 in England andWales employ an education officer. At the same time, many people still feel that their own culture is not reflected in heritage as it is presented today. Missing audiences include teenagers, young adults, older people, black and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, people without cars, unemployed people and people from low-income households. People tell us that they would like to see ‘a warmer welcome for people like me’; better facilities for children; better transport; and better facilities for disabled people’. Some of these issues can be quantified: • £5.6 billion needs to be found from public and private sources to bring Buildings at Risk back into use • around £1.2 billion will be needed to meet the repair needs of Anglican Places of Worship in England andWales over the next decade • around £1 billion is needed to regenerate our historic parks • canals and inland waterways need around £700 million to repair them. There are no cost estimates for meeting the wider ‘people’ needs – the need for skills, access, information, opportunities. There is no suggestion here that lottery funding can or should meet all of these needs. Indeed, political moves such as creating a better link between heritage and other government agendas on environment and communities are equally important. Nevertheless, lottery funding has already made a huge difference to the heritage. The HLF will be publishing a document setting out what has been achieved and the case for further support. At the same time, the government will be consulting on the future share and priorities. It is vital that the heritage sectors work together to build the case for the future needs and priorities for heritage, and make a clear case to government about where lottery funding can best make a difference.
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