Context 163 - March 2020

C O N T E X T 1 6 3 : M A R C H 2 0 2 0 43 Community matters Participation, heritage and a local plan A new approach to public engagement has led to the London Borough of Enfield’s new heritage strategy reflecting how important heritage is to recognising diversity and achieving growth, writes Harriet Bell. Just over 50 years ago Sherry Arnstein published her seminal ‘Ladder of Citizen Participation’ (1969), critiquing planning practice regarding community participation and challenging the profession to do better. 1 Some thousands of academic citations later, her critique of participatory practice and the challenge to improve decision- making still resonate. Heritage planning has often tended to be inherently non-participatory, rooted in statutory requirements and using consultation exercises or specialist advisory groups. Arnstein’s ladder puts this as ‘token’ engagement, rather than a level of ‘partnership.’ Increasingly, however, heritage strategies are being used by local authorities to seek greater levels of community involvement, although many still follow conventional engagement routes with established heritage stakeholder groups. With an eye to achieving more than Arnstein’s ‘token’ engagement, the questions for Enfield in developing a new heritage strategy were both how to improve participation with limited resources and the extent to which better participation could be delivered, not just claimed. This meant a new approach to the role of community groups and rethinking how their involvement could actively shape Enfield’s development.What resulted was a new heritage strategy driven by individuals from Enfield’s many communities through negotiated and often imperfect partnerships. Perhaps just as significant, however, was that the intensity of the efforts to improve participation in turn led to a much greater prominence for heritage through the draft new local plan. A message of ‘heritage for change’ now puts heritage at the centre of proposals for good growth. In June 2019 Enfield adopted a new Heritage Strategy , Making Places: Enfield Heritage Strategy 2019–24 SPD . It is the council’s second heritage strategy, but it is its first as a supplementary planning document (SPD). Enfield’s first Heritage Strategy: A Living Landscape (2008) identified key projects and highlighted the importance of both tangible and intangible heritage in the borough. This cross-council document included specific proposals for the museum and local studies library and archives services. The new strategy developed from this, identifying not only how heritage would be managed and resources prioritised, but also how the strategy would inform the coming transformational growth that Enfield anticipates through its new local plan. Enfield’s communities and community-based heritage are key features throughout the new heritage strategy document. In 2013 the council held a heritage conference for local people and heritage professionals with talks and workshops on a number of topics. The heritage strategy of 2008 was considered, and the conference found that ‘there were ways in which it could be improved – such as making it a shorter, more focused document with an action plan, timetable for delivery, responsibilities for every party, and a clear way of monitoring progress and success. Local groups wanted to be part of the strategy.’ The challenge speaks directly to Arnstein’s concern for ‘citizen control’. From the outset, the council was determinedly proactive about improved participation in writing the new heritage strategy. This was informed by the council’s statement of community involvement (SCI), but the approach also sought to be flexible and open to different forms of participation, albeit using what resources were available and not rejecting all ‘token’ practices. A first initiative drew emergent concerns though visits with local or borough group representatives to all 22 of the council’s conservation areas. From this, first issues regarding densification, green spaces, waterways, enforcement and interpretation fed through to the emerging draft new local 1 Sherry R Arnstein (1969) ‘A Ladder of Citizen Participation’, Journal of the American Institute of Planne rs, July Forty Hall Farm, a mixed farm with a variety of animals, and an educational resource