Heritage in crisis: RESCUE responds to the fifth report on local government heritage staff resources In July 2013 a report

on local government staff resources allocated to archaeology and building conservation was issued jointly by English Heritage, The Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers and the Institute of Historic Building Conservation1. The information summarised in the report shows clearly and unequivocally that there has been a significant decline in the availability of the specialist advice that local authorities require if they are to deal properly and responsibly with our archaeological and built heritage. The downward trend in the provision of services which began in 2006 has seen the numbers of archaeological advisors, including Historic Environment Records (HER) officers, fall by 28% while the decline in the numbers of conservation officers has been even more marked at 33%. In the past twelve months alone the number of archaeological specialists has fallen by 3% and the numbers of conservation officers by 4%. There is no sign of this rate of decline ceasing and with further cuts to local authority budgets planned for the financial year 2013-2014 it seems that the situation will continue to worsen. A crisis in the planning system RESCUE The British Archaeological Trust2 welcomes the publication of this report and the presentation of a clear summary of the ongoing decline in the capacity of local councils to deal adequately with archaeological and historic sites within our towns, cities and countryside. The findings confirm the anecdotal information collected by RESCUE over the same period which indicates that heritage services are amongst the first to be reduced or eliminated by local authorities when cuts are required to meet central government spending targets. Specific examples include the closure of the Merseyside HER and the withdrawal of advice to five local authorities (Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens & Wirral) in a region that includes the Liverpool waterfront World Heritage Site. Other areas affected by severe cuts include the West Midlands where Sandwell and Dudley no longer have HERs, Walsall has no archaeological officer and where the archaeology and historic buildings of Birmingham, our second city, are the responsibility of one individual.

Such actions are directly contrary to the governments National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)3 which states that: Local planning authorities should have up-to-date evidence about the historic environment in their area and use it to assess the significance of heritage assets and the contribution to their environment. ... Local planning authorities should either maintain or have access to a historic environment record (NPPF paragraph 169, emphasis added). Government and the value of culture In a speech delivered at the British Museum on 24th April 2013, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Maria Miller, drew attention to the immense financial value of the cultural sector, including the heritage sector and made specific reference to the case of Liverpool4. In a response to the speech, RESCUE questioned the logic of emphasising the value of culture while at the same time allowing spending in real terms to fall to the extent that the historic environment is no longer effectively protected5. RESCUE believes that the points made in its response to the Ministers speech are confirmed by the findings of the report on local authority staff resources. On the basis of this evidence, RESCUE asserts that the governments imposition of unrealistic spending limits on local authorities is a transparent tactic designed to deflect criticism of government policy onto local authorities and thus to shift the blame away from central government to local government under the guise of permitting local decision making. RESCUE asserts that responsibility for the nations heritage should be borne equally by local and national government and that the central government should take active steps to fulfil its responsibilities under the NPPF and international agreements (notably the Valetta Convention6) by requiring local authorities to meet those responsibilities and by giving them the resources to do so. Facing up to the crisis RESCUE has been working to protect the nations heritage since 1972 and in that time has noted that the provision of heritage services has fluctuated under governments of all political parties. For this reason we are now calling for a cross-party approach to the issues which face us today and which are summarised in the report reviewed here. In particular RESCUE expects to see the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Archaeology (APPAG) taking a much more robust role in monitoring and actively supporting the system of heritage protection which is fundamental to the long term survival of our historic sites and landscapes. We expect the members of the APPAG to take on a commitment to work with both professional and voluntary heritage groups to ensure that the nations heritage receives the attention and care that it deserves and to argue the case in parliament. As a first step, RESCUE calls on the government and the opposition parties to undertake a joint commitment to the following reforms to the system of heritage protection:

To make the provision of conservation and archaeological advisory services charged with the safeguarding of the historic and built environment a statutory obligation on all local authorities To make the provision of a fully resourced Historic Environment Record a statutory obligation on all local authorities To make access to a Historic Environment Record free for all citizens, community groups, research students, academics and others with a legitimate interest in the historic environment

Furthermore, RESCUE sees it as essential that local and regional museums are adequately resourced in order to be able to undertake the care and conservation of the written records, artefacts and other material that are the result of all archaeological fieldwork without the imposition of prohibitive charges on those responsible for depositing such material on the completion of fieldwork. A future for our past? RESCUE believes that the country is close to reaching a point at which the provision of services designed to safeguard our historic environment is no longer adequate to meet the challenges that present themselves on a day-to-day basis. The report reviewed here is the fifth on such issues and the information that it contains is paralleled by the experience of RESCUE and other heritage organisations. In spite of the publication of reports by heritage organisations and expressions of concern when a specific archaeological site or historic building is lost, the catalogue of loses and failures continues to mount. We must ask ourselves at what stage will we decide to act collectively to support under-resourced and vulnerable services and thus ensure that our historic sites and landscapes receive the protection that they require through the planning process? There is an obvious challenge here for the bodies that have compiled this report and for those who purport to represent the heritage profession. We must act collectively to address the situation. More broadly there is a need for everyone concerned with our nations heritage, including the wider public, to commit to join the campaign in support of threatened services. Will we rise to meet this challenge as we did in the early 1970s or will future generations look back on the early 21st century as the time when we abandoned our past to short-termism and financial expediency? RESCUE The British Archaeological Trust 19th September 2012 Notes 1A summary of the content and a link to the full report can be found here: http://ihbconline.co.uk/newsachive/?p=6410

2RESCUE

is an independent organisation dedicated to promoting archaeology in Britain and abroad. Details of RESCUEs work can be found on the website: www.rescuearchaeology.org.uk
3National

Planning Policy Framework: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6077 /2116950.pdf Testing Times: Fighting cultures corner in an age of austerity https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/testing-times-fighting-cultures-corner-in-anage-of-austerity
4

Testing Times: Fighting cultures corner in an age of austerity A response by RESCUE The British Archaeological Trust http://rescue-archaeology.org.uk/2013/04/26/testingtimes/
5 6Details

of the terms of the Valetta Convention can be found here: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/143.htm . RESCUE contends that Britain is in breach of Articles 2 (i), 4 (iii) and 5 (i, ii and iii) of the Convention as a direct result of government policy.