Heritage at Risk - Protecting At-risk Sites

Protecting At-risk Sites

Different assets have different problems and many are owned privately.

Historic Environment Local Management (HELM) has identified some common themes:

• Historic assets benefit from sound management and planning policies
• Public and private owners should be encouraged and given practical guidance, including information about grants for which they may be eligible
• Some at-risk sites need significant public resources to allow major repairs, stabilise their condition, or change the way in which the land is being used
• Some assets cannot be reused and the cost of repair cannot always be justified. The long-term solution for these is one of managed decline once the historic significance of the asset has been carefully recorded.

English Heritage is concerned that the progress made over the past decade could soon stall or be reversed due to the current economic climate. This is echoed by well-known historians in England and Europe. Dr Mark Adams from the National Museums Liverpool Field Archaeology Unit and Mick Aston, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Bristol, wrote a joint letter to the Times calling on the government to save our heritage. They claim that despite contributing an estimated £20.6 billion annually to the economy, the heritage sector is facing disproportionate cuts both locally and nationally.