Cuts to Local Authority Heritage Staff RESCUE Response

7/29/2019 Cuts to Local Authority Heritage Staff RESCUE Response

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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 localcouncils 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.


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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 toa 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:


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To make the provision of conservation and archaeological advisory services chargedwith 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 statutoryobligation on all local authorities

To make access to a Historic Environment Record free for all citizens, communitygroups, 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 ofthreatened 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

Notes1A summary of the content and a link to the full report can be found here:

http://ihbconline.co.uk/newsachive/?p=6410
http://ihbconline.co.uk/newsachive/?p=6410http://ihbconline.co.uk/newsachive/?p=6410http://ihbconline.co.uk/newsachive/?p=6410


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2RESCUE is an independent organisation dedicated to promoting archaeology in Britain

and abroad. Details of RESCUEs work can be found on the website:www.rescue-

archaeology.org.uk

3National Planning Policy Framework:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6077

/2116950.pdf

4Testing Times: Fighting cultures corner in an age of austerity

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/testing-times-fighting-cultures-corner-in-an-

age-of-austerity

5Testing Times: Fighting cultures corner in an age of austerity A response by RESCUE

The British Archaeological Trusthttp://rescue-archaeology.org.uk/2013/04/26/testing-

times/

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.
http://www.rescue-archaeology.org.uk/http://www.rescue-archaeology.org.uk/http://www.rescue-archaeology.org.uk/http://www.rescue-archaeology.org.uk/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6077/2116950.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6077/2116950.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6077/2116950.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/testing-times-fighting-cultures-corner-in-an-age-of-austerityhttps://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/testing-times-fighting-cultures-corner-in-an-age-of-austerityhttps://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/testing-times-fighting-cultures-corner-in-an-age-of-austerityhttp://rescue-archaeology.org.uk/2013/04/26/testing-times/http://rescue-archaeology.org.uk/2013/04/26/testing-times/http://rescue-archaeology.org.uk/2013/04/26/testing-times/http://rescue-archaeology.org.uk/2013/04/26/testing-times/http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/143.htmhttp://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/143.htmhttp://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/143.htmhttp://rescue-archaeology.org.uk/2013/04/26/testing-times/http://rescue-archaeology.org.uk/2013/04/26/testing-times/https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/testing-times-fighting-cultures-corner-in-an-age-of-austerityhttps://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/testing-times-fighting-cultures-corner-in-an-age-of-austerityhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6077/2116950.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6077/2116950.pdfhttp://www.rescue-archaeology.org.uk/http://www.rescue-archaeology.org.uk/

Cuts to Local Authority Heritage Staff RESCUE Response

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