Rethink Heritage

In England, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sports is in charge of cataloguing buildings and planning the protection of old monuments. To do this, legally binding categories of protected heritage are established: listed buildings, scheduled monuments, conservation areas and protected wreck sites. All the categories are featured in the National Heritage List of England. Furthermore, in 2012, the Department for Communities & Local Government published the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), establishing the Government’s planning policies together with a specific section on the built historic environment. A key objective of the NPPF is the promotion of sustainable economic, social and environmental development within the planning system. In England, management decisions affecting heritage are taken within the planning system. Within this centralized structure at national level several departments have competences in the field of heritage. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) provides national government funds for the conservation of heritage and is in charge of guaranteeing a list of designated heritage assets at national level. Another department working in the field of heritage is the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), which is in charge of policies and legislation on housing, planning, communities and local government, and draws up legislation and policies on territorial planning. At central level the government has set up several organizations such as Historic England and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Historic England (formerly English Heritage) is a non-departmental public body sponsored by DCMS and provides legal advice on historic settings to the government. The responsibilities of Historic England are set out in the National Heritage Law (1983, amended in 2002) and it is responsible for providing DCMS with sites to be designated and maintained on the National Heritage List for England. This organization works with other key government departments providing advice on heritage issues and how these may be affected by politics and legislation. The Heritage Lottery Fund, also a non-departmental public body, is in charge of distributing National Lottery income assigned to heritage throughout the United Kingdom, and is principal source of funding for heritage in the United Kingdom.

Other organizations sponsored by the government and advisers in other fields relevant to heritage are: Natural England, in charge of landscape matters and VisitEngland, in charge of tourism.

Many local authorities have drawn up their own lists of non-designated heritage sites and buildings. They are also in charge of reviewing planning applications and most of the building permits in their area. Local planning authorities are also in charge of decision-making as regards the management of most of the heritage designated through the planning system.

This is therefore a centralized competence system involving different departments of the central government and supported by organizations set up by the government, which also provide some support in competences at local level.

 LEGAL FRAMEWORK

• Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 (Part I)
• The Protection of Wrecks Act 1973
• Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979
• National Heritage Act 1983 (amended 2001)
• Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Regulations 1990
• Planning and Compensation Act 1991
• National Lottery Act 1993
• Treasure Act 1996
• National Heritage Act 1997
• Dealing with Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003
• Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013

 RATIFIED INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Granada Convention of 1985 (UK ratified November 1987)
• Valletta Convention of 1992 (UK ratified September 2000)
• Florence Convention of 2000 (UK ratified November 2006)

Information regarding legislation is based on Council of Europe's data: https://www.coe.int/en/web/herein-system/united-kingdom-england