LPOC acts as secretariat to
Giving 1.5 million owners a voice in parliament The biggest political news of the past few months is of course the arrival of a new government in Westminster. There has very much been a new broom in all of the ministries that impact listed buildings. A lot of new people have been brought in at both the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The most significant appointment is certainly that of Robert Jenrick as Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government. This important position places him in overall charge of the planning system, and from the Club’s perspective it is hard to imagine a better choice. Jenrick himself owns a listed property and has publicly campaigned to protect other historic buildings. Since he is an owner we have offered him an honorary membership, and we hope he will be sympathetic to our efforts for reform. Esther McVey took up the post of Minister for Housing and Planning, so she will be overseeing any planning reforms more directly. McVey will be best known to most members from the recent leadership race, where she campaigned as a bluecollar Tory with strong free market credentials. Her dislike of regulation is a good fit for a minister who is overseeing the Accelerated Planning green paper (see opposite for details) and we hope that she’ll bring that same attitude to handling listed buildings. Nicky Morgan has become the new Minister for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Her department handles listing itself, as well as being the parent to Historic England. Under
her is Rebecca Pow who will continue to act as Heritage minister. These two are more unknown quantities, and neither has indicated a particular interest in the listed building aspect of their portfolio. New ministers can be both a challenge and an opportunity. Given that their predecessors have done little to help listed building owners, the arrival of new ministers can certainly be seen as positive. A new group that we can make our case to is of course a fresh opportunity to convince a high-profile patron. On the other hand, there will be a great many demands on all of them and it can be hard to get their attention. Other changes are still percolating through Whitehall as we go to press. It should be noted that the Johnson regime has instigated a deal of upheaval within the civil service too, but it’s much harder to see what impact that is having. To some degree this should be welcomed, as the civil service has not done owners any favours either. Perhaps some fresh thinking will help us to push our reforms here as well. The Club will of course be writing to the ministers and departments over the coming few months, as we get out of the recess and government resumes. Any correspondence will of course be published here to keep you up to date with the latest developments.
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ACCELERAT E D PL A NNI NG Manifestos and party policy tend to garner the greatest attention in political circles, but in many cases the details matter more than the headlines. In depth policy proposals formulated by ministries are called green papers, which eventually become white papers and adopted as official policy. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government are presently formulating just such a paper called “Accelerated Planning” which aims to speed up and streamline the process of planning and consent. These major policy documents are only rarely written and often form the basis of policy for a decade or more. Given the importance of this green paper, the Club wrote to MHCLG to point out that their present draft excludes listed buildings from consideration and that this needs to be rectified. Of course, all ministers receive a great deal of correspondence so responses can be slow, or not forthcoming at all. However, as we go to press the Club has received an answer (see right) from the new housing minister, Esther McVey, inviting us to meet with officials at the ministry and discuss the green paper. This is a tremendous opportunity for the Club to engage directly with those who make policy within government and to fight for owners’ rights. It is rare that anyone outside the establishment gets the opportunity to put their case on these matters. This invitation reflects the hard work that the Club have made to engage across the heritage sector, as well as the efforts of members in writing to MPs and councillors. Listed building owners are clearly being taken much more seriously by the government today and we are looking forward to a productive discussion.
Esther McVey, MP for Tatton, brings some fresh ideas to MHCLG.
S COTLA ND We’ve previously written of our relationship with Graham Simpson MSP, who has been quite a champion for listed building owners within the Scottish Parliament. Readers will remember that he will be attending the Scottish Listed Property Show in October, which is a great show of support for owners. Over the past months Graham has also sponsored two events for the Club within Holyrood, which will give Club members the chance to meet MSPs and discuss their challenges. These will both be on the 26th of November, firstly a casual drop in session around lunchtime, and then a formal reception later in the evening. Graham’s office will be issuing official invitations to all MSPs, and the Club will be inviting members from in and around Edinburgh closer to the time.
Both of these events offer a chance to meet with and persuade more MSPs to our cause. We already know that a number of them are sympathetic but have not been able to commit to the time needed to form an official group. The chance to speak with them in a more informal setting will be invaluable in ensuring they see our issues are important and need action. As Scotland has become a major battleground in the fight for owners’ rights our campaign there has substantially expanded. Now that more people have heard about our efforts we’ve started to receive enquiries from Scottish owners who are facing various struggles, including several who are opposing the A9 widening scheme. Numerous owners have written to point out that the scheme will either damage their listed building or impinge significantly on their setting. >>
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The A9 widening scheme runs the length of Cairngorms National Park and will impact dozens of historic sites
The Club are of course concerned about this, particularly as there seems to be scope for an alternative route that would greatly reduce the harm to historic buildings and the other heritage assets in the area. These kinds of scheme show many of the flaws in the present planning system, and how heritage concerns can often be ignored or at least take a back seat. The Club will of course be supporting all the owners and other concerned locals along the proposed A9 route. In the past month we have been working with our Scottish conversation advisor to help residents understand the law and helping them to put their case as strongly as possible. We are committed to supporting all listed building owners and ensuring that your rights are respected in the planning system. If you are facing similar struggles, then contact the campaign at campaign@lpoc.co.uk
WALES The past few months have seen some important developments for our campaign in Wales, including meetings with two influential groups. The Club have met with Cadw, the Welsh heritage authority, as well as with the Mid and West Wales Conservation Officers Forum. Cadw broadly have the same duties as Historic England, and
so we are extremely happy to be building a good relationship with them. Our discussion covered a lot of ground, including our efforts to help reform the planning system within Wales. Cadw are an official part of the Welsh government, so they are required to be neutral when it comes to political matters, but they were keen to hear our thoughts and to provide another point of view. We can certainly say that Cadw understand the need for reforms and improvements and that they are operating their own internal groups looking for opportunities to do that. Even if we can’t directly work together, the Club are extremely happy to see that there is a general effort towards delivering better service. This theme was also continued in our meeting with the Conservation Officers Forum, whose members cover a wide swathe of wales from Powys to Pembrokeshire. We were very happy to be invited to the group, and this marked a real change from our experiences in England where council officers are much less willing to speak. Most tellingly, the biggest question the group had for us was how they can do a better job for listed building owners. We were very impressed with this attitude, and we hope that this signals the possibility of real reform in Wales that will benefit both officials and owners. There will be a substantial contingent of Welsh representatives at the Listed Property Show South West, with members of Cadw as well as a number of conservation advisors.
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Most owners will know that there is a real lack of skilled tradespeople. Of course, our directory can help you to connect with the right contractors, but for too many there simply are no providers available. This situation seems set to get worse, as many heritage businesses are run by sole traders who don’t have anyone to leave the business to when they retire.
We particularly feel that as both English Heritage and Historic England have a strong public service remit and share the goal of ensuring our heritage buildings survive into the future, it is entirely appropriate for them to take on this kind of work. It is clearly in the public interest for someone to provide the administrative and organisational backing for heritage apprenticeships. Our heritage bodies have both a demonstrable need for such skills themselves and are the only operators of sites major enough to enable on-going training schemes.
This is a particular issue for rural properties, as businesses are typically created in and around towns where there is a steady stream of work. To make matters worse, many heritage skills are very specialised and even regional. Roofing with slate is a different trade to roofing with thatch, and the stone and mortar used depends on the local sources.
We hope you will agree that this would be a good model for the government to adopt. It would allow for regional variations in skills and materials, as the local centre would naturally reflect the needs of the area. It would also enable young people from across the UK to join the program without excessive travel.
One major challenge is that heritage work demands skilled tradespeople, and they need to be properly trained but the present apprenticeship system is not flexible enough. There are no separate apprenticeships for lime work, or period joinery. Even the most enthusiastic recruit would have to go through a scheme for modern workers and then re-train. This effectively means that training can take longer than a degree course.
Finally, the use of large attractions as the base would provide a natural avenue to get young people interested as they visit. Joining the efforts to maintain a local building with ties to local history and which is an important part of the community really captures the imagination and can bring in more recruits.
PO LICY SPOT L I GHT – S KILLS SH O RTAGE
Another issue is that the demand for period work is not always predictable, and it is very hard for providers to guarantee that there will be a constant flow of appropriate heritage work to meet the need of the rather regimented apprenticeship system.
The Club will be lobbying government to provide the small amount of funding necessary to run a pilot program, and to prove that this approach can make a major impact to our historic buildings.
The Club attended the APPG on Apprenticeships to meet others who work in that space and gain some insight into the issue. We were particularly happy to meet with Andrea Burwood who heads the Battersea Academy for Skills and Excellence; the Battersea Power Station apprenticeship scheme. They have acted as a centre of excellence for apprenticeships and actively promoted their use by suppliers. As they represent a major location with a lot of work as the site is regenerated, they are in the perfect position to take a leadership role on apprenticeships. We believe that this can serve as inspiration for the heritage sector. The Club will be pushing for major heritage sites to become apprenticeship centres; placing local young people with colleges and connecting them with business who frequently return to provide repair and maintenance work. We feel that this approach would be extremely positive and has been used successfully in Wales. The efforts of the Tywi Centre have ensured dozens of apprentices have found training partners and joining the heritage sector. To cover the whole UK, we will need multiple centres. By basing these around real heritage sites such as castles and country houses, which have real maintenance needs we can ensure that there is complete coverage of the UK, and that there is an on-going supply of work to train apprentices with.
Renovating the Grade II Battersea Power Station has lead to a surge in apprenticeships through their academy program.
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