On 19 October The Heritage Alliance issued a statement ahead of the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) announcement, on 20 October. Click here to see the full release, or read below.
19 October 2010
For immediate release
The Heritage Alliance[1] is concerned that spending decisions affecting Government Departments including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to be announced tomorrow (20 October) may add to past cuts – leaving our heritage to deteriorate, stacking up huge bills ahead and eroding public support.
“Whilst we accept the seriousness of the public deficit”, commented Loyd Grossman OBE, Chairman of The Heritage Alliance “we very much hope that in finalising these settlements, Government Departments and their agencies will recognise the huge contribution heritage makes to our economy and our society”.[2]
Heritage missed out on the ‘golden age’ for culture from 1997 – 2007. Throughout that period, when other budgets flourished – arts (+41%), sports (+182%) and museums (+199%), English Heritage[3]’s grant in aid fell in real terms by 11%.
If DCMS were to make across-the-board cuts, English Heritage might have to limit its core services to the public:
- Its expert advice to owners and local authorities – an essential tool in the heritage protection system – could be at risk.
- More cuts would reduce its executive capacity, just when it needs to invest strategically in partnership working to achieve more of its objectives in the longer term.
The Heritage Alliance is also concerned that spending cuts by Local Authorities will impact on historic environment services and on the support they give to voluntary and community groups for regeneration and educational enterprises – just when Government seeks to strengthen local decision making.
- Local Authorities may slash non-statutory leisure and cultural provision as well as planning and historic environment services, which are critical in generating local identity and civic responsibility.
- Cuts may also reduce even further the trained workforce, which is critical in attracting inward investment through the planning system. Local Authorities have already shed 7% of their conservation staff in the 14 months to January 2010 and current reports shows that this trend is continuing even more steeply.
Taken together, severe central and local government cuts could reduce the heritage movement’s capacity to deliver the community activity and support for which it is rightly renowned. Having led the ‘Big Society’ with widespread volunteering, it would be a bitter irony if this sector was disproportionately hit in the Spending Review.
Once lost, warns The Heritage Alliance, our heritage is lost forever.
Loyd Grossman OBE FSA, Chairman of The Heritage Alliance, will be available for comment following the Comprehensive Spending Review announcement today (20 October).
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- For comment from Chairman Loyd Grossman following the CRS on 20 October, please ring Camilla Eadie on 020 7930 0909.
- For more information about The Heritage Alliance or images of Chairman Loyd Grossman, please contact Emma Robinson, Policy & Communications Officer, The Heritage Alliance on 0207 2330 500.
- The Heritage Alliance is the largest coalition of heritage interests in England. Established in 2002 by key voluntary sector bodies, it brings together over 85 non-Government organisations concerned with our heritage. Between them, our members represent nearly 5 million people across Britain. Find out more at www.theheritagealliance.org.uk
- KEY STATS: Research shows that our heritage offers a firm foundation for economic and social recovery -
- Heritage tourism contributes £20.6 billion to GDP a year supporting a total of 466,000 jobs[4]. The Prime Minister acknowledged that “Heritage is a key reason why people come to Britain; we should play it up, not play it down.” (Serpentine Gallery, 12 August 2010)
- Increased visitor numbers have mitigated the impact of the recession even at this stage in the economic cycle, and tourism is expected to grow by 3.5% between 2009-2018 – well above the general prospects for growth[5].
- The Lake District initiative found that every £1 expenditure on farm building repairs resulted in a total output of £2.49[6].
- On the basis of repair costs over 30 years, the cost of repairing a typical Victorian terraced house is between 40 and 60% cheaper than replacing it[7].
- Local businesses positively rate historic environment regeneration schemes for raising pride in their local area, enhancing community identity and encouraging more people to come to the area[8].
- In a survey of historic environment regeneration areas, over 90% of people who lived and worked locally agreed (and over 30% strongly agreed) that these projects had improved their quality of life[9].
- Our heritage continues to inspire: the number of voluntary archaeology groups active in the UK has doubled since 1987 representing over 200,000 individuals[10]and across England there are hundreds of thousands of volunteers actively engaged in caring for their local historic environment which adds to the public sense of wellbeing.
- 4 out of 5 young people aged 11-14 say that knowing more about buildings and places around them makes them and their peers behave better[11].
[1] The Heritage Alliance is the largest coalition of heritage interests in
England. Established in 2002 by key voluntary sector bodies, it brings
together over 85 non-Government organisations concerned with our
heritage. Between them, our members represent nearly 5 million people
across Britain. Find out more at www.theheritagealliance.org.uk
[2] See Notes to Editors for statistics on the contribution heritage makes
to both the economy and wider society.
[3] The Government’s advisor on the historic environment
[4] HLF/VisitBritain: investing in Success, March 2010
[5] Deloitte and Oxford Economics; The economic contribution of the visitor economy: UK and the nations 2010
[6] EH/ DEFRA/Lake District National Park Authority, Building Value: public benefits of historic farm building repair in the Lake District, 2005
[7] HM Government: the Government’s Statement on the Historic Environment for England 2010
[8] Amion/Locum Consulting/English Heritage (unpublished) : The impact of historic environment regeneration, June 2010
[9] Amion/ Locum Consulting/English Heritage (unpublished): The impact of historic environment regeneration, June 2010
[10] CBA: Community Archaeology in the UK, 2010
[11] Engaging Places: Unforgettable Lessons, July 2010