The government has published (April 2008) the draft Heritage Bill following the Heritage Protection White Paper of March 2007. This sets out a radically different way that the Historic Environment is to be protected. All existing Heritage designations are to be brought together in a single statutory designation with all previous legislation being repealed. All heritage consents are to be handled by Local Planning Authorities from 2010/11. What used to be Listed Buildings and Scheduled Monuments will now need Historic Asset Consent and development in Registered Parks and Gardens, Conservation Areas, Registered Battlefields and World Heritage Sites will require Planning Permission. World Heritage Sites will become a statutory designation for the first time.

The Heritage Protection Review (HPR) identifies new ways of working at national, regional and local level and seeks to develop and deliver management of and improve wider community engagement with the historic environment. The devolution of more responsibility to English Heritage and to local authorities is changing the strategic and operational frameworks within which the historic environment is managed. In Cornwall & Scilly, in anticipation of new legislation and practices, a forum has been created that brings together Local Authority Conservation Officers, Cornwall County Council (CCC) Historic Environment Service and English Heritage - Cornwall and Scilly HPR Local Delivery Group.

At present there are 7 local authority Historic Environment Services across Cornwall, and whilst there is co-operation, inevitably there is duplication as well as gaps in provision and varying levels of service between the different local authorities. There are inconsistent levels of advice, differing planning policies dealing with the same issues, and differences in the quality and quantity of record keeping for archive purposes.

The HPR pilot in Cornwall seeks to identify and redress many of these issues recognizing that Local Authority Historic Environment Services contribute to a sustainable economy and quality of life by protecting and enhancing the distinctive character of Cornwall and connecting people to places through:

·         Providing advice to local authorities and others on all matters relating to the historic environment through the planning and heritage consent processes, through advice on public grant allocation, through statutory designation, through policy formulation and strategy development

·         Ensuring that local authorities fulfil their statutory duties relating to the historic environment, and the management of  heritage assets in their care 

·         Delivery of actions in Cornwall’s Community Strategy relating to the distinctive character and culture of Cornwall

·          Management of the Historic Environment Record on behalf of all local authorities in Cornwall and carrying out research and providing information, advice and interpretation for all on historic sites, historic buildings, and historic settlements

·         Implementation of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site Management Plan and monitoring of the condition of the World Heritage Site

CCC’s Historic Environment Service maintains the Historic Environment Record (HER) and seeks to act as the ‘information hub’, housing the new proposed ‘unified Register of Historic Sites and Buildings’ (for Cornwall & Scilly), that will underpin the advice and guidance given by archaeologists, conservation officers, field monument wardens and others responsible for the heritage in Cornwall & Scilly. It will become a statutory duty to maintain the HER and to guarantee universal access. There will also be a responsibility on local authorities to create lists of Local Designations and for them to be legal partners in Heritage Partnership Agreements with owners of large, complex and multi designated estates/properties. There are three important conclusions to be drawn from the provisions of the Heritage Bill:

·         From 2009/10 there will be a substantial shift of responsibilities and duties from English Heritage and DCMS down to Local Authorities.

·         The Historic Environment Record, the new Register of Historic Buildings and Sites, and the Historic Asset Consent process will be entirely electronic and GIS map based. GIS mapping and the web will be at the heart of delivering historic environment services

·         The Govt and English Heritage are determined that the whole of the historic environment sector should become more unified since the legislation that made a distinction between archaeology, historic landscapes, historic settlements, and historic buildings is to be repealed.  Local authorities are being encouraged to develop multi skilled teams to implement the changes.

Over the last two years the historic environment services in the 7 local authorities in Cornwall have met to discuss how we can best meet the new demands outlined in the Heritage Bill. We have also defined what we all do and sought to reduce overlap. We should note here that there always has been a close and positive relationship between all the local authority historic environment services since Districts have supported the CCC Historic Environment Service to deliver a countywide advice and information service over the last 30 years.

In order to start the process of closer working, the CCC Historic Environment Service has given password access, via the web, to all Conservation Officers in District and Borough Councils to the CCC Historic Environment Record. Essentially the HER comprises a database, the Sites and Monuments Record linked to associated archives and a Geographic Information System (GIS). Using the GIS Internet Mapping version of the HER enables the dissemination of heritage information to the wider HPR audience, providing remote (online) access for the nominated historic environment professionals throughout Cornwall & Scilly.

The Cornwall & Scilly HER Internet mapping system:

·          Provides access to basic GIS-based HER Information by way of Internet Mapping software (ArcIMS) including the following datasets:

o         Sites,  Monuments and Buildings Record including links detailed aerial survey mapping and indexes of aerial photographs

o         Historic Environment Events Record and links to all heritage projects, surveys, assessments, excavations and consolidation works undertaken in Cornwall and Scilly and with further links to projects reports,  including Conservation Area Appraisals and Conservation management Plans, (presented as PDFs)

o         The range of current heritage designations including the following:

§          World Heritage Site areas, Scheduled Monuments, Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas, Designated Wrecks, Historic Parks & Gardens Register entries and Battlefield Sites Register entries

o         Historic Landscape Character mapping for Cornwall and Scilly and links to associated descriptive commentaries

·          Provides links and signposts to further information sources:

o         English Heritage’s Listed Buildings Online and  Images of England databases

o         A wide variety of national, regional, and local archaeology and history websites and resources

·          Provides standard Metadata pages explaining and documenting the datasets and information available

For more information:
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=296&CFID=3145559&CFTOKEN=38614642

http://www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/

http://www.cornish-mining.org.uk/

 
Article by Bryn Tapper, Senior Archaeologist (GIS), Cornwall County Council

March 2008.