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We have conveniently listed the
recommendations in the review document; however, we urge that they
should be read in context.
Landscape and
cultural values
14. People
shape landscapes, and are shaped by them. It is the stories and
meanings, memories and associations that we attach to buildings
and landscapes that underpin our sense of who we are and where we
belong. Places testify to the struggles and achievements, the aspirations
and failures, of those who came before us. They can sustain the
idea of the continuing community, and our role in it, and help shape
our personal values. If we do not forget, or we rediscover, how
to read them, places prompt us to consider the meaning of past events
for us now. Their survival in the fabric of our landscape allows
future generations to have the same opportunity. Welsh landscapes
may not always be conventionally picturesque, but most are evocative
and often awesome.
15. The historic environment of
Wales is therefore an integral and crucial part of the country's
cultural heritage, alongside the Welsh language, and the diverse
literature, music, art, tradition, belief, skill and achievement
that has meaning or value to people in Wales. Indeed, the historic
environment might be seen as the very foundation of cultural identity
and distinctiveness, for whilst language, literature, music and
other intangible aspects of culture are readily transported, they
are ultimately rooted in, and shaped by, the landscape in which
they originated. But by its nature, the historic environment is
inclusive; it embodies many kinds of values; it is changed by, and
has meanings for, all communities in Wales, present and future.
16. At its most basic and objective
level, the historic environment is also a unique source of information
about past people and events. Archaeological remains, landscapes
and buildings can be 'read' and interpreted in ways analogous to
the use of a conventional documentary archive. Moreover, it begins
much earlier and is more comprehensive, covering the whole country
and all social levels.
Social and economic benefits
22. Quantifying this range of social and economic
benefits cannot be an exact science, not least because some of the
most important social gains cannot be expressed in figures. Some
economic research has however been done,which suggests that the
historic environment in Wales generates total spending of some £780m.
a year, and supports 22,500 jobs (some part-time). This represents
a powerful argument for protecting and enhancing — sustaining
— the asset.
Planning and land use
26. It is vital that the nature and values (or
significance) of what exists understood at the outset, and informs
decisions about investment change. This requires easy access to
reliable information, and all planning and land use decisions, not
just those affecting specifically designated heritage sites and
their immediate setting.
Recording and characterisation
33. Policy objectives will also need to address
the extent to which traditional survey and recording programmes,
for instance for scheduling ancient monuments, now represent the
best use of resources;and the extent to which the information needs
of more community-based management initiatives are adequately provided
for. This involves, forinstance,more area-based characterisation,
together with aids to helping the community to identify what they
value in their local area.
Raising awareness
37. We recommend that the Assembly Government
should support initiatives to raise awareness of the historic environment,
and to encourage participation both through the Communities First
programme and more generally. Organisations like the Civic Trust
and the National Trust should continue to play key roles in this,
while local archive services can and do provide a historical basis
to underpin local initiatives.
Community strategies
40. We recommend that the Welsh Assembly Government
should invite local authorities to take into account, in developing
their community strategies, the contribution which management of
the historic environment can make to economic, social and environmental
well-being in their area. Local authorities should work with Cadw
and local organisations to develop local approaches and identify
outputs.
Education
45. We recommend overall that a more proactive
and energetic policy for formal education, skills training and general
awareness-raising should be developed. Cadw should be resourced
to play its part in this, but an integrated approach involving co-operation
between all the key organisations is likely to be more effective
than separate small-scale activity. In formal education,‘teaching
the teachers’ to use the historic environment is a priority.
Tourism
47. The proportion of people interested in cultural
tourism is likely to increase, suggesting growth potential for heritage-related
tourism; but competition for visitors is stiff. We support the proposals
the WTB has put forward to realise this potential; in particular
we commend the idea of developing the Sense of Place initiative
which accords with our own emphasis on community and landscape.
Visiting a place where cultural heritage is a dimension of everyday
life, not a monument set apart from it, is important to the quality
of visitors’ experience.
48. However, the potential of heritage tourism
is best maximised and sustained if it is integrated with the other
attractions which Wales has to offer the visitor. The main objective,
as the WTB suggests, should be on developing the ‘value-added
of existing heritage attractions rather than in developing new heritage-based
attractions’. The rationale of any new development is likely
to have more to do with community benefit delivered in other ways
than through the tourism industry.
49. The importance of the prestige sites in initially
attracting visitors should not be under-estimated. Numerically,
Cadw dominates the sector, with thirty staffed sites, including
world-famous places like Caernarfon Castle and Tintern Abbey. These
are the flagship monuments of Wales and should be presented and
promoted as such,whilst seeking increasingly to raise industrial
heritage sites like Blaenavon to a similar level of public recognition.
Cadw will be required to support the WTB’s proposals by the
further development and marketing of visitor facilities on its sites.
Doing so will not, in our view, compete with houses and sites in
other hands (not least the National Trust), but rather, increase
the profile and attraction of the country as a whole.
50. Realising the tourism potential will thus
require input from many quarters, not least local authorities and
private sector tourism operators, who will need to support Sense
of Place initiatives. This needs to be recognised in funding arrangements.
Regeneration
52. The work undertaken and supported by the WDA
makes a valuable contribution to sustainable developme nt by seeking
to make maximum use of existing man-made structures, and utilising
the resources they contain for modern-day purposes, whether through
active usage or as monuments to remind us of the past. But in making
past industrial landscapes safe and tidy, maybe we have not been
prepared to be imaginative on a large enough scale? We note, for
example,that in the Ruhr area of Germany entire redundant steelworks
have been transformed into cultural parks. What are the comparable
opportunities to celebrate Welsh industrial achievement?
Local authorities
58. We recommend that the Assembly Government
reviews its policy for extending targeted help to local authorities
to strengthen their conservation skills, together with any other
initiatives which might serve to build their capacity. This should
include more written technical and policy guidance, in the development
of which opportunities for co-operation with other UK heritage organisations
should be explored.
Leadership
66. Maintaining and expanding private investment
and voluntary help for the heritage is essential if resources are
to be adequate to achieve the inclusive approach which is now required
in managing the environment. It is important to look positively
at ways of harnessing and encouraging this support and energy, including
the leadership required from the centre.
71. We believe that the machinery of government
needs strengthening to provide a new champion for the historic environment,
clear leadership, and improved co-ordination between all the players.
There are various possibilities for providing this enhanced role
and options exist for putting in place a suitable structure that
will reflect a new approach to the management of the historic environment
and ensure that the values embraced by the people of Wales are properly
catered for. These options might include the establishment of a
Ministerial sub-committee of the Cabinet, a working group of officials
reflecting the diverse interests within the Assembly Government,
or an advisory body established on a broad analogy with the Wales
Biodiversity Group, to advise the Assembly Government. This advisory
body could be chaired by a minister and would be serviced by a small
official secretariat, but it would have no executive powers. The
principal functions of this structure could be to:
• develop a vision and strategic direction for the sector;
• provide co-ordination, mapping the various interests and
helping to establish the lead for taking forward action through
partnership between member organisations;
• identify priorities for action;
• identify broader issues for research and discussion, such
as the consequences of demographic change in both urban and rural
areas, and how, under the Assembly Government, policy can continue
to develop to reflect specifically Welsh heritage values and priorities;
• help raise public awareness of the value of the historic
dimension of our environment to a similar level to that of the natural
dimension of our environment.
This structure might relate to existing initiatives as shown in
Annex B. In the medium term, proposals for structural change within
the sector, including merging bodies or redefining their roles,
may emerge as a logical step beyond integrated action.
72. In putting forward this suggestion we note
that the WTB’s Cultural Tourism Strategy suggests a working
group of Cymru’n Creu to co-ordinate and service the implementation
of that strategy. We are conscious of the need to avoid proliferation,
but the remit of that group is (rightly) going to be narrowly focused
and that of Cymru’n Creu itself has a wider scope than the
historic environment. Further consideration will clearly need to
be given to the interrelation involved.
74. Co-ordination of outreach programmes may well
involve cost-effective partnership with private and voluntary bodies.
A progressive change in the balance of statutory functions, flagged
up in the review of legislation as well as our own recommendations,
offers opportunities for more efficient use of resources. Ensuring
that public funding of other policy objectives, particularly investment
in economic regeneration and housing improvement, also achieves
good practice in the conservation of the historic environment, is
largely a matter of developing greater co-ordination and mutual
understanding between the parties involved.
mg 19/05/03 |