What Direction for Conservation?: Fid-Bau Portal

What Direction for Conservation?

Kindred, Bob

The relationship between the government and the heritage sector over matters of legislation and policy has been characterized, since the nineteenth century, by attitudes ranging from diffidence to indifference to (at some stages) outright hostility. The present system of heritage protection has evolved imperfectly, but without evident serious difficulties—almost in spite of the government rather than because of it. Eventually, the government's decision to create an ‘arm's-length’ organization (quango) in English Heritage to act as its lead adviser gave the sector an independent voice, but this has proved increasingly less effective. The organization has been penalized financially for its inability to conform to the government's deregulatory and re-organizational expectations, with significant consequences for the health of the sector overall. In the last decade, much greater reliance has been placed on proceeds from the National Lottery to fund heritage projects. This funding is now under two threats. Firstly, there is a belief within government that heritage problems have now largely been solved by this largesse from gambling. Secondly, the impending scale of infrastructure investment in the 2012 London Olympics will consequently significantly reduce funding for heritage. Although this loss of resources could have been partly made good by reducing the burden of VAT, the government has allowed ill-informed prejudice to guide its policies, while its obsession with target setting for the sector, particularly the local authorities, has been misguided and unproductive.