C O N T E X T 1 1 9 : M A Y 2 0 1 1 7 up to date? Are conservation area appraisals published online? Do these conform to good practice? Have all conservation areas been appraised? How extensive are the local heritage assets? Are any at risk, and does the council have procedures to resolve them? Is there a designated councillor heritage champion for the service? The council’s political composition may also be important. Those with no party in overall control, or governing by coalition, or with a large number if independents (as in some rural shire districts) may be more prone to unpredictability over their policies than authorities with clear mandates. The next key to the post will be the job description and associated person specification. It is to be hoped that the objective of the authority will be to offer a comprehensive, balanced conservation service in relation to national best practice. The comprehensiveness of the duties of the post may depend on whether the post-holder is a singular expert or part of a team, which may itself have specialist roles. It should also be made explicit where the onus lies in directing the workload – whether this is imposed by the head of service or team leader, or whether it is self generating – particularly as posts often refer to the virtue of ‘self-motivation’. As referred to above, what the role may cover may depend on the level of heritage assets and the wider political aspirations of the local authority. An evaluation by the IHBC of over 1,350 advertised posts since 1998 shows a fairly consistent pattern of eight key areas. In roughly priority order, they are as follows: specialist advice on development proposals (development management); conservation area designation and appraisal; grant administration (including, for example, townscape heritage initiatives); policy advice (such as for local development frameworks) and supplementary planning guidance; technical advice to owners; buildings at risk and enforcement; environmental enhancement; and a range of other smaller miscellaneous functions, such as local lists, design briefs, and support for heritage champions, building preservation trusts or conservation area advisory committees. Providing a balanced service within an approximately 37-hour working week is a challenge on its own. Conservation officers operating singly within the authority may find that half their working week or more may be devoted to specialist development management advice or indeed the direct processing of applications for consent. For a time, conservation area appraisal assumed greater workload importance when conformity to a national performance indicator was required, although conservation area designation and review is a crucial statutory priority in any event. Environment enhancement work has continued to shrink in significance, as has grant administration, as local authority budgets have been squeezed. Recently English Heritage has been encouraging more initiative on local lists and buildings at risk, but these tend to be large-scale, long-term workload items easily sidelined by the short-term demands of the development management process, making it more difficult to provide a balanced service. All this may be deduced in part from the priorities given under main duties and responsibilities in the job description – and which job candidates also need to tease out from their preliminary research and when given the opportunity at ask questions at interview. Person specifications usually identity what education and experience is required. Enlightened employers will usually expect education to degree level, with membership of the IHBC as an essential or at least desirable requirement, and a recognised standard of professional competence. This may depend on the previous post-holder (if there was one) making clear to the recruitment team that this should be specified. It is also increasingly common that no minimum period of previous experience, in local government or elsewhere, is specified. This was a much more common practice a decade ago. The reasons for its omission are unclear. Again the balance of qualification and experience has to be weighed up. Additionally the person specification will make clear the knowledge and skills required as essential or desirable (and how the candidate will be expected to demonstrate these); style and behaviour (such as a team player, analytical, organised, motivated, professional, having good time management); essential specialist requirements (ability to work outdoors in all weathers, clean driving licence); and the health and safety risk assessment for the post. Why would anyone want to do this for living? The job can give immense personal satisfaction, even as it can be frustrating. There can be careerlong, constantly evolving professional development and experience. There is the sheer variety and diversity, and the esteem and appreciation of councillors, fellow professionals, and from within the local community. The motivations are there, but the future models for service delivery will be interesting additional challenges for anyone keen to join us. Bob Kindred MBE, who runs the conservation and urban design service for Ipswich Borough Council, has been involved with front-line local authority heritage management since 1982.
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