38 C O N T E X T 1 0 5 : J U LY 2 0 0 8 CHARLES WAGNER Conservation areas at risk An English Heritage survey will build a picture of the condition of England’s conservation areas and assess the risks they face. How do we judge the pressure our heritage is under? Should we be worrying about the rapid changes our environment is facing? For listed buildings we now have a long-established way of doing this and, at least for higher-grade buildings, the national picture is clear. For Grade II listed buildings, around half of all authorities keep records. Together this information gives us all a powerful management tool. What about the rest of our heritage? For scheduled monuments, we have the first comprehensive national picture of their condition and the factors that put some sites at risk. Registered parks and gardens and registered battlefields have been assessed by English Heritage and the results are now published. We now even have an over-arching picture of the state of protected wreck sites. English Heritage is embarking on a major new strand of its heritage-at-risk programme. By working with local authority historic environment staff, we hope to build the most accurate picture we have ever had of the condition of England’s conservation areas. This information will help ensure that we are able to target the scarce resources available for heritage management effectively. English Heritage has started to create a database of the condition of the 9,500 or so conservation areas in England. The last overview of conservation areas was collected by English Heritage in 1990 when The Conservation Areas of England was published. That was simply a record of what areas were designated, rather than their condition. We are now creating a management and prioritisation tool with a rapid deskbased assessment of their condition, based on the expert assessment of the local building conservation staff, who know their area better than anyone. For those who do not have an overview of the state of all their conservation areas, this survey will provide one in a straightforward and time-effective way. It will be a useful tool to help concentrate resources on the conservation areas identified as at risk, and useful ammunition when engaging elected members. English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) will use it to help us steer our grants for historic areas to places where they are most needed. The survey’s findings, which will be available in the new year, will be useful in helping us look at the sections in the Heritage Protection Bill on conservation areas and to use the evidence produced to see if the (yet to be produced) section in the new legislation will more effectively protect character and appearance. EnglishHeritage has created the first all-encompassing register of the country’s neglected or decaying historic treasures, together with new ways to save them. Its Heritage at Risk project, launched in July 2008, makes England the first country in Europe to assemble comprehensive knowledge of the state of its protected heritage. TheHeritage at Risk initiative is based on the success of English Heritage’s Buildings at Risk Register. Published annually since 1998, the register has transformed the approach taken by English Heritage itself, the other conservation bodies, local authorities and owners to
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