1. Verena McCaig Historic Landscape Project Officer
Historic Landscape Project CGT North Regional Meeting Manchester 26 June 2012
Verena McCaig
Historic Landscape Project Officer
not make too many assumptions
that you know about the project so please forgive me if you have heard some of this before.
I thought I’d start by explaining a bit about how the HLP came to be, what it set out to tackle and what we have been doing.
Slightly tricky as we haven’t started evaluating the project yet
Some of this is likely to appear very basic and you might wonder why a Trust might need support on some of these areas BUT
The variation in CGTs is considerable – each has different priorities,
is influenced by its age, geography, structure, local authorities, stakeholder personalities and resources, so there’s of course no ‘one size fits all’ answer.
project conceived for the southeast but additional funding from the AGT to replace that lost by NE cuts has enabled us to look outside of the region. This funding has come from re-investing the voluntary time contributions from first two years of the project.

2. Aims of the Day
Outline the key functions of the Historic Landscape Project in the southeast
Share perspectives on the current conservation environment for historic parks and gardens and extent of CGT activity
Look for aspects of the project which might be useful for CGTs in the northern counties
Meet other regional CGT members and share ideas, including potential of further regional collaboration

3. One of the key triggers for this project was seeking ways to address the issue of parkland loss in the south east.
Many of you will have seen this diagram is taken from the EH Heritage Counts 2005 report. It shows the devastating loss of parkland in (what were then) JCAs in the SE.
Analysis of the mapped data suggests that smaller parks have suffered the greatest loss and many small parks have disappeared.
Larger parks may still exist, but many are much reduced in their extent or include areas no longer categorised as parkland by the OS due to the change of land cover.
Arable farming probably represents the most dramatic change in use from parkland, plus of course development
This research influenced the HLS targets for Natural England in the region.
Nearly 50% parkland lost since more than any other region - area larger than the IoW
AGT formed partnership with EH and NE
Target expertise and funding towards conservation of designed parkland landscapes in SE region
Clearly different threats in your area

4. State of Conservation National Policy Issues Funding Other
Development and NPPF – site significance
Historic Environment Records – Heritage Assets
Neighbourhood planning
Local Listing
Heritage at Risk
Funding
Spending Review – impact on LAs
Stakeholder cuts
EH funding for capacity/core grants
Higher Level Stewardship
Heritage Lottery Fund
We’ve been taking into account national policy agenda
Funding – not just impact on LAs but on EH and NE too
Other
Closer working partnership – AGT, GHS, The Garden Museum, Parks & Gardens UK

5. EH/NE Priorities
Supporting the involvement of the voluntary sector in protecting heritage – especially Grade II Registered / unregistered
Harnessing local knowledge
Greater access to knowledgeable and skilled individuals for advice on historic environment
Raising awareness and information exchange on ‘At Risk’ assets
Building up information for Historic Environment Records (HERs)
Improved targeting of Natural England’s Environmental Stewardship funding
The project recognises the links between the agenda of the CGTs and the key statutory bodies supporting our heritage protection
Have highlighted the key priorities
As the funding pot gets smaller and cuts and redundancies take effect, need to work together becomes greater
Grade II Registered – particularly vulnerable to falling through the net of planning responses
Local knowledge – knowing owners, visiting places
HERs – critical issue
I should say that these are the priorities of the project funders – but also key are the LPAs – understand you are faced with huge numbers…

6. State of the Region Established from 1984 to 2008
Membership ranging from 70 to 450+
1 out of 8 receives small LA funding support
Number of LPAs ranges from 1 to 13
Structure of CGTs
2 out of 8 have a Conservation Sub-Committee which specifically responds to planning applications
Others respond through other committees or ad hoc via individuals
None reported a satisfactory relationship with LPAs (better at County Council level!)
5 out of 8 have a Research Sub-group or similar
3 of the 5 have a specific focus for research
3 out of 8 have no group
Number of active researchers varies from 0 to 12
Last few are changing – shift to having a focus and forming group around that

7. Emerging Issues Pro-actively engaging with the conservation agenda
Focus – for research, for conservation
Recruiting and retaining ACTIVE volunteers
Training
Geographic spread
Profile and communication with partner agencies, particularly with statutory agencies
Clear from working with CGTs in the first year of the project
CGTs – a key and fundamental aim is to conserve our designed landscapes? Through education, research and vigilance
Onus falls on the few for the many…
Geographic spread – issue can be travel time and expenses
tryiing to draw out possible responses to these issues – building structures and relationships that will go beyond the life of this project

8. Historic Landscape Project
Building Regional links
Applying research to conservation initiatives:
ensuring HERs contain landscapes
linking research to local listing
Raising awareness of conservation issues
At Risk Register
local listing
relationships with LPAs
Building links with Natural England
Mapping parks and gardens
Planning applications
Raising CGT profile
Funding - HLF
Training
Recruiting - focus for active volunteers
Marketing
summarise the issues we’ve been talking about over the last 2 years
Profile: HERs, met with South Downs National Park cultural strategy; AONBs/NPs

9. What have we been doing? Held two Regional Forums – focussing on:
Developing projects
Local listing
Recruiting volunteers
Training in GH basics
Working with GHS
EH At Risk
HLPO attended meetings with each CGT – discussed:
Focussing projects
Recruitment of volunteers as a result
Funding bids
Structuring committees
Organisational Strategy
project has been a slow burn
Partly due to stakeholders
Partly due to getting to know the CGTs and building up understanding of strengths and weaknesses
Overall – this is anecdotal - project has added some momentum, confidence, motivation
Identified the reasons we’re doing this work and used this to focus the trusts’ initiatives
Training has given structure and motivation to individuals who in some trusts have then been supported to use it
Future topic that has come up as being crucial is marketing and PR – looking at that for our next Regional Forum

10. more…What have we been doing?
HLPO facilitated:
Meetings with HER officers
Links with At Risk / HLS projects
Links with NE teams / AONBs / NPs
Promotion of CGTs externally – national HER Forum etc
Set up of WebForum
Training courses

11. Local Listing Research focused on locally significant landscapes
Provision of information for HER in
Concise
Consistent
Comparable
Professional format
We are aiming to increase the number of landscapes on HERs and the quality of information. This could be rather daunting, given the weight of numbers.
Encouraging focused projects
Delivering training across the region to support this initiative:
Getting info onto the HERs in a suitable format – not presenting local authorities with the entire MA dissertation or thesis
Been drawing on a project that was originally piloted in Kent with Kent County Council and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council: Kent Compendium Review

12. Kent Compendium Review Project
This is a project that came previously but is still a useful exemplar for us. Supported by High Weald Joint Advisory Committee + Kent CC + EH
Kent have had a programme of recruitment, training , research, write-up and professional editing. After Tunbridge Wells, invited by Sevenoaks to carry out the same.
Group now has a momentum of its own. Producing high quality reports using the English Heritage Register description format – so they are recording what is on the site NOW and relating that to its history. This is both cost effective and develops the local authority partnership.
Other Gardens Trusts are working on various projects involving HERs

13. Researching historic designed landscapes for local listing
Responding to planning applications affecting historic designed landscapes
Researching historic designed landscapes for local listing
Understanding Conservation Management Plans
Understanding more about Historic Parkland
Training courses delivered – once each one is refined it gets published as a ‘stand alone’ package on the WebForum – see next slide.

14. Information Sharing Picking up further on sustainability:
To encourage communication between the CGTs to share questions, good practice etc, we’ve set up a WebForum discussion board – relatively new, and low maintenance.
Training materials are put here, designed to be ‘stand alone’ so that they can be downloaded and used locally
Needs more members to get it to a critical mass and get issues on the agenda – can prevent re-invention of wheel and support regional / national approach.
Also held Regional Forum meetings – one per year – picking up key issues
Next one in November – likely to look further at marketing, PR and social media

15. Higher Level Stewardship Scheme (HLS)
Natural England and Historic Environment
Higher Level Stewardship Scheme (HLS)
Funding for effective land management to:
Conserve wildlife (biodiversity)
Enhance landscape quality and character
Protect the historic environment
Protect natural resources
Contribute to the response to climate change
Quick romp through HLS
Key link with Historic environment agenda BUT they do also get involved in how planning applications affect the landscape
Key tool: HLS Improving views, planting for succession, removing detractors, etc etc
There are of course criteria to go forward for HLS – the more NE objectives that a site meets, the more likely it is to get HLS
It is those sites that I have tried to identify in the lists sent out to you recently and that we need to refine
The funding pot has got tighter; budgets have largely been allocated – known as ‘pipeline’ schemes.
Pipeline schemes take preparation and analysis to work out what management should apply to a site – can include restoration of parkland, ponds, scrub clearance
© Copyright Paul Gillett and licenced for reuse under Creative Commons Licence

16. Mapping Historic Designed Landscapes
Finally – to turn to our work with NE and prioritising vulnerable parkland landscapes:
Over last 18 months - With help of CGTs, and some local authorities, have been listing and locating every potentially historic designed landscape in the southeast region
We’ve gathered nearly 3000 and are refining these lists.
We have been able to interrogate the data by using it as a GIS layer, and by applying weighted criteria for HLS, prioritised those sites which are likely to be eligible for HLS, and which would address multiple objectives,
really highlighting priority sites
We’re in the process of refining this: working with NE to produce lists for each county of say the top 35 priority landscapes which we can then look at subjectively and whittle down – these will be the sites that NE officers will work on proactively to get into HLS, and CGTs will, where resources allow, work on researching these landscapes to provide information to inform the agreement.

17. the colours indicate priority when we’ve applied the priority criteria we’ve devised for parkland in line with other NE priorities and targets
SSSI – within 400m radius 100
Historic Park or Garden on EH At Risk Register
– High Risk only
Top 35 NE sites
Scheduled Monument Med/High Risk 100
Registered Park or Garden
Registered Battlefield 50
Priority BAP Habitat
Historic Parkland (WebMap) 20
HLS Target Area
Country Park

18. Benefits
Exchange of information on parkland sites and other historic designed landscapes –
Research and mapping information
Getting more landscapes on to the HER
Understanding landscapes surrounding LBs and SMs
Transfer of grey literature – useable format
Involvement in management planning
Identifying vulnerable landscapes – planning consultations, targeting ‘At Risk’ sites, link with local listing, prioritising for HLS
Potential for funding projects
Sharing good practice and contacts – increased profile and respect for CGTs
Support from HERs, EH and NE adds weight, experience and focus to projects – increases interest and recruitment of active members
To summarise the emerging mutual benefits of the project so far
Creating a better foundation for future planning decisions, research and outreach. Local engagement of volunteers in their heritage.
It is these projects that CGTs can use to recruit more volunteers and therefore ultimately have a larger base of skilled volunteers to support these vulnerable landscapes.
Relationships being built to be sustainable – to go beyond life of the project.