Cultural Heritage

(asked on 23rd January 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of local councils in preserving heritage; and what plans they have to meet with the Local Government Association and the National Trust to discuss a strategy for the future of local heritage assets.


Answered by
Baroness Barran Portrait
Baroness Barran
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This question was answered on 13th February 2020

Local government bears great responsibility for the care and conservation of the historic environment. Local planning authorities make many of the decisions regarding change to heritage assets, informed by information they curate on historic environment records (HERs). They have powers to address heritage at risk and are often owners of some of the most important heritage assets in their area.

Together with Historic England, our statutory advisors on the historic environment, we keep in close contact with relevant partners on these issues. In particular, the Heritage Council, which includes the National Trust, is chaired by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism and regularly attended by Ministers from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. This provides the opportunity to ensure that issues such as local stewardship of the historic environment are properly considered. Should this be a theme for a future meeting of the Council the Local Government Association and other relevant stakeholders will be invited to attend.

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