Department For Culture Media Sport
Thank you for having me along to Heritage Day again its a great pleasure to be back with you.
Lizzie, Ingrid, and the whole team at the Heritage Alliance do us all a great service by bringing people together to share ideas and insights, champion our heritage heroes, and speak with a collective voice about what the sector needs to keep flourishing reflecting the power of collaboration, as you have put it so well for your theme for this year.
Its a power you are harnessing for the sake of the millions of people who benefit from our heritage today, and for the sake of future generations.
Heritage Day is a great opportunity to look back on the progress weve been able to make together over the past year, and to talk about some of the things we want to see next perhaps all the more important in an election year.
The past twelve months have provided some sad but powerful reminders of how much heritage means to us all through the senseless loss (I would use a stronger term, but Im mindful that criminal investigations are ongoing ) of the Crooked House pub
in August, and the beloved tree in the Sycamore Gap of Hadrians Wall the following month.
Both of these cases sparked immediate and visceral reactions, not just from people who lived nearby,but from around the world I think im right in saying the videos the National Trust put out about it were their most viewed ever. a potent sign of the importance of our built and natural heritage.
Heart-wrenching though both these cases were, they offered an important reminder of how much that shared heritage means to us all and why its worth fighting for.
When I stood before you last year at the Charterhouse, I set out some of the things I was keen to work on with you so its gratifying to look back and see how much weve been able to do together.
When we met last, the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill had just arrived in the Lords its now an Act of Parliament, putting protection for more of our heritage assets, including Scheduled Monuments and World Heritage Sites, on a statutory footing and benefiting from some valuable improvements thanks to lobbying and engagement by people in this room.
A quarter of a century since it arrived on the statute book, weve also updated the Treasure Act widening the definition so that more of the extraordinary artefacts being discovered can be saved and shared with the public.
And we announced the ratification of the 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage after twenty years of campaigning by many here today.
Weve also published guidance for custodians of contested heritage assets a tricky issue, but one which benefited from the careful deliberations of our Heritage Advisory Board, and which Im pleased to say was received with similar thoughtfulness.
Ive had the great honour of opening the National Trusts Heritage and Rural Skills Centre in Oxfordshire, and English Heritages reawakened Belsay Hall in Northumberland.
I also had the pleasure of joining a meeting of the National Amenity Societies, and helping to launch the Heritage and Carbon report alongside Historic England, the National Trust, Grosvenor, Peabody, and the Crown Estate a powerful example of collaboration there!
Weve done all that while designating over 170 listed buildings and Scheduled Monuments, helping the National Portrait Gallery to save Sir Joshua Reynoldss Portrait of Mai for the nation, thanks to the largest ever donation from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and support from across the sector, reuniting the three Thornborough Henges in the National Heritage Collection and publishing the Tentative List for new World Heritage Sites.
This time last year, I announced my intention to expand the official Blue Plaques scheme across the country. Today, Im proud to stand here and say weve done it.
In September, we changed the lawto enable the scheme which has been so brilliantly run i by English Heritage for many years to be expanded across the country.
Thanks to some great work by Historic England (and responding to the demands of an impatient Minister!),we had the great pleasure two weeks ago of unveiling the first national Blue Plaque in Ilkley, to Daphne Steele, the first black matron in our National Health Service. Joining her son Robert in West Yorkshire to celebrate her life and legacy was one of the true highlights of my time in Government.
Weve already announced the next two plaques honouring Clarice Cliff, one of the most influential ceramists of the 20th century, and George Harrison, the music icon and humanitarian. Im looking forward to those being unveiled and to seeing which other figures from all over the country will join them in the future once public nominations open in the summer.
The new, national scheme will help us to tell the stories of a wider range of people showing how people from towns, villages, and cities across this country went on to change the world, and I hope inspiring new generations to know that they can do the same.
So thank you to everyone who worked together to make that happen so quickly.
Last month, I was also delighted to join Historic England to mark the protection through Grade II designation of a number of historic gas lamps in Covent Garden.
Londons gas lamps have been an integral part of the citys identity for more than two centuries. From the novels of Charles Dickens and John Buchan to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Mary Poppins and The Muppet Christmas Carol, theyve provided an evocative backdrop to many of our capitals most cherished events and imaginings.
When they were threatened, the London Gasketeers sprang into being to protect them. Thanks to their dedication, and the expert advice of Historic England, Westminster City Council has committed to preserve any gas lamps which are given listed statusa number which Im delighted to say has already risen by a dozen, with many more under consideration.
This will ensure that their inimitable glow can continue to brighten the lives of Londoners and the millions of visitors the city welcomes for generations to come.
As we look to the future of the listing process, we should be asking ourselves whether we are missing important parts of our heritage, such as late Victorian and Edwardian buildings; whether there are ways to ensure that listings cover every part of the country, and can better recognise craftsmanship and quality in the buildings we consider. I am interested in the role that the Principles of Selection for Listed Buildings last updated six years ago has to play in this.
Harnessing the power of collaboration, I will work closely with Historic England and others such as the amenity societies and the Historic Environment Forum to look at this alongside other possible interventions.
Last week, I had the pleasure of chairing the latest meeting of the Heritage Council a brilliant way of facilitating collaboration across Government, as well as between us and the sector. We talked about the preparations for next years Railway 200 celebrations the bicentenary of the first passenger rail journey as well discussing some of the challenges and opportunities facing heritage rail, following up on many of the points which were raised when I attended the Heritage Railway Associations annual conference in Newcastle, that cradle of the railways, in November.
We also talked about a topic raised at last years Heritage Day underwater and marine heritage.
I was pleased to be joined by Ministerial colleagues from the Ministry of Defence, the Department for Transport, DEFRA, and the Foreign Office as well as colleagues from the sector to explore these two areas of mobile heritage.
I am following our discussions up by looking at the Memorandum of Understanding weve had for the past ten years between my Department and the MoD and, in the longer term, continuing to pursue the ratification of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on Underwater Archaeology, which I see is included in your refreshed Heritage Manifesto.
But one UNESCO Convention Im delighted to say we are ratifying very soon I go to Paris next month to deposit the signed papers is the 2003 Convention on Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The French have a better name for this:they call it le patrimoine vivant living heritage. I think that captures well the traditions and practices we pass on from generation to generation; things which have shaped us, and which we shape in turn.
Of course, our tangible and intangible heritage are not separate they are linked through the spaces, stories, products, and indeed the vital crafts and skills that maintain our built heritage.
We will launch a call for applications for an inventory of intangible cultural heritage in the UK this summer, which I want to ensure represents the full range of our living heritage.
Thank you to the many people here who have been engaging with the team at DCMS as we consult on implementing the Convention. We have had a fantastic response, so please stay involved and help us to keep shaping it.
Yesterday, of course, was Budget Day, which saw some great news for our sector.
Through the third round of the Levelling Up Fund we are investing in our great cultural heritage across the country, including 15million for the National Railway Museum in York and County Durham, and 10million to the International Slavery Museum in Liverpools GradeI-listed Royal Albert Dock.
We also pledged 10million to safeguard the extraordinary Temple Works building in Leeds a Grade I-listed f