Oral - Historic Environment Strategic Statement

When I became Minister for Heritage I gave a commitment to publish a strategic direction statement for the historic environment of Wales. I am publishing today not one statement but a package of three. 

It is a statement that celebrates the richness and diversity of our historic environment and the benefits it brings across all portfolios.  At the same time, it recognises the constraints we face, along with the opportunities we have to make our fascinating heritage vibrant and relevant to current day living. It is a statement about our heritage and one for the twenty-first century.

 I published my ambition for the historic environment on 6 August at the National Eisteddfod. This forms part of today’s package, along with a document outlining the importance of the historic environment in many different contexts and the challenges we face. Most importantly perhaps, it provides a plan of actions against which we will deliver over the next two years.    

 Today’s statement package is the outcome of extensive consultation over the past year, including at my Treftadaeth conferences, which attracted a wide audience, comprising not only key representatives of the heritage sector but local communities. At the north Wales conference our contributors included a number of young students and school pupils, which brought a completely new and fresh perspective to the debate.  I have also relied heavily on the work of members of my advisory historic environment group who, over many months, examined in detail the issues facing us to help inform this statement.

 I have already, and on many occasions in this Chamber, referred to the rich and distinctive heritage of Wales.  It is all around us. You will see historic buildings on your way to work; you may live in an area with remnants of our industrial past; and your children may go on school visits to castles or take part in dramas recounting aspects of our history.  Almost every day you will see reference to our heritage in the Western Mail or Daily Post. We could get to the stage of taking our heritage for granted.

 There are the local features that mean a lot and are an intrinsic part of the life of local communities. We are all part of a story, and the buildings and the archaeology around us help to give a sense of place and to shape us.  People in Wales have experienced a tradition of working in the coal, slate and other industries so important in the development of the country—and that is their heritage.  Whole families have 'gone down the mine’, as I said, or worked in local quarries, and the chapel and school buildings seen in every community remind us of their focal role in the social history of Wales. The Welsh language and Welsh culture are irrefutably bound to the historic environment of Wales.  Everyone has his or her story to tell and we need to take advantage of all means of telling those stories.

 However, heritage has other benefits too. As my statement shows, heritage can make an enormous difference to Wales today.  Economic benefits through tourism are the obvious example: 90 per cent of international visitors staying in Wales visit cultural sites. There are 1.2 million annual visits to the 30 staffed Cadw sites, and many more to those sites that are not staffed. National Trust properties and landscapes attract some 5 million visits each year and Welsh museums and heritage centres attract some 3 million.  This level of activity should not be underestimated in our economy.

 Conserving or restoring our historic environment contributes tremendously to the regeneration of rundown areas. There is a strong economic case for regenerating historic buildings, not only for the individual building but for the wider area and community. Heritage and conservation can be an opportunity rather than a constraint.

 We must not forget either advantages to the environment that can be obtained through re-using distinctive historic buildings since they contain more embodied energy and local character than an all-too-often featureless new build.

The historic environment helps make Wales distinctive, helps give us our identity, and is a rich resource for education and lifelong learning. Our heritage has an impact and presents benefits across all Assembly Government portfolios, and I want to make the most of those synergies. I have made it clear in my statement that I want to work with other Ministers to foster teamwork with their departments in support of my strategy.

I should flag up at this point that, although the statement refers to the historic environment, these synergies are characteristics of the heritage portfolio as a whole. For example, the wider educational and social benefits of the arts and sports are at the heart of why Governments choose to invest in them. I want the impact of the heritage portfolio to be even more powerful than it is already. In the new year, I will be making a statement about my proposals to promote the wider cultural agenda.

However, that is enough of the rhetoric. This strategic statement is about the historic environment. I want it to be practical and meaningful, so the key part of the package is a suite of actions. They are challenging but realistic actions that I want to deliver on over the next two years. Many of the actions are for my officials in Cadw to take forward, but that is not exclusively the case. Cadw cannot work independently of other parts of the Assembly Government or of our partners in the wider heritage sector. The action plan is wide-ranging and seeks to address issues across the spectrum. It will be relevant to the work of local authorities, the third sector, Government agencies and departments as well as individual asset owners and other individuals and groups. 

I will now detail some of the key actions that I have identified. Cadw will carry out a new survey to identify twentieth-century assets of historic importance and consult on a battlefields register. It will also take measures to develop a modern, clear, accountable system of heritage protection with up-to-date guidance. To ensure an ongoing dialogue with all sector interests, I will convene a further Treftadaeth conference in July 2010. I have already had meetings with the Deputy Minister for Regeneration and discussed ways in which our respective departments might collaborate on the sustainable regeneration of heritage sites and townscapes. Cadw’s ongoing programme of urban characterisation studies to capture the essence of local distinctiveness will help inform regeneration schemes. I am also in discussions with the Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills and others on the promotion of the study of Welsh history, at community level and in higher education, and about the contribution that our historic environment can make to the school curriculum. I also want to explore ways in which we can collaborate in the promotion of conservation and traditional building craft skills.

I will ensure continued close working between my officials in Cadw and Visit Wales and others on the cultural tourism partnership to ensure, as part of the project action plan, that heritage sites contribute effectively to the local, regional and national tourism offer of Wales. I will also convene a specific heritage and tourism summit. Cadw will work with local communities on running events at Cadw sites and will encourage local projects that celebrate the Welsh language, place names, local heritage and folklore. We will discuss with the third sector how to develop rewarding opportunities for volunteering and skills development, and we will help to support the creation of a heritage network.

 We shall produce guidance on microgeneration technologies and take measures to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions at the sites in Cadw’s care. My historic environment group will work to prioritise actions to mitigate the consequences of climate change on the historic environment. Through the historic environment group, I will discuss collaborative action to tackle physical, attitudinal, financial and logistical access barriers to heritage. Finally, I will convene a heritage summit in 2010 to discuss heritage interpretation and the links between heritage and the arts with my officials, sponsored bodies and other major heritage interests.

 This is a snapshot only and a more detailed action plan is available on Cadw’s website, which will be regularly updated with progress reports. This is undeniably an ambitious agenda, but necessarily so, since the historic environment touches so many aspects of our national vitality and wellbeing. I commend it to you.