Our Future Heritage Consultation

• National Lottery
• Heritage Lottery Fund
• HLF

Our Heritage. Our Future. Your Say. is designed to inform planning for HLF’s next Strategic Plan and will shape the organisation’s work from 2008 to 2013. It coincides but is independent of the Government’s own consultation, planned to launch this month, on the future shares and direction of heritage, arts and sports lottery funding. Both consultations are designed to encourage people to respond and inform future priorities and grant-making.

Liz Forgan, Chair of HLF, commented:

“Heritage underpins our national identity, an issue of critical importance all over Europe at this time. In the future, the Heritage Lottery Fund will face some extremely hard choices about matching our resources to the growing demand for support for heritage projects. So now is the critical time to ask some questions.

“This consultation calls on people to make their voices heard and help us safeguard the heritage share of lottery money for the future. We are keen to hear views on what has been achieved and what we could do differently.”

HLF’s consultation suggests continuing its core conservation, education and involvement aims, while developing the new work on diverse communities, young people, the development of heritage skills, volunteering and public involvement.

Provided the same share of lottery money is available for heritage after 2009 (just over 4p from every £1 lottery ticket), HLF will remain a major source of financial support for the heritage sector. However, the document asks how best HLF funding can be used given increased competition and anticipated lower levels of annual funding commitments in the future.

The document includes findings from citizens’ panels and other research which clearly demonstrate strong public support for continued heritage funding and its benefits for communities. One participant from an HLF Citizens’ Jury which took place in June, observed: “[Heritage matters for]…education and learning, taking pride in our past and establishing, or reinforcing a sense of community and national identity.”

Liz Forgan continues:

“The impact of our investment so far has been spectacular. Heritage is a huge asset in our national balance sheet and, without it, the UK would lose much of its distinctive identity and character. There is still so much to be done and our challenge now is to define how best to use our funding to have the greatest impact.”

More Public Involvement
The consultation suggests options for greater public involvement. These could include using people’s panels to work alongside professionals to help review projects and measure their success, setting up an on-line heritage forum and including the public in decision-taking through recruitment to committees.

HLF’s Aims
Whilst the consultation sets out some new approaches, it includes a recommendation to stay with HLF’s current guiding principles, which are to:

• Conserve the UK’s diverse heritage for future generations
• Enable more people to be involved in and make decisions about their heritage
• Enable people to learn about their own and others’ heritage

Future Opportunities
It is suggested that ‘Conservation and Regeneration’ and ‘Learning and Skills’ should remain at the heart of HLF’s work, and sets out how. However, three new emphases are highlighted that could take greater priority in HLF’s future plans. These are:

• Diverse Communities - ensuring the full story of our past is told and celebrated
• Young People - providing more opportunities for this group to learn about who they are and where they come from
• Volunteering - attracting new volunteers, especially the young and people from under-represented groups, and ensuring they have appropriate training

In addition, HLF suggests placing greater importance in forging partnerships with others including local authorities, central Government, statutory agencies, the voluntary sector, corporate and charitable funders, private individuals and groups. A proposal to simplify and shorten the application process and to include more electronic communication is also put forward in the document.

Benefits Recognised
The importance of heritage funding and its ability to deliver a multitude of social, economic and environmental benefits have been widely recognised in the document by the regeneration, tourism and education sectors.

David Bell, HM Inspector of Schools, said, “The Heritage Lottery Fund has made a vital contribution to preserving our past and making it accessible to children and learners of all ages.”

Alan Barber, Commissioner of Cabe Space, commented: “It is to the great credit of the Heritage Lottery Fund…that there are now so many excellent examples of how public parks can contribute to the transformation of our towns and cities.”

Tom Wright, CEO of Visit Britain, added: “Britain’s unique heritage – from our castles and museums to our countryside and historic towns – is at the heart of the UK’s tourism industry. The Heritage Lottery Fund’s investment to date has been a major ingredient in ensuring the continued good health of the industry.”

To have your say on the future of funding for heritage, please visit the HLF website at http:/www.hlf.org.uk/future - before the end of February 2006.

Copies of the ‘Our Heritage, Our Future, Your Say’ document are available both on-line or by post by calling the HLF press office.

Timings

• The Government’s consultation is planned to launch in November. The results are due in Summer 2006.
• HLF’s consultation runs from 22 November to 28 February 2006. HLF will consult on specific proposals for its third strategic plan in Autumn 2006 following the Government’s decision on lottery share.