Every village and parish in England has its own distinctive and characterful historic streets, buildings and landscapes and a wealth of fascinating archaeological remains. This history makes each place cherished and unique but how can local people make sure their heritage is taken into account in the planning system? Knowing YourPlace: Heritage and Community-Led Planning in the Countryside is new advice which does just this, published today by English Heritage in partnership with Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE). It is available at www.helm.org.uk/communityplanning.
Community Led Plans enable local people to shape the social, economic, environmental and cultural future of their local area. In the past these initiatives have included Parish Plans, Town Plans and Village Design Statements. Through the Localism Act, Government now intends to give the planning aspects of Community Led plans statutory force, as Neighbourhood Plans. Knowing Your Place is designed to help rural communities in producing, reviewing or updating their plans. It provides straightforward “plain English” advice to help them access information on their local history and to identify what matters about it and why. It will help communities to ensure their heritage contributes to their aspirations for the future.
Stephen Trow, Head of National Rural and Environmental Advice for English Heritage, said: “Heritage is a key asset for local people, with a central role to play in ensuring communities remain vibrant, distinctive and prosperous.Local people often know this but are overwhelmed by the huge amount of technical advice out there. Knowing Your Place is intended to help them harness the full potential of their heritage and secure the character of their village for present and future generations. “Communities - and rural communities in particular - already have a wealth of experience in producing Community Led plans. The new emphasis on localism provides an exciting opportunity for their expertise in conserving, enhancing and re-using their local heritage to be recognised and translated into the new generation of Neighbourhood Plans now being proposed.”
Stephen Trow added: “We are delighted by the support offered to Knowing Your Place by key community and rural stakeholders including ACRE, with its wealth of experience advising local groups on Community Led Planning. We think our guidance will be genuinely useful but we are keeping it under review and would welcome feedback.”
Phillip Vincent of ACRE said: “This is an exciting new resource for communities interested in, or currently developing Community Led Plans. The experience of members in the Rural Community Action Network (RCAN) shows that many communities are eager and able to address a broad range of issues that improve their neighbourhoods. Understanding local heritage is an important part of any Community Led Plan, is it can identify particular characteristics or features of community life that should be enhanced and sustained in the future.”
Knowing Your Place is supported by the Campaign for Protection of Rural England (CPRE); National Associetion of Local Councils (NALC); Association of Small Historic Towns and Villages (ASHTAV); Civic Voice; the Council for British Archaeology (CBA); the Country Landowners Association (CLA); and the European Council for Villages and Small Towns (ECOVAST).
For more information on Knowing Your Place and to download a pdf, visit: www.helm.org.uk/communityplanning.
To see how Heritage might feature in a Community Led Plan, take a look at our new Topic Sheet which is featured in the national toolkit
