The Trust works in partnership with other leading heritage organisations under the umbrella title ’The Heritage Alliance’ to promote the preservation of our heritage and to ensure that the movement’s voice is heard more loudly and coherently.
In a Heritage Alliance report, ’How We Do It: the scale and scope of voluntary organisations in the heritage sector’ we demonstrate that voluntary groups contribute to the historic environment directly by looking after heritage assets and increasing their sustainability; by contributing to urban and rural regeneration; and by exploiting their potential for tourism and education
Less often recognised, but also clearly revealed, is the sector working together to create public value by harnessing community energy and responsibility; by contributing to community identity and a sense of place; and by using the talents of volunteers from all walks of life to improve the quality of life across the country.
Our report makes some important recommendations for the future of heritage preservation:
- A clearly defined and stronger advisory role for the voluntary heritage sector in formulating central and local Government policy with regard to heritage, regeneration and community cohesion;
- A higher priority for heritage in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the introduction of “heritage proofing” of policy development across Government; increased support for the voluntary heritage sector from English Heritage’s National Capacity Building Grant programme;
- Simpler access to Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and other lottery/Government funding, with an emphasis on long-lasting community development rather than short-term targets;
- Strengthening the HLF’s and other funders’ commitment to full cost recovery;
- Longer-term project funding from lottery and Government sources, and greater investment in posts that are not project dependent;
- Greater investment in the sector’s volunteer recruitment, training and retention;
- The right to reclaim VAT on repair and maintenance work to listed buildings owned by charitable bodies as one method of increasing their resources and assist them in bringing about public benefit;
- Government investment in voluntary sector infrastructure, including communications, information sharing and publicity mechanisms.
Would you like to read the full report? Download the pdf file from here.