Heritage at risk is term for cultural heritage assets that are at risk as a result of neglect, decay, or inappropriate development; or are vulnerable to becoming so. It is most often applied to architectural works already protected to some extent through a legal designation process, such as listed buildings and scheduled monuments. In England, an annual Heritage at Risk Register is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for action and funding decisions. This heritage-at-risk data is one of the UK government's official statistics. The phrase heritage at risk is used more broadly by a range of organisations to describe historic assets that are not formally protected by a designation process – in multiple categories of cultural heritage such as art and canals – but which are in danger of decay or loss.
The national register is produced as an online database, and as a print publication with volumes for each of the nine regions of England. The site's condition and trends are published for each entry. The register is accompanied by a summary that provides key statistics and includes:
The number of each type of heritage asset that is assessed as at risk.
The percentage of each designated asset type at risk.
The number of additions and assets removed from the register each year.
Each entry is given a priority for action, ranging from A: "immediate risk of further rapid deterioration/loss of fabric and no solution agreed", to F: "repair scheme in progress end user found". It is possible to search the register online – by location, asset type and condition. Many English planning authorities publish their own registers of heritage at risk or buildings at risk, and several are published on local council websites, e.g. Bolsover District Council and Essex County Council.
Origins of the survey
The Heritage at Risk Register initially focussed on buildings. Historic England developed a methodology for assessing building at risk in the mid-1980s and worked with a number of local planning authorities to carry out surveys of listed buildings to identify which were at risk. Ipswich Borough Council has continued to maintain its buildings at risk register since 1987. Save Britain's Heritage has compiled a register of buildings at risk since 1989. Historic England, previously named English Heritage, published its first Register of Buildings at Risk in London in 1991. It only included listed buildings in London. This was followed by publication of the national "Buildings at Risk" sample survey in 1992. The Buildings at Risk Register was extended nationally to all Grade I and Grade II* listed buildings and structural scheduled monuments in England in 1998. The 2007 register included 1,235 buildings and structures; of these the 16 in most serious danger had an estimated repair bill of £127.9 million. This was produced annually by Historic England until 2008, when the scope was extended to include all heritage assets that receive some measure of legal protection through the designation system. Between 2008 and 2010 scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields, protected wreck sites and conservation areas were added to the register. Since 2009, each annual report has focussed on a particular category of asset:
The Heritage at Risk Register data produced by Historic England is an official statistic. As such, the methodology for collecting, analysing, and publishing the data follows the regulations set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Details of the methodology are published at the Historic England website.
Key statistics
Listed in the 2014 Heritage at Risk Register in England are the following:
The Australian government, Southeastern Europe, the US National Institute for Conservation, and the US Galveston Historical Foundation, among other organizations, also produce lists of heritage at risk.
Protecting at-risk sites
Different assets have different problems and many are owned privately. Historic Environment Local Management in the UK has identified some common themes:
Historic assets benefit from sound management and planning policies
Public and private owners should be encouraged and given practical guidance, including information about grants for which they may be eligible
Some at-risk sites need significant public resources to allow major repairs, stabilise their condition, or change the way in which the land is being used
Some assets cannot be reused and the cost of repair cannot always be justified. The long-term solution for these is one of managed decline once the historic significance of the asset has been carefully recorded.
English Heritage is concerned that the progress made over the past decade could soon stall or be reversed due to the current economic climate. This is echoed by well-known historians in England and Europe. Dr Mark Adams from the National Museums Liverpool Field Archaeology Unit and Mick Aston, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Bristol, wrote a joint letter to The Times calling on the government to save our heritage. They claim that despite contributing an estimated £20.6 billion annually to the economy, the heritage sector is facing disproportionate cuts both locally and nationally.
