Minutes of the First Heritage Link AGM

Minutes of the first Heritage Link AGM

Held at Wilton’s Music Hall, 1 Grace’s Alley, Wellclose Square, London E1 8JB

On Thursday 12 December 2002, at 11am

Present

See attached list of attendees. Representatives of around 103 organisations attended the AGM.

Apologies were received from:

Jack Lohman Museum of London Sophia Lambert Defra Mark Pemberton EH Taryn Nixon MoLAS Peter Mimpriss Allen & Overy Richard Allan MP Nick Harvey MP Primrose Wilson UAHS The Earl of Leicester HHA Edward Impey Director of Research and Standards, EH Oliver Pearcey EH Harrison Manx National Heritage Robin Buchanan-Dunlop The Goldsmiths' Company Sam Mullins Director, London's Transport Museum Scottish Redundant Churches Trust Jane Howells British Association for Local History Jo Turvey Corporate Affairs Assistant, YHA (England & Wales) Ltd Michael Hamilton Laing's Charitable Trust Anne Blanchard Administrator of The Grocers' Charity Francis Carnwath Tom Flood BTCV Chief Executive Peter Nixon National Trust Frances MacLeod DCMS Clare Pillman DCMS Baroness Buscombe Conservative Party Sir Patrick Cormack MP Lord Redesdale Liberal Democratic Party Dai Morgan-Evans Society of Antiquaries and others.

1. Official opening Fiona Reynolds, Director General of the National Trust, opened the meeting by reminding members of the genesis of Heritage Link, saying that it was an organisation that had grown from a realisation within the historic environment sector of the need to unite and work together on issues of common concern. Fiona said that she had presided over the inaugural meeting of Heritage Link a year previously at which the decision to go ahead and form the organisation had been taken. She added that the National Trust had nurtured the organisation during the embryonic stages of its development and that the Chairman, Marcus Binney, and the Director, Christopher Catling, had then taken over the helm, working together to establish a legal and constitutional basis for the organisation’s work. Now, the organisation was ready to stand on its own, and for the National Trust to play a lower profile role, whilst still maintaining a very strong interest in the organisation, which she hoped would go from strength to strength and become a force for real and lasting change in the political and public understanding of the historic environment.

The Chairman, Marcus Binney thanked Fiona Reynolds for her message of goodwill and wished her well at the seminar to which she was now going at No 10 Downing Street to debate the Government’s new Food and Farming strategy.

2. Trustees

The Chairman began the formal part of the meeting by asking members to vote on the membership of the Board of Trustees.

The following candidates (listed in alphabetical order) had been nominated prior to the meeting:

Tony Burton Director of Policy and Strategy, The National Trust Proposed by George Lambrick and seconded by Philip Venning

Jennifer Freeman Director of the Historic Chapels Trust Proposed by Marcus Binney and seconded by Christopher Catling

Honor Gay Head of People and Wildlife, The Wildlife Trusts Proposed by Nic Durston and seconded by Pippa Langford

George Lambrick Director of the Council for British Archaeology Proposed by Francis Pryor and seconded by Dai Morgan-Evans

John Sell Convenor of the Joint Committee of the National Amenity Societies Proposed by Marcus Binney and seconded by Christopher Catling

Philip Venning Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings Proposed by Marcus Binney and seconded by Christopher Catling Richard Wilkin Director of the Historic Houses Association Proposed by Donald Insell and seconded by John Sell

As the Constitution allowed for up to twelve trustees and only seven had been nominated, it was proposed that the seven trustees be elected en bloc. The Chairman called for a show of hands, and the seven trustees were elected unanimously, with no votes against and no abstentions.

3. Governance

The Chairman then asked members to debate the question of whether Heritage Link should be run by a broad democracy embracing all the members, or by a smaller steering group or management committee.

Philip Venning opened the debate by saying that William Morris had always been keen that ordinary people should be involved in the conservation movement, and be given the chance to express their views, for by such means he believed the true strength of people’s love of the heritage would be evident. The movement’s great strength is its diversity: government sees that as a weakness, but we can draw strength from that diversity, provided that it is channeled effectively. Heritage Link must be seen as a body that speaks for all of us, so we should adopt the democratic route, try and make it work, and only think again if it fails.

Judy Ling Wong agreed and said that it was vital that Heritage Link reflected the views of different parts of the membership, so that it was not dominated by groups with the capacity to devote staff time and resources to standing for committees.

Gillian Mawrey asked how dissent would be handled – was there provision in the constitution for taking decisions in the face of disagreement. Pippa Longford explained how Wildlife and Countryside Link operated under the principal of positive sign on. This required members to declare their support for major policy statements so that the ‘sign on’ (the list of organizations backing the statement) could be taken as a true indication of the support for that policy. George Lambrick said that the CBA, as a member of Wildlife and Countryside Link, found that a very effective way of working and proposed that Heritage Link adopt the same approach.

The Chairman pointed out that Heritage Link was already operating under that basis, and would in any case not pursue any line of policy that involved dissent, since the purpose of Heritage Link was to find the common ground that united all members. Nevertheless, it was encouraging that members felt this was the right way for Heritage Link to operate.

The issue was then put to the vote, and there was unanimous support for the idea that Heritage Link should operate as a broad-based confederation, with every organisation having an equal voice, though members would be given the opportunity to opt out of formal policy decisions, and to be seen to have opted out.

4. Membership fees The Chairman invited members to discuss the issue of membership fees. Martin Bacon opened the debate by saying that organisations should demonstrate their support for Heritage Link by putting something on the table – even if only a small amount. English Heritage had agreed to provide substantial sums from the Heritage Grant Fund over the next three years to help Heritage Link establish itself, provided that Heritage Link could generate matching funds. If Heritage Link was something that we all believed in, the surely the membership ought to make a small contribution.

George Lambrick said that many of Heritage Link’s members already paid a subscription to the CBA. He thought they would be concerned at having to pay a subscription to another organisation with a similar function – paying twice over, as it were.

John Sell said it was important to get the sum right from the start: perhaps starting with a subscription of £100, rather than the £50 proposed, so that the fee did not have to be doubled or tripled in a year’s time. Debbie Dance said that many voluntary organisations would find it difficult to pay £100 and that would exclude them from participating in the work of Heritage Link. Was it possible to make donations in kind, and would English Heritage allow voluntary help to be counted as a form of match funding?

Sally Embree explained that the current Heritage Grant Fund rules do not allow this, but that the rules were under review and it was something that English Heritage might well consider. Robert Morley proposed that the fee should be set at £100 and that the Director should be empowered to negotiate a higher or lower amount with individual member organisations.

A vote was taken on this issue and the proposal was carried by a substantial majority, with around eighty votes in favour and around twenty votes against.

Various people then asked whether individuals could be become affiliate members of Heritage Link for a lower fee. Thomas Coke suggested a fee of £50, and Vanessa Marshall suggested £20. George Lambrick suggested that this was a distraction from Heritage Link’s core purpose, and would add unnecessarily to the burden of running Heritage Link. John Sell agreed and said that heritage Link was a body made up of national non-governmental organisations, and to dilute this concept was to dissipate the energy of Heritage Link.

A vote was taken at this point and it was decided unanimously that individuals would be allowed to subscribe to the Update for an annual fee of £20, on a one-year trial basis. Those who chose to pay this would be known as subscribers, not members, and they would have no voting rights nor would Heritge Link engage in any correspondence with them.

5. Working Groups

By way of background to this issue, Christopher Catling explained that he had attempted during 2002 to convene working groups on inclusion, funding and planning, but that the members had shown very little appetite for these. Some members had suggested it was premature to look at any issues in detail until an attempt had been made to map all the issues of concern to members, and then decide which were of greatest priority. Members were therefore asked to debate whether or not to undertake a fundamental review, and if so whether or not to continue with efforts to establish the other three working groups.

Martin Bacon said that he was very much in favour of the review and that he hoped it would be an opportunity to identify issues of magnitude that everyone could unite behind, and that were relevant to the daily lives of all people. He said that he favoured direct campaigning action, and that we needed to act sooner rather than later to produce a manifesto or plan of action with clear messages and clear projects that all members would buy into.

John Sell said that he would be reluctant to see Heritage Link lose sight of the three issues identified at the inaugural meeting last November as the basis for working groups. Perhaps the problem was that all three were being looked after elsewhere and what was needed was for members to think in terms of pursuing the issues through the medium of Heritage Link. For example, the Power of Place Tax Group would be strengthened by the injection of new members and fresh thinking as a result of taking on the Heritage Link funding portfolio.

Judy Ling Wong suggested that the secret was to find lead organisations that would adopt one of the working groups and make them work – but the motivation had to come from members themselves, and not from the Secretariat. If members did not want working groups, then they shouldn’t be forced.

Martin Bacon said he was concerned that working groups would have nothing new to say, and that Heritage Link would simply fail to appeal to the wider world. Instead of the same old messages, we need ideas that would ‘light people’s fire’, and signal that the sector is alive and wants to change the world. David Lambert agreed and said that Power of Place had already identified that the sector was too remote, and that the heritage has an chronic image problem.

Various delegates made the point that research, PR, campaigning and press relations would be vital to the success of the organisation, and that one of Heritage Link’s tasks would be to demonstrate and promote the value of heritage, and ensure that it was seen as accessible and not elitist.

No vote was taken on this issue but the Chairman summed up by saying that there was a consensus for not abandoning the three existing working groups, and that the Director would contact members to identify lead bodies for each of the three issues. (Subsequent to the meeting, it was agreed that the Power of Place Tax Group would lead on Funding, the National Trust would lead on Planning and the Black Environment Network would work with the Association for Heritage Interpretation on Inclusion.) On the question of a fundamental review the Chairman said that a proposal would be put to the members for talking this forward – perhaps by means of a seminar or workshop.

At 12.30pm, the Chairman declared the formal part of the meeting to be at an end. Members were invited to share a buffet lunch, served in the theatre restaurant, and to reconvene in the theatre auditorium for speeches at 1pm. Speeches

At 1pm, Flora Smith, Director of the Broomhill Opera, the organisation that manages Wiltons Music Hall, gave a brief outline of the building’s history.

George Lambrick of the CBA and John Sell of the Joint Committee of the National Amenity Societies then spoke briefly to welcome the formation of Heritage Link – unreservedly in the case of the Joint Committee, though George Lambrick felt there was a danger of ‘a plethora of umbrella bodies’, and that members needed to decide whether Heritage Link was to be the sector’s policy conduit, or whether it’s role was to help members speak to government.

Alexander Stewart, standing in for Arts Minister Baroness Blackstone (who was unable to attend because she was required to chair the committee stages of the Licensed Premises Bill) said that DCMS saw Heritage Link as a means for the sector to pool energy and resources and allow one single voice to be heard, so as to influence the way that government managed the historic environment.

Sir Neil Cossons, Chairman of Heritage Link, said that the answer to George’s question was ‘both’. Heritage Link was ‘an umbrella of umbrellas’ and the creation of a body that could speak with authority for the whole of the historic environment sector was critical to the sector’s future health and well-being. If Heritage Link succeeds, and we must all work to ensure that it does, we could look back on this day in years to come as the most significant outcome of the Power of Place and Force for Our Future initiatives. The debates that have taken place today bode well for the future because they show a willingness on the part of the everyone to work together for the good of the heritage, not just the parts they happened to represent. Sir Neil ended by signalling English Heritage’s firm commitment to this enterprise by offering a birthday gift in the shape of a grant of £138,000.

Charles Nunneley, Chairman of the National Trust, reiterated the message that Heritage Link was about working together not to promote our own particular interests, but for the public good. Heritage Link members can and will continue to speak for themselves on many important matters, but Heritage Link provides an additional mechanism for finding the common ground and articulating it effectively – something we have not done well up to now.

Marcus Binney, the Chairman, closed the formal part of the launch by saying that Heritage Link was an alliance like that of the Greek city states at the time of the battle of Marathon. The National Trust is like Athens – highly prestigious, civilised and comparatively rich. The archaeologists are perhaps like the Spartans – highly professional and disciplined. Smaller members, though less well-trained, nevertheless have energy and specific skills, and are just as committed to our shared ideals as the bigger entities. Together we make a formidable team as we face the many challenges of the year ahead.

There being no other business, the meeting concluded.

Heritage Link 15 December 2002 Present: Martin Bacon Civic Trust Nina Frentrop Civic Trust Jane Kennedy Cathedral Architects Association Catherine Cullis Churches Conservation Trust Christopher Stell Chapels Society Robin Phillips Chapels Society Gillian Mawrey Historic Gardens Foundation Stephen Trow EH Mark Jones CLA

David Thackray National Trust Peter Longman Theatres Trust David Gaimster and on other DCMS, Cultural Property Unit Dr Simon Thurley EH Robert Bargery Georgian Group Fred Taggart Regeneration Through Heritage, The Prince's Foundation Carole Souter Director of Planning and Development, English Heritage Peta Buscombe The Baroness Buscombe Roger Squires Inland Waterways Association Ken Smith Chair, ALGAO Richard Wilkin HHA Peter Gaskell Secreatriat, Historic Farm Buildings Forum Laura Hetherington Head of Learning and Interpretation, The National Trust Catherine Croft Twentieth Century Society Cela Selley Twentieth Century Society Nicola Richardson Administrator, APT Peter Hinton Director, Institute of Field Archaeologists Jonathan Thompson Director, AHF Tom Hassall ICOMOS-UK Roger Clarke Chief Executive of YHA (England & Wales) Ltd

John Sell Joint Committee Judith Cligman Director of Policy & Research HLF Judy Ling Wong OBE Director BEN Henry Adomako Policy and Partnerships Officer, BEN Gerard Wheeldon DCMS Arabella Saker Allen & Overy Helen Wilkinson Museums Association Jez Reeve English Heritage Rob Morley Vice President, BTCV Eddie Booth IHBC Chairman Dr Vanessa C Marshall Director, National Preservation Office Rose Horspool Association for Heritage Interpretation Norman Hudson HHA Frances Garnham HHA Giles Waterfield Attingham Trust Sir Patrick Cormack MP Matthew Saunders AMS Deborah Dance Secretary of the Oxford Preservation Trust Rowena Scrimshaw Architecture and Historic Environment Division, DCMS Peter Mitchell Executive Director, The Industrial Trust Timothy Cantell Project Coordinator, Maintain our Heritage Sally Embree EH John Fidler EH Brian Ayers SCAUM John Walker SCAUM Sir Edward Greenwell President, Country Land & Business Association

Rosemary Ransome Wallis The Goldsmiths' Company Lesley Leader The Goldsmiths' Company James Blott Director of Historic Churches Preservation Trust

Patrick Lepper Historic Churches Preservation Trust Elizabeth Robertson Senior Policy Manager, English Tourism Council

Roland Jeffery Development Director, Shoreditch Town Hall Trust Bettina Harden Chairman, Welsh Historic Gardens Trust Tom Lloyd Chairman, Historic Buildings Council for Wales

Ilynn Masson DCMS

Dr Ian Dungavell Director, The Victorian Society Sir Neil Cossons Chairman, English Heritage Thomas Cocke Chief Executive, NADFAS Georgina Nayler The Pilgrim Trust Neil Sinden Director of Policy, CPRE Tom Boulton National Trust Nic Durston Groundwork UK Jane Kennedy Secretary, Cathedral Architects Association Stephen Scammell Chartered Quantity Surveyors Stephen Bowler Council for the Care of Churches / Cathedrals Fabric Commission Glenis Bateson Heritage Committee Secretary, The Mercers' Company Alison Taylor IFA Alan Hughes Director, Whitechapel Bell Foundry Colin Amery World Monuments Fund in Britain Louisa Lawson The Leche Trust Jonathan Harris Harris Lindsay Works of Art Frank Kelsall ??? Charles Thomson Georgian Group Stephen Bowler Cathedral & Church Buildings Division Julian Spicer Heritage of London Trust Diana Beattie Heritage of London Trust Jill Channer Phoenix Trust George Lambrick CBA Don Henson CBA Rowan Whimster EH David Alderton Association of Industrial Archaeologists Professor Angus Buchanan, President, Association of Industrial Archaeologists

Michael Bone Chairman, Association of Industrial Archaeologists

Paul Bramhill Urban Parks Forum Merlin Waterson National Trust Malcolm Kimber Cherished Land Roger France Conservation Course Director's Forum Geoff Brandwood Victorian Society Adam Wilkinson SAVE Clare Pilman DCMS Alex Stewart DCMS Frances MacLeod DCMS Roger Thomas English Heritage David Lambert Garden History Society Brian Lofthouse Historic Chapels Trust Daniel Golberg Historic Chapels Trust