Building Capacity and Good Practice in Registered Historic Landscapes (GAT) Jenny Emmett Gwynedd Archaeological Trust
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Building Capacity and Good Practice in Registered Historic Landscapes (GAT) Jenny Emmett Gwynedd Archaeological Trust Report No 338 Date www.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk About Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales’ purpose is to pursue sustainable management of natural resources. This means looking after air, land, water, wildlife, plants and soil to improve Wales’ well-being, and provide a better future for everyone. Evidence at Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales is an evidence based organisation. We seek to ensure that our strategy, decisions, operations and advice to Welsh Government and others are underpinned by sound and quality-assured evidence. We recognise that it is critically important to have a good understanding of our changing environment. We will realise this vision by: Maintaining and developing the technical specialist skills of our staff; Securing our data and information; Having a well resourced proactive programme of evidence work; Continuing to review and add to our evidence to ensure it is fit for the challenges facing us; and Communicating our evidence in an open and transparent way. This Evidence Report series serves as a record of work carried out or commissioned by Natural Resources Wales. It also helps us to share and promote use of our evidence by others and develop future collaborations. However, the views and recommendations presented in this report are not necessarily those of NRW and should, therefore, not be attributed to NRW. www.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk Page 1 Report series: Report number: 338 Publication date: May 2019 Contract number: JMB/RHL/2018 Contractor: Gwynedd Archaeological Trust Contract Manager: Jill Bullen Title: Building capacity and good practice in Registered Historic Landscapes (GAT) Author(s): Emmett, J. Restrictions: None Distribution List (core) NRW Library, Bangor 2 National Library of Wales 1 British Library 1 Welsh Government Library 1 Scottish Natural Heritage Library 1 Natural England Library (Electronic Only) 1 Distribution List (others) Recommended citation for this volume: Emmett, J. 2019. Building capacity and good practice in Registered Historic Landscapes (GAT). NRW Evidence Report, Report No: 338, 20pp, Natural Resources Wales, Bangor www.naturalresourceswales.gov.ukwww.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk Page 2 Contents 1. Crynodeb Gweithredol .................................................................................................... 4 2. Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ 5 3. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 6 4. Review of Registered Historic Landscapes Casework .................................................... 8 4.1. Planning context ............................................................................................................... 8 4.2. Casework analysis, interpretation and trends .................................................................. 8 5. Advising on and assessing the appropriate use and findings of ASIDOHL2 assessments................................................................................................................. 14 5.1. Case Studies ..................................................................................................................14 5.2. Advising on and assessing the appropriate use and findings of the historic landscape elements of a historic environment assessment ............................................................................14 6. Training and Capacity Building ..................................................................................... 15 6.1. Contributing to training and workshops ............................................................................15 6.2. Reviewing and contributing to joint guidance ...................................................................15 6.3. Sharing specialist knowledge............................................................................................15 7. Meetings and events ..................................................................................................... 15 8. Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................................. 16 9. Appendices ................................................................................................................... 17 9.1. List of areas on Parts 2:1 and 2:2 of the Register of Landscapes, Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales within Gwynedd Archaeological Trust’s curatorial boundary ...........................................................................................................................17 9.2. Summary of Registered Historic Landscapes casework undertaken by GAT in 2018-2019 ..........................................................................................................................................18 9.3. Data Archive Appendix .....................................................................................................20 www.naturalresourceswales.gov.ukwww.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk Page 3 1. Crynodeb Gweithredol www.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk Page 4 2. Executive Summary Natural Resources Wales and the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which outlines how the organisations will work together for the mutual benefit of Wales’ historic and natural environments. The work of the Welsh Archaeological Trusts under this agreement includes the provision of advice in development matters affecting Registered Historic Landscapes and provision of training relating to Registered Historic Landscapes. This report summarises the work undertaken by Gwynedd Archaeological Trust for north-west Wales for the review period April 2018 to March 2019. This is the third annual report since the Memorandum of Understanding was agreed. Gwynedd Archaeological Trust recorded instances where a Registered Historic Landscape was a trigger for direct consultation by the local planning authority or where a Registered Historic Landscape was specifically mentioned in a planning response. The number of consultation responses relating to Registered Historic Landscape was consistent with those in previous years – a total of 25, one more than the previous year, compared with 21 in 2016-17. Only four of these cases raised concerns about impact on a Registered Historic Landscape: two of these related to pre-existing casework and all remain ongoing. The limited dataset restricts the identification of clear trends. The data recorded even distribution of consultation responses between Registered Historic Landscape areas. The three cases where historic landscape concerns were raised were in different Registered Historic Landscapes. The most frequent development type where responses were made was energy and infrastructure. This reflects the popularity of hydroelectric schemes in the Snowdonia National Park and the strategic work programmes of the National Grid and energy providers. Planning Policy Wales (10th edition, December 2018) includes specific references to the Register and encourages its consideration at a strategic level. It is too early to conclude whether this has had any impact on development management within Registered Historic Landscapes. www.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk Page 5 3. Introduction The Register of Landscapes of Historic Interest in Wales (henceforth ‘the Register’) was published in 1998 by Cadw, ICOMOS and the then Countryside Council for Wales. Its objective was to identify the best surviving historic landscapes in Wales, in order to spread appreciation of landscape heritage and to support those engaged in activities that interact with the historic landscape in taking account of historic landscapes in their decision making and land management processes. The successor body to the Countryside Council for Wales, Natural Resources Wales (NRW), maintains, and will continue to maintain, a shared interest in the Register with Cadw and the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts (WATs). A primary influence on areas on the Register (henceforth referred to as Registered Historic Landscapes) is development. As principal sponsors of the Register, NRW and Cadw have an interest in ensuring that arrangements for providing planning advice relating to the Register are robust. The curatorial sections of the four WATs provide historic environment planning advice to the local planning authorities for their respective regions. This includes the provision of advice relating to the Register. Cadw funding provides the base level initial advisory service of this work. Continuing the partnership philosophy that has been embedded in the Register since its inception, NRW and the four WATs have signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) that outlines how the organisations will collaborate and co-operate for the benefit of Wales’ historic and natural environments. The MoU embodies the principles of the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. The Act establishes the ‘sustainable development principle’ by which public bodies (including NRW) must act in a manner which seeks to ensure that the needs of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The Act emphasises the need for an integrated approach to actions, objectives and approaches, and promotes collaboration with other parties who may