The Conservation of Historic Areas in the UK The definitive version of this article is published by Elsevier as: PENDLEBURY J. (1999) The Conservation of Historic Areas in the UK: A Case Study of Newcastle upon Tyne Cities. 16, 6 Pp 423-434 doi:10.1016/S0264-2751(99)00040-2 The Conservation of Historic Areas in the UK: A Case Study of ‘Grainger Town’, Newcastle upon Tyne John Pendlebury Centre for Research on European Urban Environments Department of Town and Country Planning Claremont Tower University of Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU UK e-mail [email protected] direct dial +44 (0)191-222-6810 fax +44 (0)191 222 8811 Article for Cities 1 The Conservation of Historic Areas in the UK The Conservation of Historic Areas in the UK: A Case Study of ‘Grainger Town’, Newcastle upon Tyne Abstract Conservation in the UK is generally regarded as having undergone a sea-change in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as policy and decision makers retreated from comprehensive development and embraced conservation. Using part of the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne as a case study, this article examines this thesis. Beneath simple measures, such as the amount of the city centre which is classified as historic, a more complex picture emerges. A framework for interventions in the historic environment is theorised and there is found to be a continuing tension between conservation approaches which seek to visually manage the city and those which place stress on historic fabric and morphology. Article for Cities 2 The Conservation of Historic Areas in the UK The Conservation of Historic Areas in the UK: A Case Study of ‘Grainger Town’, Newcastle upon Tyne Introduction It is frequently argued that drive for the conservation of the historic environment has for sometime been an inexorable upward trend. In the context of the UK this tends to be considered over a period of the last 120 or so years, since the publication of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings ‘Manifesto’ (Morris, 1877) and the first tentative efforts to legislate (1882). Conservation in the UK is often portrayed as having undergone a sea-change during the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a retreat from modernist comprehensive redevelopment forced by a wave of popular support for conservation (e.g. Andreae, 1996; Larkham, 1996; Saunders; 1996). This is evidenced by, for example, the national development of legislation and policy (e.g. Delafons, 1997) and by the rapid rise in the numbers of buildings and areas subject to protection (e.g. Larkham, 1997). The landmark legislation in the protection of historic areas in the UK is the 1967 Civic Amenities Act which gave the power to local planning authorities to designate ‘conservation areas’. Like many pieces of UK conservation legislation it was promoted by an individual Member of Parliament rather than by government (Delafons, 1997). It is perhaps therefore not surprising that initially the legislation was accompanied by a very sketchy policy framework. Subsequent Article for Cities 3 The Conservation of Historic Areas in the UK legislation and policy has evolved enormously and government advice is now set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 15 (Department of the Environment & Department of National Heritage, 1994). However, PPG 15 contains relatively little detailed guidance on the management of historic areas, though emphasis is placed on ‘conservation’ rather than ‘preservation’. In the British context this implies accommodating appropriate change, rather than seeking to preserve as found. A distinctive feature of conservation areas in the UK context is that their designation is determined at the local level, on the resolution of the local planning authority. This makes them unlike other heritage categories, such as listed buildings, which are identified by central government. Conservation areas have proved enormously popular. In 1969 it was estimated that there may one- day be as many as 3,000 (Smith, 1969); in-fact over 9,000 have been designated and the numbers continue to rise. This article examines the thesis of the inexorable upward trend of conservation using the case study of a key part of the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne. In many respects it might be expected that Newcastle would exemplify the sea- change described. In the 1960s the City was dominated by an administration primarily remembered as combative modernists, whereas in the 1990s a large part of the historic centre is subject to a regeneration initiative which grew out of concern over the condition and under-use of historic fabric. Article for Cities 4 The Conservation of Historic Areas in the UK In order to consider how conservation in the city centre of Newcastle has developed a study of published sources, a range of policy documents and a number of case-studies of implemented and proposed developments has been made. The emphasis is on public policy and action in the sphere of development control and so, for example, the achievements of public sector grant assistance are not considered. This is preceded by the advancement of a hypothesised framework for considering the nature of different approaches to conservation decision-making. Conceptualising area conservation In considering the conservation of central Newcastle it was clear that there has frequently been a lack of consensus over defining appropriate conservation objectives (see discussion below). To help understand the different positions advanced three broad approaches to area conservation are first hypothesised. Though there are distinct differences between them, it is not argued that these approaches are self-contained or that a range of opinion could not be identified within any one approach. Furthermore, it is possible for a decision-maker to adopt of any of the three approaches at different times or an individual project to display elements of more than one approach. Nor is it suggested that they are often used as conscious management approaches. Rather they are a means of framing different approaches to interventions in historic areas which might be taken and considered ‘conservation’. Some elements of these approaches are Article for Cities 5 The Conservation of Historic Areas in the UK transparent in government and local authority policy, others are less obvious and embedded in the values, attitudes and discourse of conservation professionals and lobbyists. The typology suggested is described below and possible responses on a number of issues which may arise in historic areas summarised in Table 1. 1. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) Tradition . This is an approach which has its roots in the development of ‘modern’ approaches to conservation in the nineteenth century and the writings of John Ruskin and William Morris, and in particular Morris’s SPAB Manifesto (Morris, 1877). It is an approach in which the retention of historic fabric is of paramount importance and can be best encapsulated by the phrase ‘conservative repair’. It is a set of principles which were evolved in the context of debates over the appropriate treatment of particularly important historic sites or monuments, and it is in the context of this type of sites that that in its most conservative form it is still influential today, through such bodies as the Ecclesiastical Architects’ and Surveyors’ Association and SPAB. From its nineteenth century origins it has evolved to encompass principles such as the reversibility of contemporary intervention. Integrity or honesty are vital (Warren, 1996). This includes the integrity of historic structures as a whole, and leads for example to an antagonism towards ‘facadism’, seen as inherently dishonest. Article for Cities 6 The Conservation of Historic Areas in the UK Though it is an approach evolved around individual sites and monuments (which, however, often lie in historic areas) it is relevant in thinking about the rather different problem of conserving the character of historic areas. This is because of the hugely influential nature of the SPAB tradition and the way that influences conservation policy and professionals working within the public and private sectors. Of the three approaches described it is the most clearly articulated and best known conservation tradition, though the application of SPAB-type principles often occurs in a rather diluted form. 2. The Urban Morphological Approach This is an approach far less developed as a set of guiding principles for conservation. It is most developed in applied academic theory through the school of work that derives from the writings of M R G Conzen, who worked in and studied Newcastle (Conzen, 1962). It is an approach which is based upon the study of the historical development of a settlement. The development of the townscape is a physical manifestation of the development of society and is imbued with cultural meaning, and becomes the spirit of the place, the genius loci. Townscape form is derived from three principal components; the town plan, building form and land-use. The town plan is seen as generally the most enduring of these and land-use the most ephemeral (Conzen, 1975; Larkham, 1996). A fully developed Conzen-type approach to conservation demands a detailed and Article for Cities 7 The Conservation of Historic Areas in the UK sophisticated understanding of the evolution of town form, seen as problematic and often impractical in terms of the resources required. Partly as a result of this limitation Larkham argues that there has been little systematic attempt to put the ideas of Conzen into practice (though see Mageean, 1998), ‘Even the basic building-blocks of his analysis, the streets, plots and buildings, are rarely dealt with at a micro-scale by LPAs (local planning authorities) developing policy for conservation areas’ (Larkham, 1996: 270). There is much truth in this; it is certainly the case, for example, that in many historic towns frontage buildings have been conserved whilst backland areas which may form an integral part of the historic form of the settlement have been subject to comprehensive redevelopment with little or no consideration of their importance.