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Heritage Minister speaks at launch of national listed buildings database and 4-year plan.

The new brings together the country鈥檚 400,000 listed buildings, registered parks, gardens and battlefields, protected shipwrecks and scheduled monuments in a simple, publicly-accessible database.听 Anyone can now go online to search for heritage by postcode, by date, by grade or by any category from listed building to listed lamp-post, from scheduled coal mines to castles.

said:

鈥淥ur built heritage - which ranges from castles and cathedrals to troughs and telephone boxes - is one of the really great things about this country, and one of the reasons that people from all around the world most often cite for wanting to come here.听 The information English Heritage compiles and makes available is not only interesting in itself but vital as a way of helping people develop a sense of history and identity in their own communities, making each place different from the next. I am delighted that today sees the launch of the National Heritage which makes information about over a half a million designated places easily accessible to everyone.鈥�

Roadmap for the future

English Heritage also unveiled their running up to 2014-15, setting out their priorities for safeguarding England鈥檚 vulnerable historic environment. Some of their key areas include:

• Marine and coastal heritage
• 20th century heritage
• Historic towns and suburbs
• Rescuing heritage at risk
• Supporting local authorities and building local capacity
• Ensuring heritage protection continues under changes to planning system
• Supporting the sale of public assets and encouraging their sympathetic re-use
• Safeguarding heritage amid increasing development pressures
• Tackling heritage crime
• Understanding the energy performance of historic buildings and help homeowners adapt and 鈥済reen up鈥� their properties in the most effective way

Working with communities

, Chair of English Heritage, said:

鈥淥ur main task is to identify and protect the most significant physical remains of our nation鈥檚 history and to make them even more accessible and even more widely appreciated. This is a huge challenge. For our part, we will be making considerable investment in our major properties which will hugely enhance people鈥檚 appreciation of these places and their part in our nation鈥檚 story.

鈥淏ut overall, despite our best efforts, the state of the nation鈥檚 heritage is fragile, and we cannot do everything. Nor should we. As public funding diminishes, it is imperative that we concentrate on what only we can do. Ours is a national responsibility to create and apply national standards. It is important that we support and collaborate with others to promote the great cultural legacy we all share. We need to provide support for local communities and private citizens to champion their local heritage. The new National Heritage List will make a huge difference here.鈥�

A video of John Penrose鈥檚 full speech at the English Heritage event will be available shortly.

Further information

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