The new Heritage at Risk register, to be launched next month by EnglishHeritage, is one of the first visible signs of years of anguishedgovernment and private debateWhen BAR and MAR join forces to become HAR, will the world become asafer place for the dismal inventory of rotting buildings,plough-trashed burial mounds, and landscape gardens with propertydevelopers yelping at the perimeter fence - or will it just becomeslightly easier to confirm the bad news? The new Heritage at Risk register,to be launched next month by English Heritage, the government`sofficial custodian of the historic environment, is one of the firstvisible signs of years of anguished government and private debate.Unlike the previous annual Buildings at Risk,and much more infrequent Monuments at Risk registers, it will bepossible now to consult one source and confirm that the future isperilous for Uxbridge Lido - closed 10 years ago, rotting ever sinceand rotting still despite all the bleating about the Olympics legacy ofswimming for all - the site of a Civil War battle in the Home Counties,and a shipwreck being scoured into matchwood by shifting sea levels offthe Sussex coast.Until now determining whether a structure or building is judged atrisk has been tortuous. There hasn`t been any easy way even to find outwhat is officially designated as worthy of special consideration - thewhole subject is so contentious that English Heritage hates evenimplying that listing implies preservation from change.Buildings, listed as Grade II, Grade II and Grade I, gardens andlandscapes registered by an entirely separate process, andarchaeological monuments mainly registered as Scheduled AncientMonuments, were all covered by separate registers, and separate at riskregisters. There is still no comprehensive national database - withimages - covering the historic environment. The argument goes on about how to reconcile the need to protect andpreserve buildings and structures often seen by developers as morespeed humps on the road to profits, with the government`s demand fortransparency, simplicity and speed. Many fear measures such as presenting an owner with a check list ofthe features of their property which make it worthy of listing, beforethe listing is actually implemented, or discussing in advance whatdevelopment might be permitted, may simply prove an invitation to cutalong the dotted line. There is still no hint of where resources mightcome for the harder cases, the buildings and structures nobody wants,the derelict industrial structures, the once grand buildings which haveended up marooned in the wrong part of towns and cities.In the countryside a string of proposed eco-towns threatenscherished landscapes, part of the hunger for more housing in the southand south-east - exactly the same factors which made that part of thecountry so rich in historic features in the first place.The pressure is growing again, with soaring food prices,to plough up fields which cover Roman villas and Bronze Age burialsites and turn them from grazing or set-aside into profitable arable.There are barely resources to log all these threats, never mindresolve them: at its current grant level, it would take EnglishHeritage more than a century just to fund all the repairs to buildingson the list.An equally serious problem, entirely beyond the control of EnglishHeritage, is the bewildering merry-go-round of recent ministers in thejob, since David Mellor became the first Minister for Fun just 16 yearsago. The moment an incumbent shows the slightest flash of interest andability, they are likely to be zapped off to a new department regardedas further up the greasy pole of political seniority. David Lammy, nowMinister for Skills at the inscrutably named Department for Innovation,University and Skills, and James Purnell, hooshed upstairs to Work andPensions after j
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