The Canal and River Trust is partnering
with English Heritage on a national pilot project which could significantly
improve the way national custodians of heritage, such as the Trust, are able to
look after the listed buildings and structures in their care.
This spring the Trust and English Heritage will run a stakeholder consultation
on the draft proposal for
a new National Listed Building Consent Order. The Order would be designed
to allow the Trust to carry out pre-determined conservation work to masonry
hump back bridges and canal locks without having to seek local authority
planning consent every single time. As the owner of the third largest
collection of listed structures in the UK, a Consent Order would allow the
Trust to carry out canal heritage repairs more quickly and more efficiently.
Nigel Crowe, Head of Heritage at the Canal
and River Trust, says: “ CRT cares for 2,000 miles of
nationally important designated and non-designated heritage. Each year,
in looking after the waterway network, we make numerous applications to local authorities
for standard heritage repairs and conservation works. The applications
can be both costly and time consuming. “Being given the opportunity to develop
England’s first national Listed Building Consent Order is a great endorsement
of the work we do and will enable us to direct our efforts and resources where
they can make the most difference.”
Sarah Buckingham, Head of Better Heritage
Protection at English Heritage, comments: “Much of the heritage the Canal and
River Trust cares for is similar in age, materials and appearance and the work
they do is well practiced with the same skills and craftsmanship employed from
place to place. For this type of repair and conservation work, a national
Listed Building Consent Order will save time and red tape. “This pilot will be a really exciting
opportunity to show how, as a nation, we can look after our heritage even
better. It could also be an exciting forerunner for many other
organisations which, between them, look after a significant stock of the nation’s
heritage.”
Works covered by the pilot Canal and River
Trust Consent Order are likely to include repair and maintenance works, such as
replacing lock gates, rebuilding damaged bridge parapets and carrying out
occasional alterations in the interest of public safety. A pre-agreed schedule
of works will be prepared as a part of the Consent Order and great care will be
taken to detail these in such a way that the special interest of listed locks
and bridges are protected.
