Speaking Up in Parliament to Protect our Local Heritage

This week I spoke up in Parliament to highlight the threat to our local heritage buildings. Each year I hold a local history conference and two years ago I convened a local community conference to discuss the risk to our local heritage. Too many buildings of local historical interest have been lost over the years and my aim was to try and protect and improve what we have left. Local residents enthusiastically rose to the challenge and working with the council’s conservation officers we went out and mapped and researched all the local buildings to update the council’s list of buildings to be protected. We also set up the Hayes and Harlington Conservation Panel to monitor new planning applications and work to protect our local heritage sites. Since then our local heritage buildings have come under further pressure and attack. I raised this matter in Parliament and appealed for assistance from English Heritage and the Government. You can watch my speech in this video of the Commons recess debate. The recess debate is quite long and so if you move the cursor along to about 6.24 on the dial on the left and you will catch my speech.

submitted by John on 25 May 2011 at 13:36