Readers of the IHBC’s NewsBlogs will be familiar with the concept of local lists, and the latest issue of Context, No 162, devoted to the heritage of New Towns, offers a way to reflect on their use in recognising more recent heritage, with Simon Peart describing how Milton Keynes – as a ‘new city’ – has developed a local list to help manage its heritage in the context of future growth.
image: Milton Keynes Central Library, Context 162, p33 – Simon Peart
Simon Peart writes:
Most of us will have encountered the common perception of what conservation is about: the business of preserving stuff that’s a least a few centuries old. As we know, conservation is in fact a dynamic process that adapts and evolves as political, social and economic attitudes change. Those involved have sought from its beginning to be at the forefront of understanding the significance of those assets that do not conform to the common perception of what heritage is. Victorian, art deco, industrial, wartime, modern, brutalism and post-modern architecture are all examples that have gone or are going through a period of retrospective revaluation, often prompted by losses of prominent assets within those groups. In Milton Keynes a local list has been developed to ensure that the new town’s 20th-century heritage assets can be considered within the agenda for future growth….
… A consistent theme of Milton Keynes is the way in which it continues to polarise opinion. On the one hand the new town has achieved international and national acclaim, and a number of the buildings have been statutorily listed by Historic England and the DCMS. However, the majority of the assets will not meet the high bar required for post-war assets to be designated; this is especially true of many of the more characterful assets, such as community artwork or smaller developments. As such, it became clear that a local list would be needed to capture the local significance of Milton Keynes and ultimately those aspects of it that could be considered non-designated heritage assets…..
….To help share the new town story with the wider community, the National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded £70,000 to MKC for its Heritage Explorers’ project to bring the New Town Heritage Register to life through mobile technology, community engagement, participation and learning.
While at its heart the MK New Town Heritage Register is a planning mechanism, it is hoped that its benefits will reach beyond planning decisions and help to reinforce the city’s truly unique identity, generate pride in both communities and decisions makers, and create a strong cultural offer…..
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