All Rosy in the Garden?

Abstract

In many ways, historic parks and gardens have thrived in the last 20 years, following a dawning of recognition heralded by the impact of the 1987 hurricanes. The English Heritage Register is now a material consideration in planning decisions, local authorities have included it in the development planning and control processes; the voluntary sector is thriving as county gardens trusts blossom, while the Garden History Society is now a statutory consultee on planning applications and a well-established part of the national amenity societies scene. High-profile restoration projects and the generosity of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) towards urban parks have raised public awareness to a welcome degree.But that is not the whole story. English Heritage is cutting resources, the HLF is tightening its belt, the National Trust is struggling to maintain standards—and in all these cases, parks and gardens tend to bear the brunt. At a local level, planning authorities, still hamstrung by the dearth of conservation expertise, struggle to resist harmful development proposals, or even to identify their stock of historic parks and gardens. After successful planning battles which established the sensitivity of these sites in the 1980s and 1990s, the tide of big and damaging leisure proposals is rising again. This paper, by the former and current conservation officers of the Garden History Society, reviews progress in garden conservation since the 1960s and offers a snapshot of the present situation.