For Everyone?: Finding a Clearer Role for Heritage in Public Policy-making

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe natural environment has enjoyed a recent surge in both public interest and in government policy activity in Westminster. This could in part be attributable to a ‘Blue Planet effect’, but a bigger change in how the natural world is understood in public policy terms can also be observed, moving the natural environment from a niche conservationist concern, and a perceived resource drain, to a public good which contributes positively to the economy, public health and wellbeing of the nation as a whole. This paper is interested in what this change can tell us about the importance of public interest and perceptions of public benefit for the historic environment, as another conservationist policy concern. It hypothesises that despite the growing body of evidence about the positive social and economic value of heritage and place, ‘heritage’ has an association with white, and middle and upper class interests which limits its ability to be perceived as a potential policy solution for delivering wide public benefit, rather than a drain on resource. It concludes that creating a new perspective on heritage as a genuinely shared asset will be key to taking the next step for heritage on the public policy journey.