2010 Yearbook

38 Y e a r b o o k 2 0 1 0 It is a major challenge to balance safeguarding the historic environment with bringing forward the promotion of sustainable, well designed developments. It is essential to ensure that the quality, design standards and materials employed in the redevelopment and regeneration of the historic built environment are maintained. Developer pressure is a continuous challenge faced by conservation services. Early discussion and consultation often leads to the best result for the historic environment, as potential issues can be raised and discussed ensuring that resources are available that take account of the needs of the property in question. The creation and maintenance of strong working relationships with organisations such as Historic Scotland and English Heritage are also important. The efficient, day- to-day delivery of national policy in relation to the historic environment by local authorities is dependent upon this relationship. Within Scotland there is an emerging change in approach by Historic Scotland with the aim of placing a greater responsibility on local authorities for decisions made at a local level. This is considered as a positive step in assisting agencies such as Historic Scotland to direct resources to those larger projects where their skills can be utilised more efficiently. However, this approach could place an increased burden on limited conservation resources within local authorities. The challenge for the future will be to ensure that the aims and objectives of the revised working relationship are met to the highest standards. Local authorities often have a vast wealth of local knowledge, experience and skills that might be lost when individual staff members leave or move on. While more decisions taken at a local level will be a positive process, regular contact with government agencies should be encouraged and actively pursued to ensure there is no skills gap within the service. Resource management and the maintenance of access to services provided by national organisations are hugely important in this context. The difficult challenge for local authorities is to maintain the wide spectrum of conservation knowledge and experience necessary to deliver a high quality service but with limited resources. In summary, local authority conservation services provide an invaluable contribution to the development and regeneration of the historic environment. There are a number of challenges which local authorities face including limited resources, increasing demand for community involvement, growing pressure for pre-application consultation, maintaining a close working relationship with national agencies, and retaining and developing knowledge and experience at a local level. However, the historic environment is a major asset that should be safeguarded for future generations. Only with effective management will this unique asset be understood and utilised. The challenges for conservation services will be constantly evolving. It is the responsibility of local authorities to fully understand the specific features and importance of their locality and to communicate this understanding to their communities. The lot of the local authority conservation officer has never been easy and is often unappreciated. Nevertheless, it has a valuable and important role in the development and regeneration of our built environment. Ian Mudie is head of planning in the city development department at Dundee City Council, where his role encompasses all aspects of planning (development management, partnership and regeneration, policy and strategy, and information and research) and also building standards. Dundee City Council provides for the conservation of the city’s built environment through the city development department’s planning division, where the council’s sole conservation officer is based. The conservation officer works closely with several local bodies such as Dundee Historic Environment Trust (DHET) and the Dundee Civic Trust to preserve and enhance Dundee’s historic urban fabric and to foster a greater understanding of the historic development of the city. Gardyne’s Land: a complex of historic buildings in the heart of Dundee that, although facing dereliction in the early 1990s, has since been converted and revitalised as a youth hostel

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