Expanding the Neighbourhood Plan Evidence Base - Museums and HERS (6419)

Owain Lloyd-James, Adam Partington, 2014. https://doi.org/10.5284/1027511. How to cite using this DOI

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Owain Lloyd-James, Adam Partington (2014) Expanding the Neighbourhood Plan Evidence Base - Museums and HERS (6419) [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1027511

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Resource identifiers

Digital Object Identifiers

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are persistent identifiers which can be used to consistently and accurately reference digital objects and/or content. The DOIs provide a way for the ADS resources to be cited in a similar fashion to traditional scholarly materials. More information on DOIs at the ADS can be found on our help page.

Citing this DOI

The updated Crossref DOI Display guidelines recommend that DOIs should be displayed in the following format:

https://doi.org/10.5284/1027511
Sample Citation for this DOI

Owain Lloyd-James, Adam Partington (2014) Expanding the Neighbourhood Plan Evidence Base - Museums and HERS (6419) [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1027511

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Introduction

ALT_TEXT

English Heritage commissioned Locus Consulting to undertake the Neighbourhood Plan Evidence Base Project. The project sought to understand how communities preparing a Neighbourhood Plan are able to access, interpret and use heritage information held by local authority Archives, Museums and Historic Environment Records (HERs). The project is part of an ongoing initiative to promote the use of heritage information in community-led planning.

Project summary

An initial information gathering stage was undertaken in two phases. Archives, HERs and Museums responded to an initial questionnaire about their holdings, the ways in which access is provided, and any methods to help interpret information. A second questionnaire canvassed communities about the fabric of their plan areas, skills within plan teams and the types of heritage information used in the plan-making process.

Communities have clear aspirations to use Neighbourhood Plans as a tool to regenerate and conserve the historic fabric of their areas. High proportions accessed historic environment information about their plan areas, showing that routes to accessing information are open. However, communities are not accessing the full breadth of relevant information available to them and are consulting sources other than Archives, HERs and Museums, in particular local history societies.

The main issues concerning the access and use of heritage information arguably surround a low awareness of the resources available alongside a poor understanding of their potential applications in Neighbourhood Planning. This is compounded by a low level of expertise in heritage management within Neighbourhood Plan teams. However, issues concerning physical and cognitive access to information cannot be discounted, and local authority repositories are exploring innovative ways of making information available, especially online. The geography of information, in particular its location and attribution to local places, appears to be a common and potentially universal structure for making mediated heritage information accessible in an integrated way.

The accessibility of information remains governed by the format in which it is held and the infrastructure by which it is able to be interrogated. These are at times barriers to access, being constrained by conservation or legal issues, or by over-technical approaches. Consequently, a physical visit remains the optimum way to access the full breadth of heritage information. There is great variation in the ability to accommodate such enquiries, leaving increased emphasis on the ability to provide information by remote enquiry or online. Yet these forms of access, in particular the latter, come with a lesser degree of staff assistance, the brand of assistance most valued by communities surveyed. The availability of local advice and assistance appears key to the successful access and application of heritage information, emphasising the need for sufficient resources at the local authority level.

In lieu of assistance, the availability of standing guidance and mediated information at local authority level is highly varied. Guidance is rarely targeted towards Neighbourhood Planning. Moreover, national guidance being used in Neighbourhood Planning rarely engages with heritage issues directly. However, many address issues related to heritage, emphasising the need for Neighbourhood Plan groups to understand the full breadth of heritage information available from Archives, HERs and Museums, and the interdisciplinary ways that it can inform the plan-making process.

As with any community of organisations, there is much that can be learnt from the individual approaches of other pioneering repositories. A huge array of standing guidance, online interfaces and information structures are available to inform the development of more universal approaches, given the right resources. Furthermore, the increasing numbers of information resources, notably online, demonstrate the benefits of developing integrated approaches to making heritage information accessible.


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