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HERs in England have been a source of information for the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, a grant scheme which was first piloted in 1991. It aims included the conservation of archaeological sites and historic features, by adapting land management practices. The Countryside Stewardship Scheme was replaced by Environmental Stewardship in 2004, comprising two tiers – Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and Higher Level Stewardship (HLS). HERs supplied information on the archaeology of the area, together with recommendations as to the optimum method of land management for all the Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) schemes. English Heritage was able to help many local authorities employ Historic Environment Countryside Advisers to fulfil this role.

In 2005, participating HERs supplied data for Natural England’s Selected National Heritage Dataset SNHD, and continue to create data for its successor, SHINE - the Selected Heritage Inventory for Natural England (2009 - present) which identifies undesignated historic environment features that could benefit from management under agri-environment schemes. Since 2008, SHINE has been used to inform the Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) schemes, enabling farmers and landowners to identify archaeological and historic sites on their holding that might be eligible for grant-aided management. From 2011 the data has been used in Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) Fast-track applications to flag up potential manageable features and focus advice on parcels where HLS options could be applied, and in 2013 the SHINE-HLS Trial used SHINE data as part of new online consultations process.

Environmental Stewardship will be replaced by the new Countryside Stewardship in summer 2015, comprising Higher Tier (similar to HLS) and Mid Tier (similar to ELS). Countryside Stewardship is more targeted than previous schemes with a focus on biodiversity and water quality, but continues to enable the protection and enhancement of the historic environment. Targeting statements, informed by SHINE and consultation with HERs/ Countryside Archaeological Advisors, are being used to identify the priority features and issues within each National Character Area (NCA).

SMR Forum (Scotland)#

A forum formed in order to implement the recommendations of the Baker Report (1999) in Scotland’s 18 SMRs.

SNHD#

The Selected National Heritage Dataset. A datset of archaeological sites across England used by Natural England to pre-populate maps for Environmental Stewardship. This dataset was created in early 2005 and contained selected archaeological sites from across England, as recorded in the NMR, together with datasets supplied from nine participating HERs. The dataset was replaced by SHINE in 2009

Spatial analysis#

This is the process of applying analytical techniques to geographically referenced datasets to extract or generate new geographical information. Spatial analysis may be used to model complex geographical interactions and is useful for investigating site suitability and predicting future events. Overall, analytical techniques may be complex, but are usually made up of a combination of simpler techniques applied in an appropriate order.