Conservation Areas

The Lincolnshire Heritage at Risk team set our Heritage Stewards the target of surveying all of the places of worship in the county. We and our partners, including English Heritage who wanted the data to use in their national Heritage at Risk publications, were incredibly impressed by what was achieved.

Instead of resting on our laurels we decided to set another target. This one being the completion of 54 conservation area surveys by March. Conservation area surveys are viewed as difficult because of the size of area that a volunteer covers as well as some of the concepts involved. But, as with all the surveys, once one is done the initial fear factor disappears.

The staff were also anxious about carrying out their first conservation area surveys. For my first one I decided to survey Hough on the Hill in South Kesteven. This was because I knew the village well as I’d visited the pub and church on a few occasions and I'd also surveyed a number of assets in the village.

I began the survey by reading through the help notes. This familiarised myself with all of the concepts involved in the designation of conservation areas. It also allowed me to familiarise myself with a number of the things I needed to keep any eye out for e.g. excessive street furniture, modern materials etc.

Once armed with a map I walked up and down all of the streets and footpaths that criss-crossed the village taking numerous photos (of positive and negative factors) along the way. I took notes on some of the more significant negative factors and why I thought they might contribute to the conservation area being at risk. It took me about 1 ½ hours to complete the survey. On returning to the office I filled out the form in detail (questions such as how many listed buildings in the CA are much easier to answer when in front of a computer). I then entered my results onto the website (http://www.lincshar.org/Hough-on-the-Hill)

I judged the area not to be at risk despite the presence of uPVC on several houses (none of which were listed) and some excessive street clutter. I was very pleased to see in the village traditional boundaries being introduced as well as the presence of traditional cobbled pathways.

Unfortunately there are too many conservation areas in the country that are in serious decline. English Heritage report that out of the 80% of the conservation areas where data exists 6.6% are considered to be at risk. That percentage figure might seem low but it means that over 500 conservation areas are at risk. 23 of these are in Lincolnshire including some of the counties most important historic centres including: Lincoln cathedral and city centre, Boston, Horncastle and Grantham (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/Conservation_Areas_at_Risk/).