Following from the Evidence Sessions held by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Industrial Heritage (APPG) last October, at which the AIA was represented by Prof. Marilyn Palmer MBE (President), Mike Nevell (Chairman), Keith Falconer and Tony Crosby, the APPG team spent the winter writing ‘A Report on the Challenges facing the Industrial Heritage Sector’.
The APPG launched the report at an event on 1st May with attendees including Tony Crosby, Mike Nevell, Sir Neil Cossons and many others from the sector. The report’s key findings are that industrial heritage was vital in the formation of local and national identities, and is highly valuable in the UK’s contemporary society as a source of economic potential.
By providing an examination of the value of industrial heritage to the United Kingdom and the major social, economic and cultural issues impacting this sector, the APPG has compiled a series of conclusions and recommendations on how to face the challenges of the future.
The APPG chairman, Nick Thomas-Symonds, MP for Torfaen, said:
“This report is a timely reminder of the extraordinary value of our industrial heritage sector, its importance in shaping our modern society, its crucial role in our economy, and its great potential to contribute to the jobs of the future. The report calls on the UK Government to lead in this area, but also seeks to share best practice across the sector, and to make reasonable, practical suggestions that can be implemented with minimal cost implications in order to make the sector even more accessible and more widely known. As the first industrialised nation, our country is uniquely placed to make a difference.”
Honorary Vice-President of the AIA Sir Neil Cossons OBE, former Chair of English Heritage said:
“This report identifies the challenges and opportunities presented by Britain’s great historic industrial places, their meaning for communities and wider importance to the nation, and the need to establish a strategy to secure their future. The report’s recommendations set out what needs to be done; they are to the point, realistic, achievable and require the most serious consideration.”