I am pleased to have secured some parliamentary time today to highlight our superb heritage in the east of England and the role of Government in supporting that. I am mindful of the very moving stories we heard in the previous debate, so I will keep these remarks fairly brief; I know that others want to intervene, and I am very happy to accept that. I declare an interest as co-chair of the East of England all-party parliamentary group.
I begin by wishing Members a slightly early Essex Day. The official celebration is on St Cedd’s day in two weeks’ time, but I am sure St Cedd would not mind an early greeting. In the seventh century, Cedd became the bishop of the East Saxons at the request of King Sigeberht the Good—whose territory included the mighty Colchester, which I am proud to represent, and the muddy river crossing now known as London—and Cedd remains the patron saint of Essex. As a proud Essex girl, I know that Essex retains a fierce and unique identity. We may no longer have our own king, but we will shortly be electing our own Mayor as part of this Government’s commitment to devolution.
It is the process of devolution that is the context for tonight’s remarks. Powers are being reorganised in the east of England, and I and other colleagues want to make the case for heritage and culture to be at the heart of that process. The English devolution White Paper, issued last December, says:
“Strategic Authorities will also be key partners in boosting culture, heritage and the visitor economy, supported by close integration with arm’s length bodies like Historic England.”
However, the consultations issued in July this year for devolution in Greater Essex and Norfolk and Suffolk say that the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and its arm’s length bodies should
“explore a deeper, collaborative partnership with the mayoral combined county authority.”
Many east of England MPs are concerned that this language does not sufficiently prioritise heritage and culture and the economic opportunities that they present within this devolution process.
I commend the hon. Member for bringing forward this debate. I spoke to her beforehand. Does she agree that European heritage days are a supreme example of how to enjoy heritage sites, whether it be in the east of England or anywhere else in this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland? The days provide free entry into many historical venues. The priory in Newtownards, which is a Dominican priory built in the 1200s, is one such site that can only be entered on European heritage days. Does the hon. Member agree that greater affordable access for the public will only enhance and inspire new generations to know who they are and where they come from, and that that is definitely worth greater UK investment?
I absolutely agree that accessibility and affordability are at the heart of much of this.
On the point about devolution, I would like to ask the Minister to address this issue and to work with colleagues to enhance the standing of heritage and culture within the ongoing devolution processes in the east of England.
I thank my hon. Friend for her generosity in giving way at this late hour. I am not an east of England MP, but I am the Chair of the all-party parliamentary group on UNESCO world heritage sites, so this is an issue about which I care passionately. On the point my hon. Friend has just made, I ask the Minister to bear in mind very carefully clause 41 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, because we do not want that legislation to inadvertently cause second-order effects and challenges for these very important sites, which are part of our history, culture and heritage and are a big part of who we are as a society.
Indeed, planning regulation plays an important part in preserving our heritage. I am sure the Minister will make note of those comments.
The east is a region rich in history. In my constituency of Colchester, we are rightly proud of our claim to be the first city built in Britain and its first Roman capital. We possess the oldest and longest Roman city walls, the remains of the temple of Claudius and Britain’s only known Roman chariot racing track, which is a monument particularly close to my own heart—think “Ben-Hur” with an Essex twist.
It is known as the Colchester Roman circus and is a site of international importance, yet continues to face planning and development pressures, which speaks to what my hon. Friend just mentioned, and lacks the sustained investment needed to realise its full potential. One difficulty we face at that site and at some other scheduled ancient monuments in my constituency is that their historic importance can be at first sight very difficult to appreciate. The Roman circus spectator terraces were so huge that the Saxons, presumably including King Sigeberht, found them a great source of building materials. Unfortunately, their commendable recycling meant that there is nothing left of the circus above ground.
As a result, I have been in discussions with local heritage architects about the possibility of reconstructing these mighty starting gates of the circus based on designs that have been found in similar buildings elsewhere in Europe. These are the gates through which charioteers and horses would have thundered at the start of every race. We have run into a problem, however, in that Historic England does not seem very keen on reconstructions these days, when in previous generations it may have been more keen. A reconstruction in some form would most likely draw many more people to the site, promote local pride and energise local tourism. Given that, I would like to ask the Minister to take up this issue with Historic England to see if its attitude towards reconstruction can be revised in situations such as these.
I thank my hon. Friend for securing the debate. Does she agree that other heritage sites including independently run stately homes like Knebworth House in my constituency receive no Government funding and therefore need a fair fiscal and planning framework? Does she agree that we need the Government to provide streamlined consent for energy-efficiency measures so that they can continue to support rural jobs, tourism and climate goals?
I agree that all those options are things to be explored. Speaking as a former historian, I think that anything that enables greater access to heritage is to be celebrated. In the east, beneficiaries of some of the grants that I mentioned include projects to revitalise Lowestoft town hall, the former Iron Duke pub in Great Yarmouth and St George’s Guildhall in King's Lynn in Norfolk. As we can see, heritage takes many forms across our region.
In Colchester, work has just begun on a £10 million project to restore our magnificent Victorian water tower, known as Jumbo. The project is generously supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, central Government, city and county councils, charitable funds and local residents. It will create a great visitor attraction for our city—it is one of the first things people see as they come into the city on the train. But welcome as those projects are, they do not make up for the fact that heritage and cultural sectors in the east face ongoing funding challenges. Much of the blame for that, like so many of the challenges we face, can be laid on the years of austerity after 2010. Since that year, overall local authority spending on heritage has dropped by 45%. That is bad enough in itself, but according to figures from Historic England it is down in the east by 60%, which can be catastrophic for those sites. Spending on museums in the east is down by 57%, and on archives by 38%. By one count from an Institute for Public Policy Research report published in July, the east of England receives less heritage and cultural funding per capita than any other region: just £12.57 per person, which is less than half the national average and just a fifth of the amount in London.
In bringing my remarks to a close, I encourage the Minister to consider two broad courses of action: first, to create a dedicated regional heritage strategy for the east of England, which could help shape devolved policy under the new mayoralties, with clear priorities and long-term funding commitments that address the funding gap for heritage in our part of the country; and, secondly, to meet me to discuss how we might develop more innovative, inclusive approaches to preserving and celebrating our regional heritage.
I am pleased to respond to this Adjournment debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Pam Cox) on securing it and wish her a very happy Essex Day. That is something I never thought I would say from the Dispatch Box, but I wish everyone a happy Essex Day none the less.
As my hon. Friend laid out, the east of England has a unique and rich heritage. It is awash with nationally significant heritage assets such as the Iron Age neolithic flint mines at Grime’s Graves, Framlingham Castle and Tudor Lavenham, and historic houses such as Audley End House and Sandringham—and, of course, we heard about Knebworth House too. The region is also home to a rich Roman heritage, which is no more evident than in my hon. Friend’s constituency of Colchester, which is not only, as she said, Britain’s oldest recorded settlement, but the former Roman capital, with its iconic Roman circus. She called it “Ben-Hur” but in Essex—I am not quite sure what that film would be called, but perhaps we can leave that sticking to the wall, Madam Deputy Speaker.
I want to take this opportunity to thank my hon. Friend for her work to preserve heritage in her constituency, including the grade II listed Balkerne water tower, which she also mentioned. I know that she has been involved in efforts to restore it and secure its future, and that exciting plans are in train. If there is anything the Department can do to help her with those plans, we stand ready to do so.
As my hon. Friend said, our local heritage tells the story of who we are and forms the cornerstone of our communities in the present in order to preserve the past. The Government are proud to support communities to celebrate the heritage buildings and assets they value and ensure that they can continue to meet their needs in the present and into the future.
Earlier this year, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State marked the 60th anniversary of the first ever arts White Paper and announced £270 million of funding to fix the foundations of our arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage sector in communities right across the country. That ambition is now starting to bear some fruit. My hon. Friend’s constituency has benefited directly from nearly £1.3 million of Arts Everywhere funding to protect Colchester castle for future generations, enabling urgent maintenance and roof repairs to ensure the landmark’s future.
I am really lucky in North West Cambridgeshire to represent a whole variety of heritage sites of different sizes, including Burghley House, which I visited recently—a 16th century stately home that welcomes thousands of visitors each year to the house itself and the gardens—and smaller sites such as John Clare Cottage, where the famous poet lived, the surroundings of which inspired so much of his poetry. As well as welcoming the local, national and international tourism to those sites, does the Minister agree that it is important that we support the educational work they do in respect of local history, agriculture and the natural environment?
I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, because it is true: as we have already heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester, our heritage is about our future, but it is also about learning about our past. It is good for social cohesion, but it is also tremendous for education, and Burghley House and the John Clare Cottage in North West Cambridgeshire play a vital role in that education. I am pleased to confirm that this year we continued Historic England’s Heritage Schools programme, which supports teachers to bring local heritage into teaching across the curriculum. I hope that that continues, because it is very much a passion of the Secretary of State and I; we really want to make sure that our heritage across the United Kingdom is shared by everyone. The Arts Everywhere project is so important for community cohesion and for young people’s learning about our history and shaping its future.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester set out, preserving and maintaining the rich heritage of this region or any region can be expensive and challenging. In addition to the funding that I have already mentioned, there have been many other interventions by the Government, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England to make safe, to maintain and to preserve the region’s invaluable heritage assets. In 2023-24 alone, the National Lottery Heritage Fund gave £33.5 million for heritage in the east of England, including £13 million to Norwich castle, an iconic site in the city originally commissioned by William the Conqueror.
Thanks to sustained investment in our heritage, we are seeking seeing at-risk heritage sites removed from Historic England’s heritage at risk register. My hon. Friend said that that is the legacy that we should leave for future generations because we are custodians of our heritage. That is what the risk register is there for, and I am delighted to see that sites are being removed from the register because of that investment. The register gives an annual snapshot of the health of England’s valued historic buildings by identifying sites most at risk of loss due to neglect. It lists 427 entries in the east of England alone in 2024, but by working closely with partners and communities, 14 sites have been removed from the register, with £800,000 in grants being awarded for repairs to an additional 25 sites last year. We are making progress, and we are also making it easier for communities to take ownership of the heritage assets they love by providing nearly £5 million through the heritage revival fund delivered by the Architectural Heritage Fund.
12:25 am
House adjourned.
Another key site in my constituency is the former Romano-British settlement at Gosbecks field. This dates from the early first century CE and is believed to have been the residence of Cunobelin, known to Romans as “King of the Britons” and to Shakespeare as Cymbeline. The site includes an Iron Age dyke, which today still forms part of the boundary line between my constituency and that of the right hon. Member for Witham (Priti Patel).
Gosbecks is believed to be the place where ancient Britons signed up—or surrendered, depending on your view—to become part of the Roman empire. It therefore plays a vital part in the history not just of our county, but of the country. I would like to see very much more made of Gosbecks.
The Romans constructed a large theatre and a huge temple at Gosbecks, but here too the bricks were recycled and today there is little to see. However, experts—and former colleagues of mine—at the University of Essex have a renowned track record in developing immersive technology and virtual and augmented reality applications that could help bring Gosbecks back to life for new audiences. Think Runnymede and Magna Carta—it is of that order of magnitude. There is already some interest in that from the National Lottery Heritage Fund from a green spaces perspective, but I also see many synergies with the ministerial team’s responsibilities for culture, heritage and media, with an emphasis on media, as Gosbecks and sites like it could provide brilliant opportunities for 21st century interactive media interpretations that are the gateway to more inclusive access to our heritage and culture. I therefore encourage the Minister and the Department to do more to promote such opportunities, perhaps taking Gosbecks as a use case.
Our heritage sites tell our national story, connect us to the generations who came before us and offer opportunities for education and tourism and to create pride in place. However, they also face real and growing threats from neglect, development pressures and underinvestment—threats that became ever-more intense under the previous Government’s cuts to local authority coffers.
I welcome the many announcements of enhanced funding for heritage made by the Government over the past year. To give just a few, we have had £15 million through the heritage at risk capital fund, a further £5 million through the heritage revival fund, and just this week we have had details of a new £20 million museum renewal fund. Those initiatives empower communities to take ownership of local heritage and breathe new life into neglected buildings. When done well, such projects can deliver multiple returns for local economies, creating employment, aspiration and pride.
Heritage is not just about bricks, mortar or memory; it is about identity, belonging and opportunity in the here and now. When we invest in heritage, we invest in jobs, tourism, education and community cohesion. As we have heard from Members around the Chamber tonight, there are treasures aplenty in our region, and I hope we can find new ways to unlock their full potential, with imagination, investment and a commitment to future generations.
Furthermore, I am pleased to say that, as announced in August, through the Government’s heritage at risk capital scheme, 37 much loved historic buildings and sites in the places across England that need it most will receive funding to support repairs and restoration. That much needed funding will breathe new life into our heritage and, in many cases, help turn it into vibrant spaces that our communities need today. Over £2 million of that funding is going to projects in the east of England, including £700,000 to bring Lowestoft’s derelict town hall back to life as a fully accessible public space with an art gallery, café and events venue, and £137,000 for the Iron Duke restoration project in Great Yarmouth, which my hon. Friend mentioned, bringing the building back into use and creating 50 much needed new jobs for the area.
In addition, we have changed the definition of an asset of community value to state clearly that heritage buildings are included in that, so that they can be assets for the community to take on. Maintaining our historic heritage does not necessarily mean preserving it in aspic as a relic of the past. In our towns and cities, old and new stand side by side, and our heritage has a key role to play in delivering the Government’s ambitious commitments to boost economic growth and build 1.5 million new homes alongside our existing heritage.
There are examples up and down the country where growth and development can co-exist with our wonderful heritage. A local example is Lexden Gardens, which is in my hon. Friend’s constituency of Colchester. That development, which will see the creation of 120 new homes on the former Essex county hospital site, includes the restoration of the grade-II listed main hospital, which has deep rooted heritage connections and significance to the local community. To support our ambitions, we are working across Government to streamline the planning system, including the role of Historic England as a statutory consultee, to ensure timely, expert advice that supports high-quality development. The Government remain committed to protecting historic assets and will ensure that any changes to the planning system do not remove the quality of advice or heritage safeguards.
My hon. Friend asked some questions. I think I have a few minutes to run through some of those. She asked whether we would address the issues with regards to enhancing the importance of heritage, culture and tourism within the ongoing devolution process in the east of England. I can assure my hon. Friend that there has been no change in position between the two papers that she cited. The Government remain committed to supporting local areas to deliver their own priorities, including widening access and participation to culture and heritage and harnessing their potential for community transformation and economic growth. The Department’s arm’s length bodies, such as Historic England, will continue to explore how to work in partnership with strategic authorities within the ongoing devolution process in the east of England.
My hon. Friend asked about the local heritage architecture and the possibility of restructuring the mighty starting gates of the circus based on designs of others elsewhere. It is an incredibly interesting project. My hon. Friend Baroness Twycross in the other place takes the heritage portfolio, so I will ensure that my hon. Friend gets a meeting with her to discuss the project in detail. The scheduled monuments like the Roman circus are protected in the form they have been passed down to us by previous generations, but should a proposal come forward to reconstruct elements of the circus, as she has laid out, it would require careful consideration through the scheduled monument consent process. I understand Historic England continues to work with Colchester council on that exciting project.
My hon. Friend also asked about synergies in the Department’s responsibilities for cultural heritage and media. I agree that virtual and augmented reality have great potential to bring our heritage to life. In fact, through programmes like the Audience of the Future and the creative clusters, we have demonstrated the value that immersive reality can bring to all sorts of experiences, including museums and storytelling. If she wants to take that particular issue to Baroness Twycross as well when we arrange that meeting, that is something she would be very much interested in hearing about in terms of how augmented and virtual reality could create a real benefit to the people of Colchester and, indeed, the Roman castle site.
Finally, my hon. Friend asked whether the Government will create a dedicated regional heritage strategy for the east of England—one that can help shape the devolved strategy in itself. Our devolution reforms aim to put power back in the hands of local leaders and local people, and to support mayoral strategic authorities to lead strategies in the areas they want to prioritise to drive the change they want to see—I have no idea what that means either, but I think it basically means that the power of having the strategic authorities is from the grassroots up. Indeed, we should be working with our local councils, local members and the strategic authorities for that to happen. Again, Baroness Twycross would be happy to talk to my hon. Friend about that.
I thank my hon. Friend for securing the debate and providing me with the opportunity to reiterate the Government’s commitment to protecting and enhancing our shared heritage. We will continue to invest in our heritage, to forge collaborative and collective partnerships and to approach development in a pragmatic way, ensuring that precious sites, many of which have been mentioned by hon. Members, such as the Roman circus and the Balkerne water towers, as well as sites in the east of England and beyond, are not only preserved but celebrated for generations to come. I look forward to seeing the ongoing positive impact of these heritage projects in Colchester and across the east of England as we continue to build a future where our rich history stands proudly alongside new growth opportunities in all our communities.