Policy Round Up: August 2022

The hot, sunny weather did not abate over August, although parliamentary recess did provide some respite from new and unexpected policy or legislation work. Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss continue to tear each other’s policy to pieces in Conservative Party hustings (although it seems the winner is apparent) and the cost-of-living crisis and announcement of the new energy price cap has kept the rest of the country watching with concern. We have reported back to the Historic Environment Forum and DCMS about our members concerns, and predicted new heating costs over the winter. The more detail provided, the better the evidence we can present to DCMS about the impending crisis and what it will mean for historic house businesses across the UK.

DCMS, BEIS and DLUHC continue to push ahead with their roundtable events on ‘Adapting Historic Homes for Energy Efficiency’ and we would urge members to sign up to their local regional roundtable so that they can air their opinions and offer solutions to the barriers currently facing them.  Our joint survey with the CLA on heritage protection and the planning system is still open for responses, and these are really useful for lobbying work on this topic in particular.

On a more cheerful note, Historic Houses was pleased to have arranged a visit to Arley Hall from Jeff Smith, MP for Manchester Withington and Shadow Heritage & Tourism Minister during the last week of Arley’s White Cube sculpture exhibition. Pictures from the visit can be found here. We’re also pleased to be working with Savills on research into sustainable tourism and historic houses: we look forward to the report on this being published in the autumn.

September beckons with a new PM, new cabinet and an announcement on an energy bills support package, as well as party conference season. We look forward to seeing what challenges and opportunities arise!