Closed village pub in Garrigill, Eden District Council, Cumbria. A high proportion of pubs have closed in rural conservation areas.
Conservation areas at risk
In February 2010, AHP was commissioned by English Heritage to rapidly assess a total of 157 conservation areas at risk across the North West Region. This included the 131 conservation areas classed as at risk in English Heritage's 2009 Heritage at Risk Register, along with 26 more conservation areas at risk included in the 2010 Register (to be launched in June). The objective was to provide English Heritage North West Regional Team (EHNW) with independent, consistent information on conservation areas at risk, to assist the team in decision-making and advising local authorities.
During an intensive six weeks, each conservation area was visited and visually assessed. The effect of risk factors on condition and special character was recorded on a database. In a separate process, conservation areas were also allocated to one of three risk categories (high, medium or low), depending on the severity of the issues and the overall impression of condition gained on the visit. AHP's resulting report is the first large-scale assessment of its kind.
English Heritage staff gave AHP the following feedback: '...because of the reliablity of AHP...and the quality of the work, we have gained an excellent resource which we have already used and will continue to use in the future.'