REVIT Heritage Report.pdf

Torfaen County Borough Council
REVIT: A Review of the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Assets on Brownfield Sites
3.7.25 The PSMV is considered an excellent instrument for managing historic town
centres or districts and for re-development of architectural and urban areas.
However, although it is an effective means of protecting and enhancing old
parts of towns it only applies to urban areas of major interest.
3.7.26 The PSMV also provides for tax relief on building restoration work undertaken
by private landlords, who may form an association for this purpose.
3.7.27 Unfortunately the procedure for setting up a PSMV is a long and complex one,
but it does make it possible to carry out a detailed study of the architectural
and urban heritage and entails extensive consultation with all the local bodies
concerned, including the municipal council.
Inventory of historic monuments
3.7.28 Within the Ministry of Culture, the Sub-directorate for Research provides
heritage research and produces the General Inventory on behalf of the entire
Heritage Directorate.
3.7.29 Within the regional cultural affairs directorates, this function is represented by
the regional inventory departments. The General Inventory, established in
1964, comprises a topographical framework covering any buildings erected
before 1940, whether private or public, urban or rural, as well as movable
objects and thematic or geographical inventory studies.
3.7.30 There are other specific national inventories including of an inventory of pre-
1950 sites of industrial and technical interest, which comprises surviving
buildings and machinery from that period.
3.7.31 One specific programme run by the Architecture and Heritage Directorate in
co-operation with regional departments relates to engineering landscape
structures such as canals and hydraulic constructions, bridges, viaducts,
railway tracks and related structures. The project currently covers more than
half of regions of France.
3.7.32 The on-going Archaeological Map of France (Carte Archeologique) is the
responsibility of the Archaeological Sub-directorate of the Minister of Culture,
and records known archaeological sites in France. The most outstanding of
these sites have been protected as listed sites or sites on the supplementary
inventory under the Historic Monuments Act of 1913.
3.7.33 The inventory of archaeological sites is based on each regional archaeology
departments "archaeological map", produced by the relevant DRAC. The
various regional departments’ records are extremely variable in coverage. The
information was recorded on the DRACAR system, which was replaced at the
end 2000 by a new GIS database called PATRIARCH.
3.7.34 These inventories are the basis of the Architecture and Heritage Directorate’s
policy on protection under the 1913 Historic Monuments Act and Town and
Country planning. They play a part in deciding what must be protected and in
assessing the probable implications for regional planning taking into account of
the archaeological heritage in town-planning. The overall aim is to supply the
state and decision-makers with a management tool as a preliminary to the
drawing up of town-planning documents and planning permissions.
Conclusion
3.7.35 In conclusion, the entire system for the protection of protected areas (sites
included in the supplementary inventory, areas surrounding historic
monuments, Heritage Protection Zones (ZPPAUPs) and conservation areas)
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