REVIT Heritage Report.pdf

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Torfaen County Borough Council REVIT: A Review of the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Assets on Brownfield Sites these areas. In this respect, industrial features like old unused tramroads, railway lines and canal tow paths, can be used to provide the basis for cycle or foot paths. 4.2.41 In a similar approach at Blaenavon, the renovated St. Peter’s school building, which will form the interpretation centre for the industrial heritage of the area, will be linked by modern technology to other significant World Heritage sites around the World. As well as offering an educational experience, the centre could also, therefore, be used to provide links to, and promote, other tourist attractions in Wales which may interest visitors; this would form part of the integrated approach taken in the Rhur. 4.2.42 Because of the location of Blaenavon close to the Brecon Beacons National Park, the site has enormous potential benefit of being able to draw on the Parks’ visitors. The mountainous open spaces of the historic landscape have a potential appeal for a range of activities such as walking, mountain biking, pony trekking, climbing, hang gliding, ballooning. By encouraging outdoor pursuits within the WHS this could provide another form of sustainable tourism which requires little alteration of the landscape, but exploits its rugged character. Encouraging annual competitions which make use of the benefits of the landscape in a non-destructive and sustainable manner through may be one way of raising awareness of the area and attract visitors who would not otherwise visit the area or be unaware of the landscape as a resource. 4.2.43 The area could also be linked-up with further attractions to visitors such as canal boat holidaymakers, on the nearby Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal, the cyclists on the Taff trial, visitors to the narrow gauge Brecon Mountain Railway and walkers in the Clydach Gorge and around the Blorenge. By further opening up new pathways and encouraging links to existing tourist routes, such as the Taff Trail cycle path, this could be further exploited. Rights of way officers have a significant part to play in this respect. Conclusions 4.2.44 Blaenavon Partnership has succeeded in stemming half a century of decline and the value of the economic regeneration can be seen in a number of indicators such as jobs created, jobs safe guarded, increases in property values, properties saved from dereliction and visitor numbers. However, the other benefits, like protection of the cultural heritage and improvement in the quality of life, may be less tangible and less easy to measure as indicators, but are equally important such as community pride. 4.2.45 The British Ironworks site has been redundant and under-used for many decades and as a result has become a focus for fly-tipping and other antisocial behaviour. However, local interest in, and knowledge of, the site remains strong, especially in relation to its use as a former coal mine. In terms of improving the local environment and attracting economic benefits to a disadvantaged area, the site must be seen as having great regeneration potential especially for new development. However, the potential re-use of the site must be seen in terms of the current environmental constraints such as the cultural heritage, ecological factors, landscape elements and possible contaminants although these are likely to be less extensive than at Blaenavon. Further studies would, therefore, be necessary in order to examine the costs and benefits of the site regeneration. 0014021/JM/001 25
Torfaen County Borough Council REVIT: A Review of the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Assets on Brownfield Sites 4.3 Medway Introduction 4.3.1 Medway Council, is located in Kent in southeast England. The impetus for regeneration in Medway was the closure of the Royal Navy’s dockyards and associated sites in 1984. This caused large areas of Brownfield land along the River the Medway to become vacant, many containing large numbers of historic sites and monuments. A further spur to this process was the designation of Medway as a growth area within the Thames Gateway which resulted in the creation of the Medway City Estate as an enterprise zone. To set out their ideas for the regeneration of the area, Medway Council together with the Medway Renaissance Partnership published set out their aspirations in Medway’s Waterfront Renaissance Strategy (Medway 2004). 4.3.2 As part of Medway’s Waterfront Renaissance scheme there has been a systematic programme of public and private investment which has helped to rebuild the local economy. Medway Council has begun with the economic, physical and social regeneration of Brownfield sites such as Chatham Historic Dockyard through a heritage-led approach, which draws on the “museum process” similar to Torfaen, but also emphases a greater degree of mixed use in the form of business and residential development. 4.3.3 The regeneration of Chatham Dockyard was assisted by a £12.3m grant from Heritage Lottery Fund which has paid dividends in terms of businesses, employment and tourism as well as the wider regeneration implications for the Thames Gateway area. Research by the Southern Tourist Board concludes that the Historic Dockyard is worth £20 million for the local economy. 4.3.4 This Brownfield site contains a significant number of historic buildings, maritime industrial features and archaeological sites which have been highlighted as the centre of the strategy for regeneration of the site. Chatham Historic Dockyard 4.3.5 The Historic Dockyard is a 32 hectare site with over 100 surviving historic buildings and maritime structures. The majority of the historic features were constructed between 1704 and 1855 and were built to maintain the sailpowered, timber hulled warships of the Royal Navy. A total 47 of these buildings and sites are protected as Scheduled as Ancient Monuments with 53 being also listed as Historic Buildings, consisting of eleven Grade I Listed and 33 Grade II* Listed Buildings. 4.3.6 During the mid-17th century the Chatham Historic Dockyard was the Royal Navy’s main shipbuilding and repair yard and retains a unique range of historic naval structures including storehouses, dry docks, rope walks and covered slipways. The Historic Dockyard is the most complete surviving example of a former Royal Dockyard in Britain and together with Fort Amherst and the Lines site has been proposed for World Heritage Site status. 4.3.7 As part of the process of managing and conserving the site an independent Chatham Dockyard Historic Charitable Trust was set up. A programme of repair and refurbishment of various buildings was carried out which has created a mixed-use site which is a successful tourist destination with small businesses and shopping outlets. The proposed uses for the site consisted of leisure and tourism, small business development and display of Medway’s 0014021/JM/001 26
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