THORNBOROUGH MOOR AND ASSOCIATED LANDSCAPE
Thornborough, North Yorkshire.

BRIEF FOR THE COMMISSIONING OF A CONSERVATION PLAN

EH Reference: AA/16124/2-2

Date: January 2005

1.0 INTRODUCTION, PROJECT ORGANISATION, PROGRAMME AND PROCEDURES

1.1 Introduction and objectives

1.1.1 What is a Conservation Plan?

A Conservation Plan is a document that explains what a site is (referred to as a ‘place’), why it is culturally significant, how that significance is vulnerable or sensitive to change and sets out the policies for managing that significance in any future use or development.

It is often the case that conflicts of interest can develop over a ‘place’, but these conflicts might only become apparent when change is proposed. The Conservation Plan presents the different and sometimes conflicting values attached to a place and proposes policies that remove or lessen those conflicts. Even where conflicts between values cannot be removed the policies aim to establish principles and policies that can be shared by all the stakeholders. A Conservation Plan should encompass the many different aspects of heritage interest attached to a place, defined as four principal value groups: historic, scientific, aesthetic and social. Other values should also be considered including economic and ecological value where they occur as part of the place. The Plan should cover every aspect of the cultural significance of the place, including associated collections which may be housed in several locations, and must aim to encompass those aspects of the place that identify local and intangible values. The reason for this is that stakeholders attach intangible values and meanings (identity, sense of place etc) to tangible objects.

1.1.2 What is the purpose of a Conservation Plan?

A Conservation Plan provides a single approach to understanding and managing the cultural significance of a place. The primary value of a Conservation Plan is that it allows the participants to balance and assess ‘cultural significance’ against proposed ‘use’; it does not accept that places and landscape can be ‘frozen’. A Conservation Plan aims to understand why a place is culturally significant and sets out to show how the significance of the place will be managed. A Conservation Plan is the first step to preparing the following:

1. Management proposals

2. Major repair or restoration schemes

3. New developments

4. Maintenance programmes

A Conservation Plan is a particularly useful tool for large or complex places that comprise more than one cultural asset.

1.1.3 How will the Conservation Plan be used?

A Conservation Plan is a tool that will be used in a number of different ways.

1. For guidance in the day to day management of a place.

2. To help prepare a detailed Management Plan for the place.

3. To provide the baseline from which to evaluate the impact of any new proposals and developments.

4. As a framework within which to assess the opportunities and constraints provided by the place.

5. To form part of the design brief for any development proposals or reuse of existing structures or areas.

6. To inform decision making, prioritise work, and help create the interpretive and educational strategies for the place.

1.1.4 The success of a Conservation Plan can be measured by the number of policies that are implemented successfully. The Conservation Plan for Thornborough Moor and associated landscape will therefore set our practical policies and recommended actions that are as achievable as they are desirable.

1.1.5 Why does a Conservation Plan need to be adopted?

One of the most important parts of the Conservation Plan process is adoption. All the parties involved in the management and use of the place must be party to the consultative process required to create the Plan. Consultation and participation are essential if the Plan and its policies are to be meaningfully adopted by all the stakeholders who have an interest in the place. Unless a Plan has been formally adopted by the stakeholders (even though they may disagree with some of the Conservation Plan policies) it carries little weight.

When adopting the Plan, the commissioning body and the principal stakeholders will need to ensure that the Plan is not unwittingly in conflict with the aims and policies of other statutory bodies or neighbouring land managers whose co-operation is necessary to the achievement of the objectives of the Plan.

1.1.6 The Conservation Plan Process

The work of preparing the Plan can be broken down into five stages.

1. Understanding the place;

2. Assessing and stating the cultural significance;

3. Defining the issues and setting out appropriate conservation policies for retaining the cultural, and other significance of the place;

4. Specifying an implementation strategy comprising a series of recommended management actions drawn up to reflect the content of the conservation policies;

5. Securing the formal adoption of the Plan.

This brief is based on James Semple Kerr’s The Conservation Plan – A Guide to the preparation of conservation plans for places of European cultural significance, Australia ICOMOS 1996 and the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Conservation Plans for Historic Places, DCMS 1998 to which the consultant is referred.

1.1.7 Reviewing the Plan

The Conservation Plan will be reviewed at intervals of not more than five years and within that interval whenever changing circumstances demand. Each edition of the Conservation Plan, including the first edition, will therefore identify those areas or issues where change is likely to be needed, or where a current lack of information makes it difficult to assess the impact of changing policy. Each edition of the Plan will include a programme for remedying known shortfalls in the quality or quantity of relevant information. This programme will be incorporated within the implementation section of each revised edition of the Plan.

1.2 Background to the place

Thornborough Moor and associated landscape is a place of considerable cultural significance, although this has yet to be quantified in any definitive way. The Conservation Plan area is indicated on Figure 1 and any assessment of the area will illustrate the problems associated with current identifications and attributions of ‘value’. The Conservation Plan area is situated in a larger zone (the Vales of York and Mowbray) containing a major north – south communications route and located between two National Parks and two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and yet the Conservation Plan area (and its related landscape) contains an archaeological landscape of international importance. The larger, encompassing north-south area has been subject to a continuing degree of change not shared by the neighbouring ‘designated’ areas: transport infrastructure, service industry provision, mineral extraction, arable farming and construction and continuance of military airfields and barracks.

The Conservation Plan area exhibits landscapes of the prehistoric, medieval, post-medieval and modern periods, but in general it is a landscape of continued use and occupation with the dominant historic and current forms being village vernacular, arable farming and quarrying.

1.2.1 Brief Description:

The Conservation Plan area has been demarcated in a manner to address a number of concerns:
It includes those villages and communities consulted by North Yorkshire County Council with regard to a recent minerals planning application submitted by Tarmac Northern Ltd.
Topographically the core area is a coherent rectangular zone bounded on its west, north, east and south-east by changes in elevation. The south-west of the area is bounded by the River Ure. The landscape of the Conservation Plan area is subtle and consists of gravel terraces, low-lying ground, areas of previous wetland, slight eminences and more complex topography (typified by the view west from the east side of Thornborough village and the view north west from the central henge. The three late Neolithic henges are aligned north-west, south-east, located in the west and south-west of the Conservation Plan area. Other scheduled monuments (Neolithic cursuses and Bronze Age barrows) are located in close proximity, in addition to other non-scheduled sites of national importance.

The three late Neolithic henges are believed to be part of a complex prehistoric ritual landscape that extends from the Devil’s Arrows at Boroughbridge to the south (and perhaps further south at Ferrybridge, West Yorkshire) to Catterick in the north and bounded to the west and east by the Rivers Ure and Swale respectively. This complex consists of seven henges, at least two curses and the standing stones at Boroughbridge. The group of three henges at Thornborough are the largest such sited outside the Wessex chalkland, all three sharing the same dimensions (a diameter of about 240m) and design. The massive size of the Thornborough henges sets them apart from other later Neolithic monuments.

Brief examination of the Buildings of England volume for the North Riding of Yorkshire and the catalogues of Listed buildings reveal the Conservation Plan area to be rich in cultural property and cultural significance stretching in time from the Mesolithic to the modern and extending from high to low status. However the purpose of the Conservation Plan is to identify how the place is used and to whom it is culturally significant.

1.2.2 Statutory status:

The three henges and associated features are classified as Scheduled Monuments, that is monuments identified as being of national importance, and protected under the provisions of the 1979 Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act. The core area contains many listed buildings (see 5.2.5), several listed at Grade II, one Grade II* (Kirklington Hall) and five at Grade I (Church at St. Michael, Kirklington; Church of St. Michael, Well; Well Hall; Church of St. Nicholas, West Tanfield; Marmion Tower, West Tanfield) all of which signify national importance. There are Conservation Areas at Kirklington, Well and West Tanfield and the garden at Thorpe Perrow is on the English Heritage Register of Historic Gardens. There are no Registered Battlefields in the Core area.

1.3 Context for the Plan

1.3.1 The need for a Conservation Plan has been crystallized by the desire of Tarmac Northern Ltd to extend their existing aggregated quarry and thereafter seek the inclusion of Thornborough Moor as a ‘preferred area’ for aggregates extraction when the Minerals Local Plan is reviewed. However the need to arrive at a more consistent and effective management approach to this nationally significant landscape has been a matter of considerable debate for a number of years. If the landscape is culturally significant how then, or should, current agricultural practice be modified? What is the context and setting of the monuments and what is the most suitable approach to landscape creation following aggregates extraction? As a nationally and internationally important landscape how should the monuments and wider landscape be interpreted and accessed?

1.3.2 In general the Conservation Plan is being commissioned to sit alongside the ‘Issues’ exercise that will have to be undertaken by North Yorkshire County Council. The ‘Issues’ exercise will be a wide public consultation process that is a fundamental part of the Minerals Local Plan Review that will conclude in 2006. NYCC will consult the communities within the County and receive their comments. Tarmac Northern Ltd will identify their preferred new sites for extraction and submit those choices to NYCC. However the commissioning of the Conservation Plan is an attempt to reveal the many values attached to the landscape by the many stakeholders who have an interest in that landscape, and as such goes ‘deeper’ than a public consultation exercise about the desirability or otherwise of aggregates extraction. Thereafter the Conservation Plan will be used to inform the creation and execution of a Management Plan and ‘vision’ for the Conservation Plan area, but also for the ‘use’ of the wider landscape.

1.3.3 Mineral extraction can lead to conflict between economic, archaeological and community values and yet minerals (in a number of configurations) are needed by society. Some companies have responded by promoting engagement and the production of ‘best practice’ case-studies and guidelines that illustrate the positive community/mining relationships that can be developed. This has been most often the case in North America, Australia and Asia but involving some of the most prominent mining companies such as Rio Tinto Zinc, Comalco and Placer Dome. It is the desire of the stakeholders in this Conservation Plan that a ‘best practice’ approach can be contemplated, although not imitating the models referred to below (1.3.4).

1.3.4 Placer Dome set up the PEAK committee at the Porgera Mine (Papua New Guinea) in 1996 (www.placerdome.com); Comalco developed a model for community negotiations in Australia known as the ‘Pitjantjatjara model’. Century Zinc are actively participating in the creation of the management strategy at Riversleigh, Queensland. In West Virginia, USA the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed considerable experience of consultation between coal mining interests and local communities. Hammersley Iron (a subsidiary of RTZ) has a comprehensive heritage programme and broad-based consultation strategy at Pilbara, Western Australia. The tenderer should refer to such examples of community consultation and participation to inform the creation of ‘best practice’ approach and the production of the Conservation Plan.

1.3.5 The setting, context and use of Thornborough Moor and associated landscape have been matters of considerable debate for many years as discussion has revolved around the definitions of the terms, the appropriateness of use and after-use strategies and the scope of access and interpretation. Given the fact that change is a constant, what degree and nature of change should be tolerated and embraced?

1.3.6 In order to bring together the various stakeholders and provide a forum to debate much of the above, North Yorkshire County Council host two consultative groups:
i) the Thornborough Henges Consultation and Working Group (consisting of the principal stakeholders and invited participants) and ii) the Thornborough Henges Projects and Funding Group, a sub-group of i) but specifically tasked with the identification of a vision for the Conservation Plan area and wider landscape and definition of its inter and intra-regional cultural, economic, amenity and access potential.

1.3.7 With these issues in mind the Conservation Plan must be firmly based in consultation with the stakeholders and wider constituency in order to give shape to, direct and inform the continuing debate and management demands.

2. Tender Submission

2.1 You should submit:

1. a method statement

2. a fee proposal

3. a CV of those who will undertake the commission

4. details of previous work

5. practice profile

The tender return date is Monday 21st February 2005. Tenders to be returned to K. Emerick at English Heritage, 37, Tanner Row, York, UO1 6WP.

The consultant should allow for ‘management group’ meetings to be timetabled at the end of each of the first 4 key stages of work (2.2 and 2.4 below)

These meetings will include: the consultants, the relevant English Heritage officer (English Heritage will be the lead client) and representatives of the Thornborough Henges Consultation and Working Group. These meeting will ensure that delivery is to agreed targets and that the course of the study is focused.
Appointment will be made on the basis of written response and interview with presentation (outlining practice profile, suitability for the commission and initial thoughts on the Conservation Plan proposals).

2.2 As part of the tender submission the consultant is requested to present a programme for the delivery of the Consultation Plan. This programme as a minimum should indicate dates for the completion of the following KEY STAGES of work:

1. Understanding the place

2. Assessing and stating the cultural significance.

3. Stating the conservation policies for retaining the significance.

4. Completion of the first draft of the Plan.

5. Completing the Plan.

Each stage of the Conservation Plan (Understanding, Assessing and stating the cultural significance etc) is to be issued in draft to the stakeholders for consultation and response.

2.3 Phased payment will be released on completion and acceptance of the five Conservation Plan stages.

2.4 Please note the following target dates:

1. Appointment of Conservation Plan Co-ordinator (lead consultant) to be within one week of the grant offer.

2. Deadline for completion of the first full draft of the Plan to be four months from the date of the offer of a Conservation Plan grant.

3. Presentation of the first full draft to the stakeholders five months from the date of the offer of a Conservation Plan grant.

4. Final draft to be complete six months from the date of the offer of a Conservation Plan grant.

Any changes to these deadlines must be agreed with English Heritage.

3. Project organisation and liaison

3.1 The Conservation Plan will be commissioned by English Heritage on behalf of the Thornborough Henges Consultation and Working Group.

3.2 The liaison officer for the Conservation Plan will be:
Keith Emerick, Inspector of Ancient Monuments, English Heritage, Yorkshire Region, 37, Tanner Row, York.YO1 6WP 01904:601988, email Keith.emerick@english-heritage.org.uk

3.3 Within 1 week of confirmation of appointment, the contractor will identify an individual who will act as project manager.

3.4 Access to the place will be agreed via the project liaison officer who will consult with the various landowners.

4. Presentation

4.1 The work is to be carried out as a consultative process with stakeholders and representatives of the stakeholders. The principal stakeholders include the residents and representatives of Nosterfield, Thornborough, Well, West Tanfield, Camp Hill, Kirklington and Sutton Howgrave villages, the Friends of Thornborough, Tarmac Northern Ltd (minerals and aggregate extractor and owner of the central and southern henges), Mr C Bourne Arton (owner of the northern henge), English Heritage, North Yorkshire County Council, Hambleton District Council, the Lower Ure Conservation Trust and Dr Jan Harding (Newcastle University) and Mr Robert Staveley (Tarmac tenant, owner of mineral rights and farmer of Thornborough Moor). A second tier of stakeholders might include groups such as: the residents of more distant villages, DEFRA, and the CLA, the Swale-Ure Washlands Project, English Nature, RSPB, CPRE. However, both levels of stakeholders should include all those with an interest in the place.

4.2 The consultant should allow for issuing draft documents at interim reviews, consultation sessions with community and stakeholder groups, visioning conferences as well as formal presentations so that initial and later findings may be discussed with all the stakeholders (or their representatives) before the document is finalised. The final document should be reviewed in the light of the points raised through consultation.

4.3 The report will be produced as a bound report in A4 format using Arial 12pt.
15 copies are to be submitted together with a copy on disc in Word. Individual bound copies are to be submitted to the County SMR and NMR, Swindon.

4.4 All supporting information should be provided in bound appendices.

4.5 The report must be well illustrated with illustrations integrated into the text wherever possible.

4.6 Good quality professional photographs of key plans and views are necessary and the tender should include the cost of photography and reproduction.

4.7 Full size copies of maps, plans and drawings should be provided on a stable medium.

4.8 All references to new archive material gathered during this work will be assembled into a coherent archive (working to best contemporary practice) by the contractor for deposition at the most suitable repository. It is essential that the contractor liase with the receiving organisation (when decided) to agree the format, quantity and timing of deposition of the original archive.

4.9 The copyright of the report will be the property of the Thornborough Henges Consultation and Working Group; however, the Contractor will be afforded the right to refer to their work as and when necessary after discussion with this group.

5. SCOPE OF THE COMMISSION

5.1 Generally

5.1.1 The consultant is required to produce a Conservation Plan for Thornborough Moor and its associated landscape. The Plan is to consider the cultural significance of the place as defined by the stakeholders, understand the relationship between the Conservation Plan and periphery areas and propose policies to enhance or protect its cultural significance. The finished report is to be in the form of a dynamic document that can be developed and amended as further evidence comes to light or circumstances change. The Conservation Plan is to be prepared to a level that will allow strategic decisions to be taken on the future management and use of Thornborough Moor and associated landscape. The Conservation Plan needs to set out priorities for the ongoing use of the place and recommend suitable uses for the spaces that will benefit the local stakeholders.

5.1.2 A great deal of information exists on Thornborough Henges and can be found at several locations in Yorkshire and beyond, but further research will be required to obtain a more complete understanding of the place in order to establish conservation policies against which decisions can be taken.

5.1.3 It is suggested that the tenderer should visit and study material held by the Heritage Unit North Yorkshire County Council, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, English Heritage, Mike Griffiths and Associates (and Field Archaeology Specialists – FAS, University of York) and Dr Jan Harding, Newcastle University. The tenderer should also submit with the tender a list of any further supporting reports recommended for commissioning as evidence on which the Conservation Plan should be based.

5.2 STAGE 1: Understanding the place

Cultural significance is a simple concept. Its purpose is to help identify and assess the attributes which make a place of value to us and to our society. An understanding of it is therefore basic to any planning process. Once the significance of a place is understood, informed policy decisions can be made which will enable that significance to be retained, revealed or, at least, impaired as little as possible. A clear understanding of the nature and level of the significance of a place will not only suggest constraints on future action, it will also introduce flexibility by identifying areas which can be adopted or developed with greater freedom.
James Semple Kerr: The Conservation Plan

5.2.1 Gathering Evidence

The consultant is to gather evidence that can be used in formulating the Statement of Cultural Significance. The consultant is expected to draw together the readily available documentary evidence relating to the place, including copies where possible of maps, illustrations and photographs, as well as any correspondence, leases, rate book accounts, oral history or other sources. Copies of existing reports, surveys or other information should be used where available. The research should aim to understand

1. the history, use and pattern of alteration of the landscape, its sites and setting and place within the rural morphology,

2. the areas of greatest archaeological and cultural potential, the possible state of preservation of any archaeological remains,

3. the size, history, associations and condition of any collections and dispersed elements,

4. associations with events and notable persons

5. changes in the relationship between the key elements and the surrounding landscape,

6. any ecological importance and diversity,

7. the significance of the site and landscape to the local communities and the use to which it is put,

8. the history, relevance and potential of tourism and leisure activity,

9. the economic context of the actual and possible uses of the place, although this should not be a Business Plan or Options Appraisal.

and be able to place these values and characteristics in their wider context as a basis for assessing significance.

5.2.2 Existing reports

A great deal of archaeological research has been carried out on Thornborough Henges and adjacent areas. The present exercise is largely seen as a gathering and re-ordering of existing material, although some new research (not including excavation) will be required. The existing documentation is to be reviewed by the consultant who will indicate gaps in our knowledge. Documents include various archaeological reports prepared for Tarmac Northern Ltd; archaeological reports prepared by Dr Jan Harding of Newcastle University; a report on past environmental conditions prepared by Dr Anthony Long of Durham University; the Swale and Ure Washlands Project and related environmental reports. Further reports are in preparation on agronomics (Askham Bryan College), agricultural strategy (Defra) and two aerial photographic transcription projects (one of which will be complete in February 2005). Very little has been prepared on the built heritage of the place (except for Listing descriptions) or the landscape character.

5.2.3 Physical evidence

The fabric of a place is the most accurate, if incomplete, document of historic change and development. The fabric of each landscape element within the place is to be examined to confirm or revise the current chronologies.
However it is not intended that detailed recording, building condition survey or excavation should be undertaken as part of this project. The examination is to be based on a visual assessment carried out in parallel with the archival study. Thus assessments of the built heritage should concentrate on establishing ‘character’, whilst the assessment of the landscape should assess its character, past and current use. However assessment of building fabric and landscape is one part of establishing cultural significance, other values are attached to fabric and landscapes and it is the combination of all these values that makes ‘cultural significance’.

5.2.4 Co-ordination and analysis of evidence

All the gathered evidence is to be co-ordinated and analysed by the consultant drawing together documentary, oral and physical evidence into a narrative form. The overall aim of understanding the place is to link the social meaning and historical understanding of the place to the landscape in a way that is concise and easy to read.
All analyses are to be based on the evidence with sources quoted.
The consultant is to identify problems that could not be solved at this stage or where information is missing.

5.2.5 Gazetteer

The consultant is asked to prepare a gazetteer of the elements of the place identifying the following for each element:

1. documentary history

2. description of fabric, including dating of features

3. significance

4. designation (if relevant)

5. management issues including reference to condition and vulnerability

6. sources (refer to any more detailed reports)

7. present use

The gazetteer may be presented as a data sheet or table with illustrations. Elements should be numbered for ease of reference and a key plan showing the numbers should be provided. Condition surveys of historic buildings will not be required.

5.2.6 Phasing

The consultant should use the information gathered from assessment of the place to set out the major phases of its evolution, drawing on archaeology, history, architectural and landscape history, past management regimes and the history of repair or alterations. This analysis should be brought up to the present day. Each phase should be placed in its wider historical and landscape context and include assessment of the impact of change to the overall significance of the place.

5.2.7 Understanding Values

Before assessing the significance of the place, the consultant is asked to ensure that they have sufficient understanding of:

1. the social values attached to the place

2. the wider art historical, landscape or architectural context of the place

3. the archaeology of the place

4. any other way in which the place is currently used or valued as a basis for making judgements about significance, in addition to the four key value groups identified in 1.1.1 on page 1.

5.2.8 Gaps

The consultant should identify any gaps in our knowledge and identify those that may need to be filled through further investigation or recording in either the short or long term.

5.3 STAGE II : Assessing and stating the cultural significance.

The assessment of cultural significance should set out with precision the nature and level of the significance of the place. This should be done in terms of criteria which have been adopted to suit the particular place after the analysis has been completed. Repetition and descriptive matter already given in the analysis should be avoided. When a place has any degree of complexity, it is necessary to prepare individual assessments of component parts or aspects, as well as a brief general statement.
James Semple Kerr: The Conservation Plan.

5.3.1 The consultant is to provide an assessment of the significance of the place in terms of its aesthetic, social, historic, scientific and other values. This assessment should also demonstrate the importance of the place regionally, nationally and internationally and the degree to which each feature or landscape element is significant. For Thornborough Moor and associated landscape significance should include, but not be restricted to, the following criteria:
(The following are examples only)

The degree of rarity of the place, its buildings and features should be established by comparison with parallel sites and comparative data.

5.3.2 The aim of the exercise is first to set out the overall significance of the place, and second to show how the different elements of the place contribute to its overall importance. The assessment involves defining two sets of criteria: the values to be used, and the way in which degrees of significance are to be established. This exercise needs some care: the particular nature of the place will be important, but it should also be borne in mind that tabulated assessments of significance and scoring systems give only an illusion of objectivity and may well be misinterpreted later. If done well, the assessment should enable the site manager to make informed decisions about how to balance competing and conflicting values.

5.3.3 The consultant is asked to produce:

1. a general statement of significance, no more than one page of A4 setting out the key values for the place,

2. an assessment of the significance of the elements of the place in such a way as to reflect the aesthetic, historical, scientific and social significance. This assessment should include the significance of each phase of alteration. It may also be useful to identify features that at present significantly detract from the place.

5.3.4 The Statement of Significance is to provide a practical basis for the third stage of the Conservation Plan – stating the conservation policies for retaining that cultural significance.

5.4 STAGE III : Stating the conservation policies for retaining the cultural significance of the place.

The primary purpose of the conservation plan is to establish policies which will guide the future care and development of a place. This stage is therefore devoted to the development and statement of those policies and to the strategies for their implementation.
James Semple Kerr: The Conservation Plan.

5.4.1 This stage involves the statement of a clear conservation policy and the strategies for implementing that policy. It is not concerned with the preparation of specifications and plans for proposed works. In order to define the conservation policy the consultant will gather from all available sources the relevant data for consideration.

5.4.2 Assessing issues/vulnerability

The consultant should identify all issues relevant to the conservation plan. These will include any factors affecting the significance of the place now, in the past, and in the future and may include:

1. cumulative losses or changes to the place

2. ownership and management issues

3. possible conflicts created by different types of significance or competing values

4. requirements for access including current users and public and community expectations

5. external requirements (including statutory requirements) or the requirements of the place occupants and any issues this might raise

This section of the Plan can also address any opportunities for enhancing the significance of the place.

As well as general issues, the consultant is specifically asked to address:

1. visitor access

2. alternative uses for parts of the place

3. links between elements of the place;

4. desirability of future research

5.4.3 From the information gathered the consultant is to develop a Conservation Policy in consultation with the client. The statement of the Conservation Policy should set out how the conservation of Thornborough Moor and associated landscape can be best achieved while retaining the significance of the place.

5.4.4 Writing policies

The consultant is asked to use their understanding of the place, the assessment of significance, and the analysis of issues – as well as consultations with others in forms such as ‘visioning’ conferences – as a basis for drafting policies that will guide the future care, use, development and alteration of the place. These policies should, at a minimum, aim to:

1. define an overall philosophy or vision for the place

2. retain the significance of the place

3. identify appropriate uses

4. define an effective approach to repair

5. satisfy statutory requirements

6. work within available resources

7. enhance public appreciation of the landscape

8. prevent future damage or deterioration

9. address any security concerns

10. control future intervention

11. address current and future public access

12. identify opportunities for stakeholder participation

These policies should not simply be a justification for a single scheme, but should provide an independent review of all relevant issues.

These policies should include:

1. general policies relating to the care and operation of the place, including philosophy, appropriate uses, alteration, maintenance, access, land management, restoration, setting, services, security, control of intervention

2. specific policies for individual parts of the place (eg. areas, spaces, exterior, interior, fabric, landscape, below ground archaeology, collections, setting etc.)

3. other (eg. opportunities for enhancement, alternative uses, public access, stakeholder and community participation)

5.4.5 A strategy for the implementation of the Conservation Policy will be recommended by the consultant. This must take into account the known available resources and conservation priorities.

5.4.6 The Conservation Policy is a flexible section of the Plan that will change depending on the time, the resources available and developments in our understanding of the place.

5.5 STAGE IV : Completion of the first full draft of the Plan

5.5.1 The consultant should allow for the presentation of the first full draft to a full meeting of the stakeholders, or their representatives, using additional visual material as necessary to aid discussion and understanding.

5.5.2 It is critical that the suggested policies are agreed by the lead client and discussed with the stakeholders before being made public in any way.

5.6 STAGE V : Finalising the Plan

5.6.1 The Consultant should complete the Plan within six months of the date of the Conservation Plan grant offer. The Plan will then be used in policy formation and adoption.

6. BRIEF

6.1 Brief prepared by:

English Heritage Yorkshire Region Conservation Team

Signed:

Keith Emerick
Inspector of Ancient Monuments

Date: January 2005