Andrew Dismore

At today’s City Hall plenary to approve the Mayor’s culture strategy, Labour London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden Andrew Dismore asked the Mayor:

‘How will your Culture Strategy reinforce and support the Draft London Plan in protecting London’s at-risk heritage, especially when a new development is proposed, bearing in mind the number of specialist heritage officer posts lost or merged in London Boroughs’ planning departments, due to Conservative Government cuts?

‘London has over 18,000 heritage buildings and our capital’s history dates back over 2000 years making this one of the key attractions to visitors. With local authorities under increasing financial pressure, what help can you give to ensure they maintain their heritage assets, like local museums; and what can you do to publicise the smaller or more specialised museums and galleries, for example local borough museums and those attached to universities, especially so in outer London where there are fewer assets compared to central London?’

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said that he makes sure the GLA culture officer sees every relevant scheme. So far 300 development schemes have come to him. Work with councils only applies when schemes come to him. Councils are the biggest funders of culture in the country and they’ve lost half their budgets so they are under pressure.

Deputy Mayor for Culture Justine Simons added that Historic England were a formal consultee on the strategy, the draft London Plan is very pro-heritage and they are mapping heritage, statues and landmarks. The Museum of London has a leadership role, giving small grants to support local work, and the Heritage Lottery Fund is important to this.

After the Plenary Mr Dismore added:

‘Throughout London, we have seen how Conservative cuts have resulted in closures and loss of culture. This includes not just important assets like libraries but in Barnet the demise of the Church Farmhouse Museum and the deletion of the arts officer’s post. Middlesex University also closed its Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture. The Conservative philistines who run Barnet Council even auctioned off the Church Farmhouse Museum’s collection to ensure it could never be reopened. as once they are gone they can never be restored. Once such museums are gone, they are gone forever. The Mayor needs to do all he can, to protect these sorts of places for future generations.’