Political Advocacy for the Historic Environment: A Public Policy Review of England's National Planning Policy Framework.

The British Government announced large-scale reforms of England's planning policy in May 2010. The resultant National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was released in March 2012. Despite assurances from the Government that the principles governing the management of the historic environment through the planning system would remain largely intact, the policy reform process caused considerable concern and upheaval for historic environment interest groups, and prompted a great deal of activity to assure its interest. This paper sets the context for the historic environment sector's political engagement in England, with insights applicable to the place of heritage advocacy within the power webs of wider agencies of government. The paper examines the campaign led by the heritage charity, the National Trust, and contrasts its strategy with that practised by other bodies in the sector to evaluate the (in)effectiveness of advocacy strategies in the current political climate. The power dynamics and the intricacies of policy processes, as well as the strategies of historic environment agencies engaging with them, are considered. The study concludes that, although the NPPF release was eventually received as a reasonably positive outcome for the interests of the sector, it illustrates the lengths to which political advocates must now go in order to effect change and, conversely, shows how vulnerable we may be if we are not alert to the changing public policy environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]