As part of the process of managing our heritage, there are certain legal proceedings that we will have to undertake, and understanding exactly what they are and how they fit into the overall picture of our national heritage and its education, can be incredibly useful. You may have heard the phrase „court review hearing” and wondered what it actually meant, or how would it impact on your responsibilities as a heritage manager. More recently, you may have come across the phrase court review hearings explained and accidently clicked, thinking it referred to the machinery process of a centrepiece at the Royal Show, but finding yourself becoming more informed and engaged with your nations heritage education practices and policies. The key point to understand here is that if you do not understand what court review hearings are and how they apply to your heritage education, then you will not be equipped to take advantage of your wealth of experience and knowledge to protect the natural and built environment from what threatens it.
A heritage court review is concerned with the lawfulness of a decision made by a public body, specifically relating to the planning of conservation areas, listed buildings and scheduled monuments. Whilst this is an accurate definition, it is perhaps slightly misleading in the sense that a heritage court review hearing is not simply an outline of what has been considered in the case law for the subject and area of law, but how the particular facts relate to it. For example, if there has been a breach of planning law regarding the development surrounding a listed building, then a heritage court review may be called to determine what the decision was and whether it was lawful.
One could argue that there is too much focus on the legal aspect of protecting heritage, when rather it should be focusing on the conservation of the built and natural environment. The real value of this education is to avoid taking a heritage court hearing at all, but when it has become necessary for all parties involved in your nations heritage management sector, experts must make an effort to uphold the advantage that their knowledge of the law within the sphere of heritage management enables for them. Indeed, this is often the best way of ensuring that all parties, including local authorities, take a common sense approach to historic environment issues as a whole.
There is also a strong focus on the role played by key stakeholders, such as the public, who will be one of the main parties involved in the court proceedings. This will include parties such as applicants, representative organisations, objectors, statutory consultees, third parties like the Minister, enforcement bodies and potentially even the Secretary of State. If for example, whilst a decision is being made on an application regarding the listed status of a building, there are objectors that object and wish to make a claim against the council, then the court hearing will focus on how the local authority made its decision in the first place. It obviously becomes evident through such proceedings what kind of powers each key stakeholder has wielded throughout the process that lead to the legal proceedings being required, and therefore learning this can inform future applications by developing a better understanding of the culture of the regional heritage management sector.
At the end of the day, it is entirely up to those that are managing heritage sites to be aware of the distinctions in their legal duties in maintaining the environment around them. This means that understanding how these legal principles are developed and implemented is vital for better heritage protection practices going forward. If legal knowledge does not inform our environmental education, then it is essentially useless.
It is worth noting that the heritage court review proceedings rarely ever consider the merits of a construction project. Instead, it focuses on whether the law was followed by the entity in question, whilst life continues to quietly go on (though not for long in some cases) with the nature and environment surrounding the site. Which is why education plays a crucial role in the prevention is better than cure approach; understanding what decision making went into the planning application stage eliminates the chance of a unfavourable result.
The process by which a court review hearing is prepared starts with the hearing itself, where the judges or those presiding over the reading of the required documentation tell the parties whether or not they will be proceeding with the examination of the review. This is something that is scheduled by each court, but in the past it has been known to be roughly eight weeks prior to the hearing date itself. From here, each party is able to apply for an earlier or later listing date due to conflicting schedules, but it is understood that it would affect all proceedings, even if some parties were not directly involved in the delay. It is also worth noting that the court does not consider the timetable for pre-hearing directions, and unless the parties can agree, a draft decision will be made.
The moral of the story is that as managers of our precious heritage, if we are not going to actively prevent developers trampling over the last remaining cave paintings, then we owe it to future generations to join the fight and advocate for stronger legal protections for the landscape we are living on. A good place to start would be for you to follow the link to some more information that is as clear and concise as the advice above: this comprehensive guide.