Strategies - what are we here for?

Strategies …What are we here for?

HERIAN was launched in 2003 as a long-term multi-sector partnership. The partnership was formed in recognition of the need for a coordinated approach towards heritage development throughout Industrial South Wales.

The genesis of the partnership sprang from an influential research report conducted by L& R consultants (The South Wales Industrial Heritage Action plan) which emphasised the positive potential of industrial heritage as a catalyst in a number of key areas of regeneration:

• Social inclusion/Community development
• Urban regeneration/Environmental enhancement
• Education
• The Historic and Cultural landscape
• Tourism

It stressed that in order to unlock this potential, a strong focus needed to be maintained. In order to achieve this, L & R recommended the formation of a formal partnership with a small core project co-ordinating team, and set out an action plan for driving the project forward.

A key 'action' was the development of an interpretation master plan. This was completed by PLB consultants in 2003 (An Interpretive plan for the South Wales Industrial Heritage Initiative), and the resulting document provides HERIAN's interpretation agenda. The plan sets out a strategic framework for the enhancement of physical and intellectual access to the story of industrial South Wales, and provides opportunities for skills development, lifelong learning and community capacity building.

The PLB document suggested the creation of area based groupings that would develop more specific strategic plans. These in turn, were to include audits of the areas heritage assets, highlight development priorities, and look to identify opportunities for linking sites either through the development of trails, or thematically. To this end, five Area Working Groups (Southern; Central; Eastern; Northern and Western) have been established. These consist of HERIAN partners and other key stakeholders. The development of these plans is intended to be iterative, so once drafts of these plans are available, they will be taken out to general consultation. A key task then will be to ensure communities are engaged and empowered by the area plans to develop community-based local interpretive plans, which in turn will feed back into the area planning process.