Council tackles heritage crime

Published: Tuesday, 4th April 2023

Staff from Sevenoaks District Council have become the first in the UK to be trained in preventing and investigating heritage crime in a national pilot by Historic England.

Heritage Crime is any offence that harms the value of the built heritage such as archaeological sites, churches, castles and stately homes.

The training will help to prevent heritage crime and, if a crime has been committed, it will give the staff the skills to investigate and take action against those responsible.

The Council’s Head of Direct Services, Trevor Kennett, says: “We’re really excited to be the first Council to train staff on preventing heritage crime. With over 1,700 listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens across the District we have more heritage than most. We’re determined to do our bit to protect it for future generations.”

The training was hosted by the National Trust at Knole House and delivered by Mark Harrison, Head of Heritage Crime Strategy for Historic England.

Mark Harrison says: “This is the first time that we have trained local authority officers who hold responsibilities for licensing and enforcement. We see this as a model that we can roll-out on a national basis.”

Hannah Kay, General Manager, Knole, National Trust, adds: “It was a pleasure to host Sevenoaks District Council staff, representatives from Historic England and the Metropolitan Police Service at Knole House for this important training event. It’s very positive that Sevenoaks District Council are building partnerships with key agencies to help protect our District’s heritage assets.”

The Council will also become full signatories to the Alliance to Reduce Heritage Crime (ARCH), which is a national network that takes forward initiatives to tackle heritage crime and galvanise local action as part of the Heritage Crime Programme.

For more information visit www.historicengland.org.uk