What’s past is prologue

Unlocking the value of heritage for local economies 

Author: Sandy Forsyth & Callin McLinden   |   29/07/2026

Heritage connects the past, present and future of place. Historic buildings, landscapes, collections, skills, stories and traditions shape local identity while supporting employment, visitor economies, wellbeing and community life.  

Yet heritage remains too often confined to conservation or tourism policy, rather than treated as part of the civic and economic infrastructure through which places grow and adapt. What’s Past is Prologue uses the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Stratford-upon-Avon as a case study to show how heritage organisations can act as anchor institutions, generating demand, supporting local supply chains and helping communities shape the places in which they live. 

Post-pandemic visitor patterns, rising operating costs, fragmented funding and reduced local government capacity have exposed the fragility of existing heritage models. Unlocking heritage’s full value will require long-term stewardship, stronger institutional coordination and clearer place for heritage within national, regional and local growth policy. 

Key points 

Heritage as civic infrastructure 

Heritage includes both tangible assets, such as historic buildings, landscapes, archives and collections, and intangible forms, including skills, traditions, stories and memory. Treating this inheritance  as civic infrastructure recognises its continuing role in local identity, social connection, economic activity and the long-term development of place. 

Retaining heritage value locally 

Heritage generates economic demand through visitors, conservation work, programming, investment and wider spending across place. Its local impact depends on how much of this activity councils and heritage organisations can capture and circulate through local employment, procurement, businesses and skills. Accessible contracts, stronger supplier networks and longer visitor stays can reduce leakage and retain more value within local economies. 

Wellbeing, skills and inclusive participation 

Heritage can strengthen wellbeing, belonging, education and pride in place, while traditional crafts and conversation skills support both stewardship and the retrofit of historic buildings. These benefits depend on access and representation. Heritage organisations must provide communities with meaningful influence over which histories are recognised, how assets are interpreted and how the benefits of investment are shared. 

Heritage-led development and regeneration 

Heritage can support town centre renewal, housing, workspaces, community infrastructure and environmental objectives when embedded within economic, cultural and spatial strategies. Adaptive reuse can preserve local character and embodied carbon, but the costs of repair and long-term maintenance often require patient public, private or philanthropic investment.  

Governance, stewardship and institutional capacity 

Local authorities act as the linchpin of heritage systems through their planning, asset management, convening and place-leadership roles. Strategic authorities can connect heritage to regional growth, transport, skills and investment, while heritage organisations provide specialist knowledge and local legitimacy. Effective stewardship depends on these institutions aligning around shared outcomes and retaining the professional capacity needed to deliver them.  

Recommendations 

Central government: 

Make tangible and intangible heritage visible across national place policy: Heritage should be consistently reflected within infrastructure, regeneration, community ownership and place-based policy, recognising the relationship between historic assets, landscapes, cultural practices and traditional skills. 

Publish heritage-specific appraisal guidance for place-based investment: HM Treasury, MHCLG and DCMS should provide guidance that helps decision-makers apply Green Book principles to heritage, including non-use value, wellbeing and other benefits that conventional economic measures can overlook. 

Put heritage funding on a more sustainable footing: Funding programmes should provide early development supports, full cost recovery, multi-year revenue funding and credible maintenance planning alongside capital investment. Government should also review fiscal barriers to repair and adaptive reuse. 

Rebuild specialist heritage capacity across local government: Councils need dedicated support to prepare investable projects, assess adaptive reuse, manage risks and integrate heritage across planning, asset management, economic development, climate adaptation, culture and tourism. 

Regional government and strategic authorities: 

Make heritage a defined part of Local Growth Plans and investment evidence bases: Strategic authorities should identify heritage assets, clusters, visitor flows, conservation needs, skills gaps and growth opportunities within their spatial and economic strategies. 

Build heritage skills into regional labour market and green skills planning: Regional skills systems should recognise conversation, traditional building crafts, historic building retrofit, interpretation and estate stewardship as part of local labour market and decarbonisation priorities. 

Use destination management to measure heritage value, not just visitor numbers: Visitor economy strategies should track dwell time, overnight stays, local spending, sustainable travel, accessibility, seasonal demand and benefits to residents and independent businesses. 

Actively shape regional heritage and retrofit supply chains: Strategic authorities should map supplier capacity, coordinate pipelines of work, support specialist SMEs and address gaps in the trades and services required for conservation and retrofit. 

Local councils: 

Move from Local Plan recognition towards delivery-focused heritage planning: Councils should use heritage evidence bases, site allocations, regeneration strategies and asset plans to identify how historic assets can support housing, public realm, biodiversity, community use and town centre renewal. 

Use council-owned heritage assets to support long-term stewardship: Before disposal, councils should assess whether heritage assets could be reused, transferred into community stewardship or managed through suitable trusts, partnerships or other delivery vehicles. 

Apply procurement reforms to heritage-led regeneration projects: Contract design, lotting, payment terms, market engagement and evaluation criteria should allow specialist SMEs, conversation professionals, social enterprises and local suppliers to complete effectively. 

Strengthen community stewardship, inclusion and heritage literacy through holistic project governance: Heritage projects should give residents practical influence over protection, interpretation and sharing benefits, while addressing affordable access, contested histories, workforce inclusion and the knowledge required to care for local heritage.   

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