00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin for this Monday.
00:04My name's Dale Miller, I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our heritage
00:08correspondent Alison Campsie, Alison there is a tonne to speak about on the heritage
00:16brief.
00:17We'll get to that shortly.
00:18I just want to talk about the front page of today's Scotsman firstly, and we led on
00:22a child poverty target set to be missed by a large margin.
00:26This is a report from the Joseph Roundtree Foundation that does raise concerns about
00:31how far off the Scottish Government is in terms of trying to meet this 2030 target.
00:37Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes was on the radio this morning defending the Government's
00:42record on this, but the suggestion that radical action would be needed to hit that 2030 target.
00:50It was hard not to avoid coverage you'll see there on the front page of Russell Martin sacking
00:56and he had gone within hours of a 1-1 draw to Falkirk at Falkirk Stadium.
01:01Russell Martin had to be escorted off the pitch due to some pressure from fans pitch side,
01:09and then hours later the Rangers board announcing that he had been sacked and that the club was
01:16again looking for a new manager.
01:21You can read all the latest analysis, comment and news at scotsman.com on Rangers search for
01:26their next manager.
01:27Alison, we've got a developing story this morning from an Historic Environment Scotland report.
01:34It's quite a significant one.
01:35Can you talk us to it?
01:37Yeah, hi Dale.
01:38It's a really significant development this morning in the heritage sector which will impact the future of
01:47how Historic Environment Scotland manages its 300 properties going forward and into the future.
01:56So we're talking about castles, abbeys, forts, military fortresses,
02:04prehistoric sites, 300 properties in total managed by HES on behalf of the nation.
02:13Now, why is this report come out?
02:17Well, it's been talked about for 10 years how you manage heritage going forward
02:21and Historic Environment Scotland is dealing with multiple pressures, not least costs,
02:29and very, very importantly, the impact of climate change on these aging monuments.
02:36Now, we might struggle to understand climate change, but HES and the day-to-day running
02:45of its properties knows only too well the impact of changing weather patterns and increased storm events.
02:53Now, remember that many of HES properties don't have roofs.
02:59The water gushes in and decay is accelerating.
03:04So for a long time, it's known that something has to be done and how we can manage these monuments going
03:11forward against the huge costs of keeping them conserved and against the pressures on public funding.
03:22In short, something has to get.
03:23HES and I had a very interesting chat with Dr David Fitch and he's the Director of Cultural Assets,
03:34and he had a very, very frank and a very honest discussion with me about where HES is at
03:41and where it has to go in the future.
03:43And crucially, the strategy acknowledges, and I'm going to quote here from the strategy,
03:49it's kind of the key point really, the strategy acknowledges that not all sites are equally important
03:56and that it may not be possible or necessary for us to be the custodians of them forever.
04:02So HES is prepared to really have quite a radical look at its portfolio.
04:09Now, what's happening now is that HES, as part of this way forward,
04:15is looking at each of these 300 properties and each property is going through a matrix
04:23which will decide really what its significance is to Scotland.
04:28Now, in the past, these properties were judged solely on their cultural merits
04:33and how important they were to the Scottish history and the story of Scotland.
04:38But now their value is being judged much more broadly.
04:42And as well as the cultural importance, they're looking at the social importance,
04:48the economic value and the social value of each property.
04:53And together, this will come up with a new picture of where it is believed that HES has to put its money.
05:01So really bold.
05:03I think there's agreement in the sector that something has to happen.
05:06It's given pressures that the organisations are under.
05:12But certainly there's an acknowledgement that these discussions will be difficult.
05:17David Mitchell said that they will be emotional because everyone who cares for history often has a very personal
05:27reaction or association with important historical sites.
05:32So HES are really in the midst of some pretty difficult work.
05:37And today the strategy launches.
05:39And today the public consultation opens into how HES should manage its properties going forward.
05:47But really a very big piece of work, 10 years in the making.
05:52How do we look after Scotland's heritage going forward?
05:55We know it's a massive economic driver, but how do we really make these buildings work for us?
06:01Now, there's really good examples of buildings, the big hitters, Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle.
06:11They'll be all right because they drive such economic returns.
06:16And they're so important in Scotland's story.
06:21But there's other really nuanced discussions going on around sites like Scara Bray, for example, in Orkney, the Neolithic village, a place of total wonder.
06:325,000 years old, an incredible piece of archaeology that's been preserved.
06:37But the issue at Scara Bray is climate change and the coastline where that village sits is eroding at really, really remarkable rates.
06:45So I was speaking to David Mitchell about individual sites and the view is Scara Bray is so important.
06:53This is the kind of thing that we're going to have to keep investing in long term because of its significance in so many levels.
07:00But then he was talking about Fort George, the military barracks just outside, or military fortress really, just outside Inverness, which was built after Culloden, sorry, built in the 18th century.
07:13It, again, is suffering from climate change, parts of it are falling in the sea, parts of the site are falling into the sea.
07:20He was saying, you know, if we're going to look after that long term, that's going to cost 30 to 40 million pounds.
07:26Are we, as a society, willing to pay 30 or 40 million pounds on keeping this site intact?
07:33And what is the value of that?
07:35So you can see some controversies ahead.
07:38You can see a bit of upset ahead.
07:40You can see some very difficult decisions ahead.
07:43But the view is from HES, they don't have a choice.
07:45They've really got to look at this, given the pressures that it's under and the picture of its sites going into the future.
07:54It'll be fascinating, Alison, how much things like visitor footfall, economic return, do come into those discussions on the site, which are protected and which are, you can read Alison's story in full on this subject, which will continue to develop throughout the day at scotsman.com.
08:13Just a very quick word as well, Alison, the Stone of Destiny, which has not been on public display for a matter of some weeks, will be returning this Thursday to Perth Museum.
08:24It's a big deal.
08:24You've been yourself.
08:26Fantastic.
08:27People will get to see it again.
08:28Yeah, absolutely.
08:29Perth Museum will be absolutely delighted that this is going back on show.
08:33It was shut off to the public after an incident there over the summer.
08:37And, you know, Perth Museum did a remarkable, you know, it's a remarkable stroke of genius that the Stone of Destiny was returned to Perth, or given its roots, its skin palace.
08:51And the way that Perth put it on show was really, really remarkable, and it really brought to life the importance, the significance of the stone.
09:01And it was kind of placed in a sort of immersive experience, which kind of took you back to Mount Hill, back in the 1100s, to a coronation.
09:09And you really, you really kind of felt a sort of new level of understanding, really, as to significance.
09:15I mean, we're always, you know, we're always informed about its importance, but at Perth, you can kind of really feel it.
09:20So it was a really, really great bit of, you know, an exhibition masterclass, really, for the Stone of Destiny and Perth, as I say, will be delighted that it's going back on show.
09:33You can read all the very latest heritage coverage from Alison and others across the newsroom at scotsman.com.
09:39There's a specific heritage and retro tab available via the navigation bar.
09:43Please follow us on all social media channels and pick up a copy of the Scotsman in print tomorrow, as well as the HES report story.
09:52We'll also have other political coverage from across the country.
09:55We've got the Conservative Party conference in motion, and Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England governor, is in Scotland giving a speech this evening.
10:03So you'll get the very latest on all of that at scotsman.com.
10:06Thanks to you, Alison, and thanks to everyone else for joining us.
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