Dame Caroline Dinenage, Member of Parliament for Gosport, has today [Friday 9th May] hosted the Chair of England’s heritage body for a tour of the Gosport Constituency.
Dame Caroline and Lord Mendoza visited some of the heritage sites in Gosport with the potential to support growth and regeneration including Fort Gilkicker, the Rum Store at Victoria Quay, Priddy’s Hard, Powder Monkey Brewery and Fort Rowner at HMS Sultan.
Caroline demonstrated to the Chair of Historic England the benefits to the local community of unleashing the potential of the sites to increase investment in the area, bringing jobs, prosperity, and increased demand for services.
Lord Mendoza agreed with Caroline’s assessment of the merits of the heritage sites, pointing out that heritage gives us pride, a sense of connection, and confidence in our places.
Lord Mendoza, Historic England Chairman, said:
“I’m grateful for Caroline’s invitation to visit some of Gosport’s outstanding historic sites and the opportunities they represent. I firmly believe that investing in heritage and working with Historic England can help achieve exemplary place-making and sustainable economic growth, bringing real benefits to local communities.”
Research from Historic England has shown that 93% of people agree that local heritage raises their quality of life and 67% of people aged 16 and over visited a heritage site last year – three times more than attendance at live sports events, including football matches (22%). The overall wellbeing value for people’s day-to-day encounters with heritage is estimated to be worth £29 billion every year in England.
Investing in heritage also attracts tourism. Seven of the 10 most-visited English attractions are heritage sites, with spend on heritage visits generating an average of £18bn per year. Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, which runs the Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower at Priddy’s Hard, was last year announced as the 3rd most visited paid attraction outside London, behind only Stonehenge and Bath. It was visited over 870,000 times last year.
Heritage Works for Housing, a recent report from Heritage England, revealed repurposing empty historic buildings could provide up to 670,000 new homes in England. Redeveloping historic buildings can help address the housing shortage whilst also contributing to reaching net zero, through the reuse of the thousands of existing empty and under-used buildings.
Dame Caroline Dinenage MP said:
“I am so glad that Lord Mendoza took up my offer to let me show him what beautiful buildings and nationally significant heritage sites we have in Gosport.
“At a time when the country desperately needs economic growth, we should be making the most of the opportunities we have here to boost investment, wellbeing, and tourism by putting these amazing assets to good use.
“These buildings are part of my vision to stimulate and invigorate the local economy, bring people to Gosport, and meet the punitive housing targets imposed on us by the Labour Government. I thrilled that Historic England shares that vision.”
ENDS
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