Terms of Reference: Heritage Task & finish Group

1. Purpose

1.1 The purpose of the Heritage Task & Finish Group is to scrutinise the issues faced in preserving the city’s heritage assets and to investigate what other initiatives or measures could be put in place to allow the council to support owners, residents and community groups to look after their buildings at a time where there is limited funding and       resources available.

     1.2 The group will develop a report with recommendations that will feed into the                      development of the council’s new Heritage Strategy and will be presented to the Place Overview & Scrutiny Committee for agreement. Place Overview & Scrutiny            Committee will further refer the Task & Finish Group report to Cabinet and/or           partners for consideration.

2. Status

      2.1 The Task & Finish Group is an informal group that will report to the Place             Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

3. Areas of focus

3.1           The report will focus on the following areas:

· To better understand the barriers that people face when looking after heritage assets and what kind of support would be useful.

· To explore how the Council might reimagine its role as a facilitator, especially in the context of reduced funding, by identifying alternative solutions and sources of funding for heritage projects

· To understand how other councils and relevant organisations ensure heritage sites are protected and whether there are initiatives or examples of best practise that the council might want to adopt.

· To explore how the council might work with community groups to assist them in leading on some heritage projects.

4. Scope

4.1 To produce a report on how the council can help people to look after heritage assets in the city during a time where there is limited funding and resources available. The recommendations from the Task & Finish Group will feed into the development of the new Heritage Strategy.

5. Membership

       5.1. Voting Members: Groups will be offered membership as follows: 3 Labour, 1 Green, 1 Conservative, 1 BH Ind or Independent member.

      5.2. Non-voting members: Anyone with an interest in this issue may be co-opted on to the TFG.

      5.3. Any non-executive member may sit on a Task & Finish Group.

6. Meetings

       6.1. Meetings will be chaired by the Chair of the Place Overview & Scrutiny               Committee who will be responsible for convening meetings of the Task & Finish           Group.

      6.2. The Group will meet on a basis to be determined by Group members.

7. Timeline

       7.1 The Task & Finish Group report on Heritage will be presented to the Place                      Overview & Scrutiny Committee at its meeting in March 2026.