HMS President and Historic Warships

Karl Turner Excerpts

Thursday 15th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Dr Lewis]

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman who has a long record of public service—personally in the emergency services, and, indeed, his wife as well has a particular connection with the Royal Navy as I well know. I thank him for his remarks.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on securing this important debate. It is very important that HMS President is restored not only as a legacy—it is a very important vessel—but for my constituency, as we probably stand to benefit from it. Fibrwrap in my constituency is likely to be doing the renovations. I congratulate him and thank him for bringing this forward.

[Dr Lewis]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that support and congratulate him on his bid for a stage at which we have not yet arrived, but at which I hope we will arrive if we are successful in our campaign to save HMS President.

Colleagues in the upper House, such as Admiral Lord Boyce, have also spoken out strongly in support. Following unsuccessful bids to the Heritage Lottery Fund and the LIBOR fund, HMS President now faces a real and imminent prospect of being scrapped. Unless urgent funding is secured, and despite generously extended pro bono mooring arrangements at Chatham, she will probably “meet her breaker” early next year. This is because the HMS President Preservation Trust, which has been battling to preserve her, can now afford to do so only for a matter of weeks.

One need hardly stress the irony of a warship of this vintage and this significance suffering such a fate in the midst of centenary commemorations of the conflict in which she fought, and just one year short of the centenary of her own entry into service, under her original name of HMS Saxifrage, in 1918.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tracey Crouch)]

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis) for introducing this debate, and colleagues from across both Houses, including Admiral Lord Boyce in the other place, for their support of our naval heritage.

I share the interest and passion of my right hon. Friend, and others in the Chamber, for our naval history, but beyond my own personal view, I can assure colleagues that the Government are also strong in their support for the preservation of important historic warships, as well as all other artefacts of importance to the history, culture and people of the UK.

Our museums, such as the National Maritime Museum, the Imperial War Museum and the National Museum of the Royal Navy, do tremendous work to help protect and preserve these important historic warships, which are a memorial to brave undertakings and the many lives that were lost. I would like to highlight some of the excellent maritime projects that the Heritage Lottery Fund and its umbrella body, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, have enabled through their funding across the UK. Due in part to contributions from the HLF, many historic ships have new life as museums to our nation’s naval heritage, including Cutty Sark and the Mary Rose, whose restorations received significant contributions from the HLF. Local to my own constituency in Chatham, the HLF and the National Heritage Memorial Fund have helped to conserve many historic warships, including the last surviving world war two destroyer, HMS Cavalier.

Chatham dockyard closed in 1984, but as a result of investment from the lottery and others, including Government, it is now a centre for heritage and regeneration, and home to many of our historic ships. I have taken great pleasure in visiting Chatham dockyard on many occasions and seeing HMS Cavalier and HMS Ocelot, as well as stepping aboard HMS Chatham, whose crest now has pride of place on my parliamentary office wall. It is of course in Chatham that HMS President currently lies. When my right hon. Friend spoke about her showing her age and deteriorating quickly, I was not sure if he was referring to the ship or to me!

The Heritage Lottery Fund has already supported over 1,600 first world war heritage projects, providing £82 million of funding since 2010. As my right hon. Friend stated, this includes two of the remaining three first world war warships: HMS Caroline, the only first world war battle of Jutland ship still afloat; and HMS Monitor 33, the sole remaining veteran from the Gallipoli campaign.

The £15 million award to the National Museum of the Royal Navy to restore HMS Caroline is the largest grant that the Heritage Lottery Fund has ever made in Northern Ireland. HMS Caroline opened to the public on 31 May following a major refurbishment, to coincide with the centenary of the battle of Jutland.

Similarly, the Royal Naval Museum received £1.8 million in funding for HMS Monitor 33. That fantastic project has not only enabled the ship to be opened to the public for the first time, as public access to the dry docks had previously been limited, but allowed the museum to showcase a historic dock from 1801 that put Portsmouth at the centre of the Navy’s power.

My Department also sponsors Royal Museums Greenwich—more commonly known as the National Maritime Museum—which funds National Historic Ships UK, an independent organisation that gives objective advice to Government, devolved Administrations, local authorities, funding bodies and the historic ships sector on all matters relating to historic vessels in the UK.

With that in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to put on record my appreciation of the great work of the late Martyn Heighton, who recently passed away. Martyn made an enormous contribution as the former director of National Historic Ships UK, and he was respected by everyone who knew him as an expert in the field. Before taking up his role at National Historic Ships UK, he was closely involved in the creation of the Merseyside Maritime Museum at the restored Albert dock. That was one of the first regeneration schemes for Liverpool docks, raising the profile of Liverpool’s maritime heritage. He was also lead arts and culture officer for Bristol City Council, where he supported the first international festival of the sea in 1996. I also commend the contribution he made to establish the Mary Rose as a modern museum in Portsmouth while in post as director.

Martyn will be much missed, but his legacy continues through the work of the National Historic Ships UK and its national register of more than 1,000 historic vessels. The register contains a sub-group of vessels—the national historic fleet—of which there are 200 in total. HMS President bears that prestigious status, as one of the last three purpose-built vessels surviving from the first world war, along with HMS Caroline and HMS Monitor 33. HMS President has been a regular sight on the Thames for many years, and I am delighted that an estimated 11 million people saw the vessel “dazzled” during 2014 and 2015, as part of our first world war centenary arts programme.

[Karl Turner]

Will the Minister give way?

[Tracey Crouch]

I do not really have time, but I will give way briefly.

[Karl Turner]

The Minister has a very good relationship with my home city of Hull, which will host the city of culture next year. Does she agree that it would be brilliant if HMS President were to be renovated in my home city? In fact, she could probably stay there for the year of the city of culture.

[Tracey Crouch]

The hon. Gentleman has put in a fine bid for the restoration company in his constituency. I assure him that I will be in Hull at some point next year, celebrating the city of culture.

I hope that what I have said so far shows that the Government, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the National Heritage Memorial Fund recognise the significance of these important, historic ships. I am sure that my right hon. Friend is aware that the HMS President Preservation Trust has made several applications to the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as to the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

May I briefly explain that HLF funding decisions are taken at arm’s length from Government, and I am, quite rightly, not involved in the individual grant-making process? The National Heritage Memorial Fund was set up to safeguard the UK’s most important heritage at risk. Although it recognises the historical importance of HMS President, the National Heritage Memorial Fund was unable to support the proposals because they did not meet the criteria for funding.

In cases such as HMS President, the National Heritage Memorial Fund can only fund emergency works to stop deterioration until further funds can be secured elsewhere for full restoration. The National Heritage Memorial Fund provides advice to unsuccessful applicants so that they can improve their applications. The fund continues to be open to working with the preservation trust to improve its application. I strongly encourage the trust to take up this offer and to listen to the feedback received about how to strengthen its proposals and explore other opportunities.

I commend the efforts regarding HMS Whimbrel Battle of the Atlantic Trust, which has battled for more than a decade to bring the vessel back to the UK. I wish the trust every success in its work to establish a memorial to the ship in Liverpool. I am delighted that the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth has shown an interest in housing HMS Whimbrel and is investigating the possibility of bringing it back to the UK. If it was possible for a deal to be reached to return HMS Whimbrel for repair and to develop her as an educational attraction, the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the HLF would be happy to have discussions about funding options in respect of transportation and emergency repairs.

The Department recognises the importance of both HMS President and HMS Whimbrel, and the opportunities for education and engagement that they present. I encourage the HMS President Preservation Trust to continue its discussions with the National Heritage Memorial Fund and to listen to the feedback that it has received, exploring opportunities for partnerships with our expert maritime museums in order to strengthen its proposals.

Question put and agreed to.