Protecting Built Heritage
Debate between Rupa Huq and Desmond SwayneWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
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Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)
I echo the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds), my fellow Committee member, in praising my hon. Friend for doing such a brilliant job of presenting this report on behalf of all of us on the Committee. I also thank the excellent Committee staff, who helped me when I had to speak at the Night Time Economy Summit in Liverpool in February. There was a panel on this very subject—protecting heritage buildings— in a city that had UNESCO world heritage site status between 2004 and 2021. My question is really about the changing nature of these things; Liverpool’s status was taken away when the new Everton stadium spoilt the skyline.
How can we future-proof some of these things? The Committee staff helped me with my remarks at that Liverpool conference, where my right hon. Friend the Member for Makerfield (Andy Burnham), my hon. Friend’s new constituency neighbour and the future Prime Minister, also spoke, as did my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner), the former Deputy Prime Minister. I was being lobbied at the summit, and the point being made to me was that the United Nations also has something called intangible cultural heritage: stuff like human traditions and practices—
Dr Huq
My question requires a lot of context, Sir Desmond. I am springing it on my hon. Friend, so I do not want to just say, “Do you approve of this?”; I need to explain. Sorry—I am getting to the point.
Does my hon. Friend agree that there could be a way of knitting together heritage buildings and the intangible cultural aspects of value? For example, what about Wigan Casino and Northern Soul music? Could we find a way of mixing up the two?