ABSTRACT
Many local authorities, particularly those associated with the 'major cities', have responsibility for maintaining a part of the national heritage, which may be in danger of serious depreciation due to inadequacies in the funding process. This chapter focuses attention on two sectors of local authority spending where heritage may be an important determinant of cost and where the resources necessary are possibly restrained by funding arrangements. The vast proportion of the income to local authorities comes from central government grants. Possibly the most important reasoning for grants is an attempt at resource equalisation because authorities with greatest need are not always those with greatest resources. The Standard Spending Assessment is central government's view of the appropriate expenditure for each local authority in producing a standard level of service. Coal mining was a major contributor to despoiled land for decades despite restoration of open-cast coal and ironstone sites being enforceable by law.
