NEWS19 May 2015

Lottery players more connected with local heritage

News UK

UK — The majority of people think local heritage has improved in recent years according to research conducted for the Heritage Lottery Fund by BritainThinks.

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People generally consider local heritage to have improved in recent years: 78% were very or fairly satisfied with local heritage and 32% said it was much better now, with 32% saying it was a little better.

In particular those who buy lottery tickets, and therefore have paid for Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) investments, thought the money was well spent – 76% of regular lottery players thought the investment in local heritage had been a good or excellent use of lottery money (compared with 69% of the overall population).

Gareth Maeer, head of research at HLF said: “It suggested a connection, if people personally paid for these they are more likely to give endorsement.”

The research involved 12 locations across the UK and involved desk research and telephone polls of about 350 residents. In six of the locations qualitative research involving small groups of local stakeholders was conducted with a half-day workshop with local residents looking at their perceptions of heritage.

It found that the initial definitions of heritage often involve physical heritage but during conversations people did start to think beyond that. People connect with heritage in two key ways: in transactional terms and in emotional terms and they are not mutually exclusive.

Another finding from the research was that 50% of residents rate the impact of local heritage on their quality of life as seven or more out of 10. However, participation in heritage is not equal across society and the research identified three groups that are less involved – BAME (black and minority ethnic) residents, those from social grade DE and younger residents.

Maeer said of the research project : “This is the biggest research that HLF has commissioned. It was to determine the response and the reaction of the public to the funding we disperse.”

@RESEARCH LIVE

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