The Department for Culture, Media and Sport issues guidance for custodians – including local authorities and national agencies – on how to deal with commemorative heritage assets ‘that have become contested’. The guidance re-emphasises a ‘retain and explain’ policy, and is developed in tandem with the government’s new Heritage Advisory Board, which includes Sir Trevor Phillips along with historians, curators, and directors of historic trusts.

DCMS’s guidance encourages the use of public consultations to inform decision-making, but stresses they should ‘only be one part of the evidence that is used’: ‘In weighing up this evidence, custodians should be mindful of those who cannot be consulted, including past and future generations.’ It concludes that relocation of a heritage asset ‘is only justifiable in very few circumstances’ and should only be considered once all other options have been examined and discounted.