A new organisation called Heritage Link, which brings together a wide diversity of local and national heritage bodies, held its inaugural annual general meeting in London in December.

Funded in its first year by the National Trust and with a three-year grant of £138,000 from English Heritage, Heritage Link brings together 113 non-governmental organisations, including the Joint Committee of National Amenity Societies, the National Trust, SAVE Britain\'s Heritage, the Ramblers Association, the Youth Hostel Association, Friends of the Earth and even architects Purcell Miller Tritton.

Total individual membership of the different groups amounts to 5.8million, which gives Heritage Link the clout it hopes will enable it to push the historic environment further up the political agenda.

It is keen to demonstrate that heritage is important for its own sake and to improve the quality of life of the whole country by releasing economic potential and promoting social inclusion.

Funding, education and planning are all areas identified by Heritage Link for further research and debate.

Marcus Binney, of SAVE Britain\'s Heritage, is the chairman of Heritage Link. He said at the AGM: "The historic environment sector is diverse, representing thousands of individual organisations from giants such as the National Trust to societies for the preservation of seaside piers or sundials.

"This plurality is a great strength, but it can also be a weakness if it prevents the sector from speaking and acting in a concerted way."

Charles Nunneley, chairman of the National Trust, said he welcomed "an unprecedented opportunity for the sector to come together and create one Lennox Lewis out of a gym full of flyweights".

He said: "Heritage Link is essentially a mechanism for finding common ground and articulating this effectively. It is a badge that will add value to the work of member organisations and more decibels to their voices."

Heritage Link comes in the wake of the Government\'s State of the Historic Environment Report, the first ever national audit of the nation\'s heritage, and draws on the experience gained by voluntary organisations co-operating in the Power of Place report produced in December 2001.

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