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T W E N T Y F I R S T E D I T I O N
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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Article 4 respectively). The use of metal
detectors on land relating to a scheduled
monument in Britain is also prohibited
without written consent of the relevant
authority (Section 42), while in Northern
Ireland the restriction extends to excavating
any land in search of archaeological objects or
artefacts of archaeological interest without a
licence (Section 41).
Further guidance on SMC can be found in
the article by Robin Kent which was published
last year in The Building Conservation
Directory, and is now online.
LISTED BUILDINGS IN ENGLAND
English Heritage, a government agency, is
responsible to the Secretary of State (DCMS)
for national designations in England. The
National Heritage List for England provides
details of all nationally designated ‘heritage
assets’ and can be found on English Heritage’s
website
).
The National Heritage List for England
does not include conservation areas as these
are designated by local planning authorities.
However, World Heritage Sites are recorded
on the list, despite these sites being separately
inscribed by UNESCO.
The National Planning Policy Framework
(NPPF) replaced all previous government
policy on heritage protection in England
in March 2012, including PPS5, and it is
supported by the National Planning Practice
Guidance (NPPG – currently published on
the web in a beta version) on the application
of the Planning (Listed Buildings and
Conservation Areas) Act 1990. In essence the
Act defines the extent of protection, while
the NPPF gives government policy on how
applications for consent should be dealt with
and the information required of the applicant.
The guidance in the NPPG and the PPS5
Practice Guide (see below) may help clarify
the criteria for assessing an application.
Applications for consent (or
‘authorisation’) generally involve photos and
drawings showing the location and general
layout and more detailed before and after
drawings showing the impact of the proposal.
A statement of significance is required,
although this could range from as little as a
paragraph in a covering letter to a substantial
document: ‘The level of detail should be
proportionate to the assets’ importance and
no more than is sufficient to understand the
potential impact of the proposal on their
significance’ (NPPF128).
The use of the word ‘assets’ here relates
to the relatively new concept of ‘heritage
asset’ which is defined in the NPPF glossary
as a ‘building, monument, site, place, area
or landscape identified as having a degree
of significance meriting consideration in
planning decisions, because of its heritage
interest. Heritage asset includes designated
heritage assets and assets identified by
the local planning authority (including
local listing).’ A ‘designated’ heritage asset
may be a world heritage site, scheduled
monument, listed building, protected wreck
site, registered park or garden, registered
battlefield or conservation area.
One of the ‘core principles’ (NPPF 17)
is to ‘conserve heritage assets in a manner
appropriate to their significance, so that they
can be enjoyed for their contribution to the
quality of life of this and future generations’.
Conservation is defined in the glossary as ‘the
process of maintaining and managing change
to a heritage asset in a way that sustains and,
where appropriate, enhances its significance’,
while ‘significance’ is defined as ‘the value of
a heritage asset to this and future generations
because of its [archaeological, architectural,
artistic or historic] interest’.
For new work, whether an alteration
to an existing building or a new structure
in a historic context, NPPF section 60
gives blunt advice on design approaches.
‘Planning policies and decisions should not
attempt to impose architectural styles or
particular tastes and they should not stifle
innovation, originality or initiative through
unsubstantiated requirements to conform
to certain development forms or styles.
It is, however, proper to seek to promote
or reinforce local distinctiveness.’ This
approach places great emphasis on the need
for requirements to be substantiated by the
conservation officer or planner, and on the
need for each case to be treated individually.
PPS5 (Planning Policy Statement 5)
Practice Guide
gives further useful advice.
Section 178 mentions some of the criteria
that need to be considered when designing
additions to heritage assets, including new
development in conservation areas. These
include height, massing, bulk and scale, use of
materials, use of the building or component,
its alignment and relationship with adjacent
heritage assets, and the treatment of its
setting. The section also gives further advice
on the choice of style.
New guidance to replace the PPS5
Practice Guide is expected in 2014, but
in the meantime the PPS5 Practice Guide
‘remains a valid and government endorsed
document’. English Heritage and the Historic
Environment Forum are also developing
sector guidance to expand on the NPPG.
The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Act 2013
included various measures to
simplify the listed building consent regime
which are expected to come into force in
April 2014. As summarised in the NPPG,
once these changes come into effect:
• ‘local planning authorities will be
able to enter into a statutory Heritage
Partnership Agreement with the
owner of a listed building. Such an
agreement may include the grant of
listed building consent for specified
works for the alteration or extension
(but not demolition) of the building
• ‘the Secretary of State and local planning
authorities will be able to grant a general
listed building consent for works for
the alteration or extension (but not
demolition) of listed buildings by making
either national consent orders (in the
case of the Secretary of State) or local
listed building consent orders (in the
case of local planning authorities)
• ‘owners of listed buildings will be able
The tower of the Palace Hotel, Manchester: this
Grade II* listed building was the former offices of
Refuge Assurance, designed by the famous Victorian
architect Alfred Waterhouse in the late 19th century.
The tower was added by his son Paul Waterhouse in
1910–12 and the building was successfully converted
to hotel use in 1996, retaining its magnificent
terracotta work, inside and out.
