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Professional services
Listed Building Consent
Requirements for
alterations and repairs
Nicholas Doggett
T
he aim
of this article is to provide
guidance on the need for listed
building consent (LBC) for works to a
listed building. After a short introduction
to the legislative background, it focuses
on the principles and practicalities of
what constitutes an alteration and the
circumstances in which LBC may also be
required for repairs.
While much of what follows applies to
all types of listed building, the focus here
is on alterations and repairs to domestic
dwellings in order to provide guidance for
homeowners as well as for conservation and
other professionals. In addition to the need
for LBC, it is important to remember that
planning permission will be needed for any
extension (and some external alterations) to a
listed building. Approval under the Building
Regulations will also usually be required for
both internal and external works.
The situation described here relates to
England and Wales but not to Scotland and
Northern Ireland, where slightly different
circumstances pertain.
The legislative background
and the need for LBC
The need for LBC is set out in Section
7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and
Conservation Areas) Act 1990, which states
that ‘no person shall execute or cause to
be executed any works for the demolition
of a listed building or for its alteration or
extension in any manner which would
affect its character [emphasis added] as a
building of special architectural or historic
interest, unless the works are authorised’.
The words ‘affect its character’ are critical.
No distinction is made, in Section 7 or
anywhere else in the act, between works which
are considered beneficial and works which are
considered harmful to the character of a listed
building: any works which affect the building’s
character, whatever the nature of their impact,
are included. The question of whether the
works are considered to be beneficial or
otherwise comes later in the determination of
the application by the relevant decision-maker
(usually the local authority but sometimes a
planning inspector or the Secretary of State).
As Section 9(1) of the act makes clear,
carrying out works which would affect
the character of a listed building without
first obtaining LBC is a criminal offence,
notwithstanding that Section 9(3)(a–d) offers
a series of defences (relating to ‘safety or
health or for the preservation of the building’)
against that offence.
The maximum penalties for carrying
out unauthorised works to a listed building
are currently a fine of £20,000 or six
months’ imprisonment on summary
conviction and an unlimited fine or two
years’ imprisonment on indictment.
Principles, practicalities
and ‘grey areas’
In practice there is usually no argument that
demolition, alteration or extension of any
listed building will require LBC, and this
will apply whether the works are internal or
external. (The surprisingly common belief
spread by some estate agents that a Grade II
listing confers statutory protection on just
the outside of the building or its facade is of
course a myth.) However, there are a number
of grey areas worth exploring.
Several issues are raised in connection
with repairs. First, Section 7 of the
act makes no reference to LBC being
required for repairs to a listed building
and it may be because of this that even
today many local authority conservation
officers do not require LBC applications
to be made for repairs, particularly if
they are made on a like-for-like basis.
There is, however, considerable scope
for interpretation here, not least over
when repair becomes replacement. The
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines
repair as ‘the act of restoring to a sound or
A house in Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire with old clay tile hanging, photographed in July 1992
The same building photographed in December 1992
with replacement tile hanging in new specially produced
handmade clay tiles: whether this constitutes a repair or
an alteration needing listed building consent is very much
open to debate