Heritage Protection Reform

Historic Environment ¦Listed Buildings ¦Conservation Areas ¦ Historic Building Grants ¦Locally Listed Buildings ¦Archaeology ¦Links ¦Contacts

The government are proposing to change the current system of heritage protection.

The main changes proposed are;

• the creation of a new unified register to replace the current system of Listed Buildings, Scheduled Ancient Monuments, Parks, Gardens, Battlefields and Marine assets
• setting up of new designation procedures for historic assets
• making English Heritage responsible for designation
• introduction of a new single consent to replace listed building and scheduled monument consent
• amalgamation of conservation area consent with planning permission
• maintenance of a Historic Environment Record to be a statutory duty
• publication of revised government guidance relating to the historic environment

Some of these changes can be implemented with current legislation; others will require a new act of parliament. The draft Heritage Protection Bill (this is an external hyperlink), which contained the proposed changes, was dropped from the Queens Speech in December 2008, and its progress through parliament has therefore been delayed for the time being. The English Heritage site (this is an external hyperlink) explains which changes can and cannot proceed without the bill.

More detailed information and downloads concerning Heritage Protection Reform can be found at;

• English Heritage (this is an external hyperlink)
• The Department for Culture media and Sport (this is an external hyperlink)