Special Controls

What is a conservation area?

What local authorities can do is designate conservation areas. They do this where parts of their districts, towns, or city have special character, and that may be the buildings in that area that have historic connections. Perhaps there is a collection of listed buildings close by that adds to that character. It could be that it's the remnants of a former village where the town has expanded and is now surrounding the village. You can still detect the core of what was there before, and this designation allows you to pose slightly tighter control over the environment. For example, with telecoms companies, much of what they do, they can do without the need for planning control. They need conservation areas. There might be constrictions on where they can sight control boxes, masts, and things of that nature. Also, when highway improvements take place there is much more attention to the materials that are being used to make sure that the quality of the environment is protected.

What is a listing?

Some properties have what they call a "listed building designation," and they could be properties of all kinds. They may be listed because they are historically important or because they are architecturally important. So some quite recent buildings have now been subject to listing because architecturally they are seen as being significant within the development of architectural thinking. But most of the listed buildings are because they are historic, because they have a quality about them. They're buildings that generally one would like to see protected, saved, and conserved. Not necessarily preserved, but conserved. Because there is a recognition that buildings do have to alter over time, and as long as you're not changing the essential qualities of that building, it may be that you can bring in other uses or make small alterations to it. But you will need to get listed building consent, as well as planning approval, for what you're intending to do.

Who lists buildings?

All the listing of buildings is done by an independent body. These are experts that work to the government. The department for which they work may change as the politics of central government change, but if you were to look at the Communities and Local Government Department, or in the Environment Department, then you will probably find a historic buildings section that house all of the experts that deal with the listings.

How does a listing affect what I can do to my property?

If you have a listed building that you own and want to make alterations to it, you will need to get listed building consent and it may be that you need to employ a historic buildings expert. You may have to employ a team of contractors to work once you have approval to work on the property. These would be contractors who are known to be good at dealing with buildings of historical significance. They have the right stone masons, if it happens to have stone in it. Or they have the right people to work on the lead on the roof or to reinstate the sash windows. Things that are essential to the character of the building that might be repaired or be replaced in some way. And are the alterations that you're proposing sympathic to the listed building or not? Sometimes the buildings may have been altered and what you plan to do may be to reinstate much of what is was like originally. So the chances of getting listed building consent are relatively high provided you're doing something that's been sympathic in character with the building. And the local planning authority can help you to find the right experts and also to respond to the ideas that you may have have.

Can a property be de-listed?

If a building has been listed and someone discovers that perhaps the way it was assessed was in error, it may not have been challenged at the time, but a different interpretation could be now be put on the building. For example, buildings get copied, so you could have a mock Georgian building that doesn't come from the Georgian period. It might have replaced something that was on the site before and somebody doing their assessment may have said, "This is a Georgian property" while in reality it's perhaps dated much later and at that point you may go to the local authority and say, "Look, I've discovered this. I really think that this is in error". It may be that they decide the building is still worthy of listing even as a copy of something else, because it was so well done, and so well executed. There is a process for demolishing listed buildings, and you apply for listed building consent to demolish, and you'd probably make that case around the quality of the building; what state of repair it was in, and whether it was capable of being repaired economically. So some building that is historic, there maybe an unfortunate fire, and there isn't really enough of the building left to salvage it and what you would provide in its place would be a complete pastiche of what was there before. On that basis it may be better to come up with a good quality replacement proposal and get listed building consent, but those will be the criteria. Is this building capable of being kept, restored, repaired, put back into its original state? Is what's being done sympathetic to it? Sometimes a developer will bring an extra proposal, which would be to build something else close by and use the benefits of that profit to invest in restoring the building. It's a facilitating development that helps the restoration of the listed building.