PPG: Historic Environment

PPG: Historic Environment

What is the historic environment?

The historic environment is all aspects of the environment resulting from the interaction between people and places through time, including all surviving physical remains of past human activity, whether visible, buried or submerged. The components of the historic environment are called heritage assets.

What are heritage assets?

A heritage asset is 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 assets include designated heritage assets and assets identified by the local planning authority (including local listing).

Designated heritage assets include:
- Listed buildings (Grade I, II*, II)
- Scheduled monuments
- Conservation areas
- Registered parks and gardens
- Registered battlefields
- World Heritage Sites
- Protected wreck sites

What is significance?

Significance means the value of a heritage asset to this and future generations because of its heritage interest. That interest may be archaeological, architectural, artistic or historic. Significance derives not only from a heritage asset's physical presence, but also from its setting. Setting is the surroundings in which a heritage asset is experienced.

How should significance be assessed?

The NPPF (paragraph 200) requires applicants to describe the significance of heritage assets affected, including any contribution made by their setting. The level of detail should be proportionate to the asset's importance and sufficient to understand the potential impact of the proposal. Heritage statements should draw on:
- the National Heritage List for England (maintained by Historic England)
- the local Historic Environment Record
- site-specific information from the applicant's research
- any conservation area character appraisals
- knowledge of local historians and conservation officers

What is the test for substantial harm?

Substantial harm is a high bar. It will generally arise where a development proposal substantially detracts from the asset's significance. Whether a proposal causes substantial harm depends on:
- the significance of the asset overall
- which elements of significance are affected
- the degree of harm to those elements
- the nature and extent of change proposed

Where substantial harm would result, consent should be refused unless the harm is outweighed by substantial public benefits (NPPF paragraph 205). The public benefit must be of a scale that the benefit could not be achieved by a less harmful scheme.

What is less than substantial harm?

Less than substantial harm is any harm that does not reach the high bar of substantial harm. It covers a wide spectrum from negligible harm to harm that is just below the threshold of substantial harm. Under NPPF paragraph 206, less than substantial harm must be weighed against the public benefits of the proposal. This is often the key test in heritage planning decisions.

The balancing exercise (less than substantial harm vs public benefits) requires decision-makers to:
- identify the public benefits of the proposal
- identify the less than substantial harm caused
- give "great weight" to conservation of heritage assets (NPPF 203)
- weigh these against each other

What about setting?

The setting of a heritage asset is the surroundings in which it is experienced. Its extent is not fixed and may change as the asset and its surroundings evolve. Elements of setting may make a positive, negative or neutral contribution to the significance of the asset. A thorough assessment of the impact on setting should use Historic England's good practice guidance (GPA3: The Setting of Heritage Assets).

How does the historic environment affect conservation areas?

Conservation areas are areas of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance. Section 72 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 imposes a statutory duty on decision-makers to pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of a conservation area.