General information

These pages provide guidance on the fundamental elements of the town and country planning process and how the historic environment fits into this system, (see ‘Guidance for large schemes’ for Nationally Strategic Infrastructure Projects – NSIPs).

Background

• The land use planning system is central to historic environment resource management. The legislative framework that governs this system seeks to establish a balance between the benefits of development (usually economic) and the conservation of the environment.
• The place of the historic environment within the planning process has developed over a number of years. In 1979 statutory protection was given to Ancient Monuments in the Ancient Monument and Archaeological Areas Act. The Planning and Policy Guidance Note 16: Archaeology and Planning (PPG16) was published in 1990. The Listed building and Conservation Areas Act 1990 provides specific protection for buildings and areas of special architectural or historic interest and in 1994 the Department of the Environment produced Planning Policy Guidance 15: Planning and the Historic Environment to offer further guidance to the above 1990 Act. In April 2010 planning documents PPG15 and 16 were replaced with Planning Policy Statement 5: Planning for the Historic Environment, this together with the practice guide then formed the basis for all development management decisions.
• In March 2012 PPS5 was superseded by a single National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) introduced in 2012, and which sets out the Governments planning policies for England, including those policies relevant to the historic environment, and how these are expected to be applied. A Planning Practice Guidance for this document, produced by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government can be found on the Historic environment: Advises on enhancing and conserving the historic environment page.

National Planning Policy Framework

• This document aims to make the planning system less complex and more accessible, to protect the environment and to promote sustainable growth. It sets out the government’s requirements for the planning system but only records what is relevant, proportionate and necessary to do so. It provides a framework for planning by replacing a thousand pages of national planning policies with a short guidance document of just over sixty pages. This is supported by a series of Planning Practice Guidance Notes (PPGs).
• This document does not specifically differentiate between historic buildings and archaeology but brings them together using the term heritage asset. A heritage asset can be 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. It includes designated heritage assets and assets identified by the local planning authorities (including local listings – see Local Heritage Listing: Identifying and Conserving Local Heritage | Historic England).
• The government recognises in the NPPF ‘the wider social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits that conservation of the historic environment can bring’ and recognises that ‘heritage assets are an irreplaceable resource’.

Local plans

• National planning policy places Local Plans at the heart of the planning system, so it is essential that they are in place and kept up to date. Local Plans set out a vision and framework for the future development of the area, addressing needs and opportunities, adapting to climate change and securing good design. They are also a critical tool in guiding decisions about individual development proposals, as Local Plans (together with any neighbourhood plans that have been made) are the starting point for considering whether applications can be approved.