Listed Buildings

What is a listed building? Buildings are listed for their special architectural or historic interest and their importance to the nation's built heritage. They are listed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and special controls apply to protect them from unnecessary demolition,unsuitable and insensitive alteration.

Conservation Areas

A Conservation Area is 'an area of special architectural or historic interest the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance'. Conservation Areas are designated by the Council and introduce additional controls over certain types of development in those areas, including demolition of all or a substantial part of a building, stricter controls over minor development and the display of advertisements, and the protection of trees.

Ancient Monuments

The Secretary of State compiles and maintains a schedule of ancient monuments of national importance. The present schedule of some 13,000 sites has been compiled over a period of 100 years since the first statutory protection for monuments was introduced in 1882. It represents a selective example of the nation's archaeology, evidence of the past development of our civilisation. The Secretary of State is responsible for the control of works to scheduled monuments through the Scheduled Monument Consent procedure.

More information can be found on the Building Conservation pages in the Planning Policy section of the website.