Heritage Statements - guidance for applicants

A Heritage Statement is required for all applications relating to a designated heritage asset. This is in addition to the requirements already in place.

A Designated Heritage Asset is not just a Listed Building or a Scheduled Ancient Monument, also included are Conservation Areas, World Heritage Sites, Registered Historic Parks & Gardens and Historic Battlefields. 

A Heritage Statement will therefore be required for the following types of application:

• Planning applications which are likely to affect the following designated heritage assets or which might impact upon their setting: 
  • Listed buildings 
  • Conservation Area Saltaire World Heritage Site 
  • Registered Historic Parks and Gardens 
  • Scheduled Monuments 
  • Registered Battlefield at Adwalton 
  • Non designated heritage assets such as non-scheduled 
  • archaeological site and locally important historic buildings
• Applications for Listed Building Consent 
• Applications for Conservation Area Consent

The level of detail in the statement to be “proportionate to the importance of the heritage asset and no more than is sufficient to understand the potential impact of the proposal on the significance of the heritage asset”. 

Methodology

Applicants should submit, as a minimum, information relating to the following:

• At the outset, the applicant should identify the affected heritage assets. This will be aided by referring to the Historic Environment Record HER – held by West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service, statutory and local lists held by the Council, the Heritage Gateway, the NMR (National Monuments Record Centre) and other relevant sources. 
• The applicant should seek to understand the extent of the asset (or assets) affected. This may be confined to part of an asset, or extend to include the setting of an asset or even as yet undiscovered archaeological assets. This will include a thorough visual and physical analysis of the asset and its setting. 
• Once this has been considered, the applicant will need to assess the level of significance of the asset, with reference to the 3 values: ‘nature of significance’, ‘extent of the fabric that holds interest’ and ‘level of importance of the interest’, as identified in Sections 55 - 58 of the Practice Guide. The conclusion might be that this requires an expert assessment to understand the impact of the proposal (positive or negative). The expert will be relevant to the particular field – archaeologist (Institute of Field Archaeologists), architectural historian, Conservation professional (Institute of Historic Buildings Conservation), buildings analyst, historic buildings architect, conservation structural engineer, historic landscapes architect etc.

To develop the statement, the following should be incorporated:

• The statement will describe the asset, and in more detail, any particular part or aspect of it which the proposal will impact upon. The importance of the asset will also need to be evaluated and defined. 
• The proposed works or development should be listed item by item, or in terms of which aspects of the heritage asset(s) are individually affected. 
• The impact of the proposal on the heritage asset – positive or negative, should be described and evaluated. The more significant the heritage asset and the more substantial the extent of works, will need to be reflected in more thorough evaluation and robust justification.

The Council’s Conservation and Design Team will be pleased to guide applicants in the compilation of a successful Statement.