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Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023: A Heritage Perspective
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 (LURA) introduced a number of proposed changes to legislation that are relevant to the historic environment in England. Below we take a brief look at the proposals and what they may mean in practice. As we will see, the proposed changes are mainly to tidy up and rationalise heritage protection in England, particularly to ensure consistency with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and between different types of designated heritage assets, as well as following the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2016. Except for one or two proposed changes, it will be business as usual for most people involved in the planning system and the historic environment day-to-day.
The main thing to bear in mind is that these changes may never come into force. If they do, the date/s for the amendments to the primary legislation (e.g. the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas Act) 1990 (PLBCA)) have not yet been set. They will be brought into force by commencement regulations, and the amount of notice we will have beforehand is not known. So, for now, the below remain potential changes to heritage planning legislation in England. The following is intended as a summary of the key provisions and in reference to the planning system in England, so please refer to the LURA and primary legislation for all the proposals and the specific wording and keep your eyes peeled for their formal adoption into law.
 
Expanding the statutory duty to include other designated heritage assets
This is probably the key proposed change in terms of day-to-day planning applications. A proposed new s. 58B in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 sets out that in considering whether to grant planning permission, or permission in principle, that affects a “relevant asset” or its setting, a Local Planning Authority (LPA), or the Secretary of State, must have special regard to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the asset or its setting.
The relevant assets identified are Scheduled Monuments, Registered Parks and Gardens, Protected Wreck Sites and World Heritage Sites.
This would introduce a statutory duty to preserve or enhance these assets. Currently, they are covered by national and sometimes local planning policy, and the statutory duty only relates to listed buildings and conservation areas under the PLBCA. The NPPF already requires great weight to be given to the conservation of designated heritage assets in planning decisions, which all these assets are identified as in the NPPF. Whilst this proposed change will give greater weight and importance to these assets in planning decisions, the principle is already established and so they remain an important consideration for projects which may affect them. Registered Battlefields (also designated heritage assets) are not included in the proposed amendments.
 
Compensation for loss or damage caused by service of a building preservation notice
This is likely to have the most impact as it is a significant change. Building preservation notices (BPN) are served by LPAs (as well as Historic England in London) and mean a building will be assessed for listing by Historic England and treated as though it is listed for six months (or until a decision is made on its listing if sooner).
It is proposed to amend s.29 of the PLBCA to only relate to buildings in Wales. This would mean that those with an interest in a building which has a BPN served on it in England, would no longer be entitled to claim compensation from the LPA.
In addition, proposed amendments to s. 3 in the PLBCA include that an LPA must consult with Historic England before serving a building preservation notice, except where Historic England proposes to serve a BPN under this section.
If this is enacted it is likely to have the effect that more LPAs will apply for these notices, as the risk of compensation claims would be removed. The potential for the listing of buildings on a site should therefore be considered from the outset of a project as well as factoring in the potential of a BPN being issued.
Temporary stop notices for listed buildings in England
Proposed new sections 44AA, 44AB and 44AC of the PLBCA would provide for temporary stop notices in England where works are undertaken to a listed building without listed building consent and which would affect its special interest, or where the works are not in compliance with a condition of a listed building consent.
This would bring England in line with Wales where temporary stop notices are already provided for in legislation. Although unlikely to be a common occurrence, the introduction of these measures would be meaningful as they would give LPAs power to immediately stop works to a listed building whereas currently they have to apply to the High Court or a county court for an injunction or issue a listed building enforcement notice, with the latter more focused on addressing the unauthorised works that have taken place.
Temporary stop notices can be in force for up to 56 days. The LPA will not be able to issue another temporary stop notice for the same works unless they have taken other enforcement action since issuing the previous notice.
The new sections relate to the practical details of the notices, sets out that it is an offence to contravene a temporary stop notice and what the defence is against this, as well as compensation measures.
A number of sections of the PLBCA are proposed to be amended to make reference to the proposed new sections 44AA-AC.
 
Statutory duty extended to preserving or enhancing listed buildings
Sections 16 and 66 of the PLBCA are bread and butter when it comes to development affecting listed buildings. Therefore, the following amendments are of note but in practice are unlikely to have a significant effect.
Section 16 relates to decisions on listed building consent applications. Section 16(2) currently states (my emphasis) “In considering whether to grant listed building consent for any works the local planning authority or the Secretary of State shall have special regard to the desirability of preserving the building or its setting or any features of special architectural or historic interest which it possesses.”
The proposed amendment states that in England, the reference to “preserving” is to be read as “preserving or enhancing”.
Section 66(1) relates to decisions on applications for planning permission for development that affects a listed building or its setting and also requires “…local planning authority or, as the case may be, the Secretary of State shall have special regard to the desirability of preserving the building or its setting or any features of special architectural or historic interest which it possesses.” The proposed amendment is the same for s.16 in that reference to “preserving” is to be read as “preserving or enhancing”.
This would make the wording consistent with that of s. 72(1) of the Act which relates to the character or appearance of conservation areas, as well as the NPPF which includes both conserving and enhancing heritage assets. In practice, this amendment acknowledges that there can be enhancement, but it does not require it, so preserving a listed building’s special interest would still be sufficient.
 
Urgent works to preserve listed buildings
S.54 of the PLBCA is proposed to be amended so that urgent works can be undertaken to all parts of a listed building, even if in use.
Our in-house Heritage and Townscape Team can provide advice on the above as well as the full range of heritage planning support you may need. Even if the above proposed amendments are not enacted, it is still important, for example, to consider the potential listing of buildings on a development site. We have the experience and expertise to advise project teams on matters such as this to reduce risk to project programmes.
 

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Yes, we have old coconuts – new pathways into heritage
The shortage of planners is much written about, but less has been said about the acute problems experienced in the heritage sector where a growing demand for heritage professionals outstrips supply. The problems stem from an ageing workforce, an insufficient number of heritage and conservation professionals entering the profession, and the migration of staff from public to private practice. The problems manifest in many local authorities unable to fulfil their duties adding to the wider problems experienced in delays in plan-making and decision-taking in the planning system.
This position is borne out clearly by the statistics. Historic England surveys local planning authorities on the numbers of specialist heritage professionals. Between 2006 and 2018, the number of conservation specialists, and archaeological specialists both fell by a massive 35% - the most recent survey numbers suggest this trend is continuing.[1] This is complicated by the lack of funding, which has resulted in the steady decline of planning-related support roles overall.
This is also not a complete picture however, as the private sector is not captured in these statistics. A dwindling resource and skills base in the public sector is probably being exacerbated by growth in the private sector as consultancies, like mine, see an increase in demand for such services.
Historic England has taken a further foray into education, outside of the professional training and CPD sessions they already provide, by developing a wholly new pathway into the industry. This has taken the form of the Historic Environment Advice Assistant level 4 apprenticeship. I am part of only the second cohort to undertake the course. It is a trailblazer new apprenticeship developed in conjunction with several heritage bodies including the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and the Institute for Historic Buildings and Conservation. The course is being delivered jointly by Historic England and Strode College, in Somerset.
The purpose of the course is to develop a pathway into the profession by opening it up to those without access to further education or encouraging those in other professions to retrain or upskill. As such, there are varying levels of experience, qualifications and a variety of backgrounds on the course.
The majority on the course are at the beginning of their careers using the apprenticeship to gain direct experience in heritage, where they have no prior background. There are some however who are in later stages of their careers, looking to retrain or bolster their heritage credentials. I am in the former group – I have a postgraduate qualification in history, but prior to beginning my role and this apprenticeship, I had limited direct experience of heritage and conservation. Those on the course are almost entirely in the public and charity sectors (including a large contingent from Historic England), with me being the only one from the private sector. Businesses providing professional services may be reticent to hiring apprentices, or perhaps there is a lack of awareness given this course is very new.
There are only nine of us in my cohort so the course must grow to make a real difference to the profession as a whole. To grow to achieve its aim of increasing pathways into heritage, it will require getting the private sector far more involved. This would necessitate the course marketing itself to businesses on how it would enhance the value of their early career employees either for aspiring heritage specialists or planners or surveyors with an interest in working with heritage assets.
This should be quite easy - the course fees can be funded from payments from the Apprenticeship Levy, so for companies who pay the levy the only costs are expenses associated with attending eight study weeks in college and on-site; and the opportunity costs of time not spent on client work. My company has already found that the skill and productivity benefits arising from my upskilling more than outweigh those costs.
Historic England should be applauded for developing this new and innovative pathway and I will be an advocate for the course once I have completed it in the summer. The development of the course is a big step in the right direction for the heritage sector, but it is certainly not a panacea. The answer to resourcing must be multi-faceted, from enhancing pathways into the industry to marketing the interesting and challenging work there is to be done to a much wider talent pool; to staking its claim for improved funding and greater sharing of knowledge and available resources at local levels.
Picture: A coursemate and I holding some coconuts found amongst the Rooswijk shipwreck, a Dutch East India Company vessel which sank off the coast of Kent in the 18th century. The coconuts may have been from another vessel but could be well over 250 years old! The course visited the Historic England Fort Cumberland research centre earlier this year to learn about the Rooswijk and various heritage research technologies.

[1] Report on Local Authority Historic Environment Staff Resources 2020, Series 2 Issue 1, Produced by Historic England, Place Services at Essex County Council and the Associated of Local Government Archaeological Officers, August 2021.

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