Heritage Protection

Archaeological areas are protected through SCHEDULING in the ANCIENT MONUMENTS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREAS ACT 1979. 

Sites must be of national importance to be scheduled. Criteria includes:

Period
Rarity
Documentation/finds
Group value 
Survival/condition
Fragility/vulnerability
Diversity 
Potential 

The DEPARTMENT FOR DIGITAL, CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT (DCMS) provides criteria for assessment of sites for scheduling. Historic England's Scheduling Selection Guides give further guidance. 

Historic England makes recommendations, but the decision is made by the SECRETARY OF STATE for DCMS. Decisions are DISCRETIONARY. This means important sites may not be scheduled if there is a better method of protecting them. 

Buildings are LISTED under the PLANNING (LISTED BUILDINGS AND CONSERVATION AREAS) ACT 1990. 

Buildings must be of 'special architectural or historic interest' to merit listing. 

Where a building meets the criteria is must be listed - there is no discretion. 

DCMS PRINCIPLES OF SELECTION set out further criteria and identify considerations by date range and grades. 

Historic England's Listing Selection Guides give detailed avice for individual building types. 

Grade II - 90% of buildings; monuments are of national importance.

Grade II* - 5-8% of buildings; monuments are 'of more than special interest'.

Grade I - 2% of buildings; monuments are exceptional.

Parks and Gardens are REGISTERED under the NATIONAL HERITAGE ACT 1983. 

Sites must be of 'special historic interest' to merit registration. 

Historic England Selection Guides gives criteria for assesment of different landscape types. 

Sites are graded in the same way as listed buildings (I, II*, II). 

Decisions to register are not statutory and registration becomes a 'material consideration in the planning process'.

Battlefields are REGISTERED in a similar process to Parks and Gardens through the NATIONAL HERITAGE ACT 1983. The register was established in 1995 and currently contains 47 important battlefields. It gives them planning protection and promotes a better understanding of their significance. 

Battlefields must have been sites of engagements of national significance AND have topographical integrity (securely established and still recognisable) to merit registration. 

Other factors include: 

• Archaeological potential
• Documentation
• Military innovations
• Biographic associations 
• Commemoration

Historic England's Battlefields Selection Guide explains the approach to registration. 

Offshore wrecks are PROTECTED under the PROTECTION OF WRECKS ACT 1973. 

A vessel, or objects formerly contained within a vessel, must be of historical, archaeological, or artistic importance to merit protection. 

The decision to protect a wreck is discretionary. 

Historic England's Ships and Boats Selection Guide gives advice for the assessment of wrecks. 

Local Planning Authorities have responsibility for DESIGNATION of Conservation Areas. This is done under the PLANNING (LISTED BUILDINGS AND CONSERVATION AREAS) ACT 1990.

Conservation Areas must be of special architectural and historic interest to merit designation. 

Designation means planning decisions must take the interest of these areas into account. It also gives some control over the demolition of buildings within these areas. 

Local Planning Authorities should create CONSERVATION AREA APPRAISALS detailing the extent and significance of the area. 

Local Authorities may excercise controls through Article 4 Directions. This refers to article 4 of the TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING (GENERAL PERMITTED DEVELOPMENT) ORDER 2015.

Article 4 Directions are LOCAL PROTECTION ORDERS. They allow authorities to withdraw specified permitted development rights across a defined area. This means permission can be required for changing features such as windows and doors, where otherwise such changes would not have needed permission. 

Article 4 Directions cannot be used to restrict changes of use within the same use class of the USE CLASSES ORDER.

This can be useful when uniformity between a group of assets is important (for example, a group of workers' cottages). 

The NPPF advises all Article 4 Directions should be applied in a measured and targetted way and based on robust evidence. 

Local Authorities may develop their own Local Lists. 

These are not statutory lists and are not compulsory. 

They are a tool for highlighting buildings of local interest. 

Locally listed buildings are often given protected status through Local Plan policies and can be considered 'non-designated heritage assets' under the terms of the NPPF.