Heritage Statements
Adam Wilson
Version 1
What is this?
When a heritage statement is needed for a listed building or a property in a conservation area, how we confirm it, what producing one involves, what it costs and how long it takes, and what it means for the homeowner.
01 What is a heritage statement?
A heritage statement is a document submitted with a planning application or a listed building consent application. It sets out what is historically significant about the building or area, how the proposed work affects that significance, and how the design avoids, reduces or mitigates the impact. Its depth is proportionate to the asset and the works: a fuller statement for a listed building, a lighter one for a conservation area.
Important
A heritage statement is separate specialist work, so where one is needed its fee is added on top of our design fee, not included in it. See What we cover for a full list of our additional services.
02 Listed buildings and conservation areas
Listed buildings
A listed building is one included on the National Heritage List for England for its special architectural or historic interest. Listing covers the whole building, inside and out, and usually any structures within its curtilage that have been there since before 1 July 1948. Works that affect its character need listed building consent, which is separate from planning permission. There is no fee to apply for listed building consent, but carrying out works without it is a criminal offence.
Grade | Meaning | Share of listed buildings | What it means for consent |
|---|---|---|---|
Grade I | Exceptional interest | about 2.5% | Highest scrutiny. Historic England is consulted on consent applications. |
Grade II* | Particularly important, more than special interest | about 5.8% | Very high scrutiny. Historic England is consulted on consent applications. |
Grade II | Special interest | about 91.7% | Most listed homes. Usually decided by the council, led by its conservation officer. |
Conservation areas
A conservation area is an area the council has designated for its special architectural or historic interest. The protection applies to the character and appearance of the area as a whole rather than to individual buildings. In practice:
Some permitted development rights are reduced, so work that would not need planning permission elsewhere may need it here, for example side extensions, external cladding and roof extensions.
Councils can remove further rights with an Article 4 direction, often covering windows, doors and front elevations.
Demolishing all or most of an unlisted building needs planning permission.
Listed building consent is not needed unless the building itself is listed. The controls work through planning permission.
A property can be both listed and in a conservation area, in which case both sets of controls apply.
03 When one is needed
Place the property quickly, then confirm with a pre-app or planning enquiry (section 4).
Listed building
Effectively always. Assume a heritage statement is required for listed building consent.
Conservation area
Usually, but a lighter version. It only needs to address the impact on the character and appearance of the area, not the building's full history. Whether one is actually required depends on the council and the scale of the work, so the way to find out for certain is a pre-application (pre-app) enquiry or planning enquiry to the local council. They will confirm whether a statement is needed and how detailed it has to be.
Probably not needed if…
No planning permission is required at all.
The work is like-for-like repair (which often does not need permission).
The works are minor and the council will accept a heritage section inside the Design and Access Statement instead.
04 How we confirm it is needed
Work through these in order.
Is the property affected? We ask the homeowner whether the property is listed or in a conservation area, but we always check ourselves as well, because not every homeowner knows. Listing is checked on Historic England's National Heritage List for England; conservation areas, curtilage and setting on the council's conservation area maps or planning map.
Is planning permission needed? Permitted development rights are more restricted in conservation areas, so do not assume. A Lawful Development Certificate confirms it in writing; the fee for a proposed development is half the equivalent planning application fee.
Submit a pre-app or planning enquiry. Fees vary by council, typically £100 to £600. Ask the council directly whether a standalone heritage statement is required, or whether a heritage section within the Design and Access Statement will do. This is the step that gives a definite answer, particularly in conservation areas.
Check the council's local validation list. Every council in England publishes a list of the information it needs with each type of application, alongside the national requirements. It goes by different names, such as the local list, local validation list or validation checklist. Many list a heritage statement as a requirement for listed buildings and conservation areas, and the detail expected varies between councils.
Judge the scale of works. Extensions visible from the street, roof alterations, window replacement or any demolition will almost certainly need a heritage statement.
05 What producing one involves
Conservation area
Usually desk-based. The specialist works from photographs of the property and the surrounding streets and from published records, such as the council's conservation area appraisal. In most cases no additional site visit is required.
Listed building
Most listed building statements need a specialist site visit. The research is proportionate to the building and the works. For a typical Grade II home with modest works, much of it can come from online and published sources: the list entry, the local Historic Environment Record and historic maps. For Grade I and II* buildings, and where works affect historic fabric or the building's history is poorly recorded, the specialist usually also has to attend archives in person, such as the county record office or local studies library, the council's own records, or Historic England's Archive in Swindon. Much of this material is not digitised and is available by appointment only.
Important
Where archive visits are needed, securing an appointment drives the timescale (section 7), not the writing of the statement.
06 Cost
Designation | Typical fee range | What moves it within the range |
|---|---|---|
Conservation area | about £500 to £1,500 | Scope of works and how much of the area's character is affected |
Listed building | about £1,000 to £2,500 | Grade, scale of works, the site visit and the depth of research, including any archive visits |
Indicative ranges; confirm per property. These fees are on top of our design fees.
Important
For higher-grade listed buildings, especially Grade I, the full technical design (RIBA Stage 4, the detailed design stage) usually has to be completed, and paid for, before the planning application and heritage statement can be submitted, because the statement must show exactly what is proposed. That is a significant cost, and there is no guarantee the council will approve the work. We work closely with the heritage consultant to give the application the best reasonable chance of approval, but the homeowner needs to know upfront that they are committing to design costs before a decision is made. The sequence is design, then heritage statement, then application.
07 Timescale
Stage | Typical time |
|---|---|
Pre-app enquiry | Response times vary by council |
Heritage statement, conservation area | About a week to write |
Heritage statement, listed building | About a week to write; allow three to four weeks where archive appointments are needed |
Validation of the application | Usually a few days to two weeks after submission |
Decision on planning permission or listed building consent | Target of 8 weeks from validation for householder applications and listed building consent; allow around 9 to 12 weeks in practice |
Applications that involve Historic England (Grade I and II*), attract objections or go to planning committee can take longer. Where both planning permission and listed building consent are needed, the two applications run in parallel.
08 The planning decision
The council weighs any harm to the heritage asset against the public benefits of the proposal. If there is harm, there has to be a public benefit that outweighs it.
Private benefit carries little weight. The homeowner's own benefits, such as lower bills or a warmer home, are private benefits and count for little in that balance. Carbon reduction and energy efficiency are public benefits, and those are what count. Where the works include energy efficiency measures or low carbon heating, that is the case the heritage statement makes.
Recent changes help. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is the government's national planning policy that councils follow when deciding applications. The updated version, in force from August 2026, names energy efficiency and low carbon heating, for the first time, as examples of important public benefits that can outweigh harm to a heritage asset. It also simplifies how harm is judged: councils now assess whether a proposal causes harm and weigh that directly against its public benefits. The change is recent, so councils may take time to apply it consistently, but it strengthens the case for sensitive energy upgrades to historic homes.
09 What this means for the homeowner
If the home is listed or in a conservation area, the council will probably want a heritage statement with the application. It is written by a heritage specialist and is separate from our design fee.
Typical cost is about £500 to £1,500 for a conservation area, or £1,000 to £2,500 for a listed building.
We check first - a pre-app enquiry confirms whether a statement is needed and how detailed it must be, before the homeowner commits to the cost. For smaller works the council sometimes accepts a shorter heritage section in the main planning documents.
The statement takes about a week to write, longer where archive visits are needed, and the council's decision target is 8 weeks from validation.
For higher-grade listed homes, the detailed design usually has to be finished and paid for before the application goes in, without a guaranteed outcome (section 6).
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