Glossary
Heritage planning glossary
Plain-English definitions of the key terms used in heritage and listed building planning, with references to source legislation and guidance.
- Significance
- The sum of the heritage values of a place, historic, architectural, evidential, aesthetic and communal.
- Defined in the NPPF Annex 2 and developed in Historic England's Conservation Principles. Assessing significance is the starting point for any heritage application.
- Historic fabric
- The physical material of a heritage asset, walls, joinery, finishes, services, that embodies its significance.
- Loss or alteration of historic fabric is the principal mechanism by which harm to significance occurs.
- Setting
- The surroundings in which a heritage asset is experienced, contributing to its significance.
- Assessed using Historic England Good Practice Advice Note 3. Setting extends beyond the immediate curtilage.
- Curtilage listing
- Statutory protection extended to ancillary buildings within the curtilage of a listed building that pre-date 1 July 1948.
- Confirmed in section 1(5) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. Often catches stables, walls and outbuildings.
- Substantial harm
- Harm to a designated heritage asset that drains away a very significant portion of its significance.
- Threshold from NPPF paragraph 207. Substantial harm to Grade I or II* assets must be wholly exceptional.
- Less than substantial harm
- Harm to significance that falls below the substantial-harm threshold but is not de minimis.
- Assessed under NPPF paragraph 208 and weighed against public benefit. Most heritage applications turn on this test.
- NPPF
- The National Planning Policy Framework, the principal national planning policy document for England.
- Chapter 16 (paragraphs 200–214) sets the heritage policy framework, including significance, setting, harm and public benefit.
- GPA (Good Practice Advice Note)
- Methodological guidance published by Historic England on managing significance, setting and decision-taking.
- The principal notes are GPA 2 (Managing Significance), GPA 3 (Setting) and GPA 4 (Enabling Development).
- Conservation area appraisal
- A formal document defining the special character of a conservation area and the elements that contribute to it.
- Required under section 71 of the 1990 Act. Provides the baseline against which impact in the conservation area is assessed.
- Article 4 direction
- A direction made by a local planning authority removing specified permitted development rights from a defined area.
- Made under article 4 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015. Common in conservation areas.
- LBC (Listed building consent)
- Statutory consent required for any works affecting the special interest of a listed building.
- Required under sections 7–9 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. Distinct from planning permission.
- Certificate of lawfulness
- A formal determination by the local planning authority that a proposed or existing use or operation is lawful.
- Issued under sections 191–192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Useful for confirming permitted development or established lawful use.
- Listed building enforcement notice
- A notice requiring reinstatement or remedial works following unauthorised works to a listed building.
- Served under section 38 of the 1990 Act. There is no statute of limitations for unauthorised works to listed buildings.
- Vestige
- A surviving trace, mark or remnant of something that once existed, from the Latin vestigium meaning footprint or track.
- In heritage and planning practice, vestiges are the physical evidence, fabric, fragments, scars and later alterations, that record a building's history and contribute to its significance under NPPF chapter 16. Read the full entry.
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