Glossary

Heritage planning glossary

Plain-English definitions of the terms used in listed building consent and heritage planning — from HeritageAI's own product terms to the acronyms a case officer or Historic England letter might use without explaining.

HAI#: Short form of HeritageAI, a product of DoAnythingNow Ltd providing heritage research and planning documents for listed buildings in England.
PPHA#: Preliminary Planning and Heritage Appraisal — HeritageAI's automatically generated first-read document, £195, covering designation, likely consent requirements, applicable policy and risk before you commit further to a project.
SoHS#: Statement of Heritage Significance — a document explaining what makes a heritage asset important: its history, fabric, plan form, setting and the reasons behind its listing grade, prepared before any specific design is assessed against it.
HIA#: Heritage Impact Assessment — a document that evaluates the effect of proposed works on the significance of a heritage asset, required to support Listed Building Consent and planning applications.
P&HS#: Planning and Heritage Statement — the submission-ready document compiling the Statement of Heritage Significance and Heritage Impact Assessment findings, packaged for a council application.
Vision to Value#: HeritageAI's four-stage method for a listed building project: READY? (the PPHA), READ… (the Statement of Heritage Significance), …RESPOND (the Heritage Impact Assessment) and RESOLVE! (the Planning and Heritage Statement).
NHLE#: National Heritage List for England — the official register of all nationally designated heritage assets in England, maintained by Historic England, searchable by address or list entry number.
NPPF#: National Planning Policy Framework — the government's planning policy document for England, setting out policies on sustainable development including the protection of the historic environment.
HE1 to HE10#: The historic environment policies in Chapter 20 of the National Planning Policy Framework published August 2026, replacing the numbered-paragraph heritage policy of earlier NPPF versions. [GPS TO VERIFY: exact scope of each individual policy number before this glossary is published.]
GPA2#: Good Practice Advice in Planning Note 2 — Historic England guidance on managing significance in decision-taking, including how to assess and describe the significance of heritage assets.
GPA3#: Good Practice Advice in Planning Note 3 — Historic England guidance on the setting of heritage assets: how to identify it, assess its contribution to significance, and assess the effect of change on it.
HEAN12#: Historic England Advice Note 12, Statements of Heritage Significance: Analysing Significance in Heritage Assets — good practice guidance on preparing a Statement of Heritage Significance.
Curtilage#: The land and any structures closely associated with a building, forming part of its setting or use. A structure within the curtilage of a listed building, existing before 1 July 1948, can be treated as part of the listing itself.
Setting#: The surroundings in which a heritage asset is experienced. Setting can contribute to a heritage asset's significance even without any physical alteration to the asset itself, and is assessed following Historic England's GPA3.
Significance#: The sum of the cultural and, where relevant, natural heritage value of an asset, derived from its evidential, historical, aesthetic and communal value — what makes it matter, assessed following Historic England's Advice Note 12.
Article 4 direction#: An order made by a local planning authority removing specific permitted development rights in a defined area, meaning works that would otherwise not need planning permission require an application instead.
LBC#: Listed Building Consent — a statutory consent required under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 for works that would affect the character of a listed building.
P(LBCA) Act 1990#: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 — the primary legislation governing the protection and control of listed buildings and conservation areas in England.
Listed building#: A building of special architectural or historic interest, included on the National Heritage List for England, and therefore protected under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.
Grade I#: The highest of the three listing grades, reserved for buildings of exceptional interest, sometimes considered internationally important. Only a small proportion of listed buildings hold this grade.
Grade II*#: The middle listing grade, for particularly important buildings of more than special interest, sitting between Grade I and the much larger Grade II category.
Grade II#: The most common listing grade, for buildings of special interest warranting every effort to preserve them. The great majority of listed buildings in England hold this grade.
Conservation area#: An area of special architectural or historic interest, designated by a local planning authority, whose character or appearance it is the authority's duty to preserve or enhance.
Scheduled monument#: A nationally important archaeological site or historic building, protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, with its own separate consent regime distinct from Listed Building Consent.
Registered park or garden#: A park, garden or other planned landscape of special historic interest, included on Historic England's Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.
World Heritage Site#: A place recognised by UNESCO as having outstanding universal value, considered a heritage designation for the purposes of national planning policy alongside listed buildings and scheduled monuments.
Non-designated heritage asset#: A building, site or feature that has significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, but which is not formally listed, scheduled or otherwise nationally designated — often identified on a local heritage list.
Local list / local heritage list#: A list maintained by a local planning authority of non-designated heritage assets it considers significant enough to be taken into account in planning decisions, alongside its statutory local plan policies.
Historic England#: The UK government's statutory adviser on the historic environment in England, responsible for the National Heritage List and providing guidance and consultation on heritage planning matters.
Statutory consultee#: A body that a local planning authority is legally required to consult before determining certain applications — Historic England is a statutory consultee for applications affecting Grade I and Grade II* listed buildings, among others.
Local planning authority (LPA)#: The local council body responsible for determining planning and Listed Building Consent applications in its area, and for maintaining its own local list and conservation area designations.
Conservation officer#: A specialist adviser, usually employed by a local planning authority, who assesses the heritage aspects of planning and Listed Building Consent applications and advises the authority's decision-makers.
Validation checklist#: A local planning authority's published list of the documents and information an application must include before it will be formally registered ("validated") and the determination clock starts running.
Harm (heritage)#: A negative effect on a heritage asset's significance caused by a proposal, which under current NPPF policy must be weighed against the public benefits of the proposal before a decision is made.
Public benefit#: A benefit of a proposal, weighed against any harm to heritage significance in the planning balance — current policy names securing the reuse of a vacant or underused listed building, and enabling energy efficiency and low-carbon heating, among the benefits that can count.
Fabric#: The physical, material substance of a building — its walls, roof structure, floors, joinery and finishes — as distinct from its design, layout or history, though all contribute to significance together.
Evidential value#: One of the four types of heritage value in Historic England's framework: the potential of a heritage asset's physical remains to yield evidence about past human activity.
Historical value#: One of the four types of heritage value in Historic England's framework: the ways in which a heritage asset connects past people, events and aspects of life to the present.
Aesthetic value#: One of the four types of heritage value in Historic England's framework: the sensory and intellectual stimulation derived from a heritage asset's design, craftsmanship and form.
Communal value#: One of the four types of heritage value in Historic England's framework: the meanings a heritage asset holds for the people who relate to it, beyond specialists, including commemorative and symbolic value.
Design and Access Statement (DAS)#: A document accompanying certain planning applications, explaining the design process and access arrangements for the proposal — a general planning requirement, not specific to heritage assets, though often submitted alongside heritage documents.
Demolition#: In the context of Listed Building Consent, the total or substantial removal of a listed building or a part of it, which always requires consent and is treated with particular caution under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.
Heritage-led design#: A design process in which a building's significance is established before design work begins, so proposals respond to and minimise harm to what matters about the asset, rather than significance being assessed after a design already exists.
Permitted development#: Certain categories of minor development that do not require a planning application because permission is automatically granted by national legislation — permitted development rights do not extend to Listed Building Consent in the same way, and can be removed by an Article 4 direction.
Section 106 agreement#: A legal agreement between a developer and a local planning authority, under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, securing obligations linked to a planning permission.
Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)#: A charge that local planning authorities can levy on new development to help fund infrastructure, separate from and in addition to any section 106 obligations.
AONB#: Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty — a nationally designated landscape of special scenic quality; now also referred to as a National Landscape under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
National Landscape#: The current name for what was previously called an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), following the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
SSSI#: Site of Special Scientific Interest — a nationally designated area of land protected for its wildlife or geological features, notified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Tree Preservation Order (TPO)#: An order made by a local planning authority protecting specific trees or woodland, making it an offence to fell, top, lop or otherwise damage them without consent.
Neighbourhood plan#: A plan prepared by a local community (a parish council or neighbourhood forum) setting planning policies for its area, which forms part of the statutory development plan once adopted.
Local plan#: The statutory document a local planning authority prepares setting out its policies and land allocations for development in its area, against which planning applications are assessed.
Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)#: A document that adds detail to policies in a local plan, such as design guidance for a conservation area, without being a statutory development plan document in its own right.
Development plan#: The statutory local plan, neighbourhood plans and any other adopted planning policy documents for an area, against which planning applications must be determined unless material considerations indicate otherwise.
Material consideration#: A factor relevant to a planning decision that the decision-maker must take into account, alongside the development plan, when determining an application.
Enforcement notice#: A formal notice issued by a local planning authority requiring unauthorised development, including unauthorised works to a listed building, to be remedied — separate from, and in addition to, any criminal prosecution for unauthorised listed building works.
Pre-application advice#: Formal advice, usually chargeable, offered by a local planning authority on a proposal before a full application is submitted, giving an early view on its likely acceptability.
Listed building consent condition#: A requirement attached to a grant of Listed Building Consent that must be complied with when carrying out the authorised works — failing to comply is itself a criminal offence under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.
Building preservation notice#: A notice served by a local planning authority giving a building temporary listed status for up to six months while Historic England decides whether to list it, used to prevent demolition or alteration in the interim.
Certificate of immunity#: A certificate confirming that a building will not be listed for five years, which an owner or developer can apply to Historic England for before carrying out works or submitting a planning application.
Listed building consent order#: An order made by the Secretary of State, or a local development order made by a local planning authority, granting Listed Building Consent automatically for specified types of minor work, without the need for an individual application.
Retrofit#: Works carried out to an existing building to improve its energy efficiency or reduce its carbon emissions, such as insulation, low-carbon heating or renewable energy installations — in a listed building, retrofit measures generally need Listed Building Consent.
Embodied carbon#: The greenhouse gas emissions associated with a building's construction, including the extraction and manufacture of materials — retaining and reusing existing historic fabric, rather than demolishing and rebuilding, avoids releasing this carbon.
Breathable construction#: Traditional building construction, typically solid masonry, that manages moisture by allowing it to evaporate through the fabric — retrofit measures using impermeable modern materials can trap moisture in this type of wall and cause damage.
Solid wall insulation#: Insulation applied to a wall with no cavity, either internally or externally, requiring particular care in a historic building to avoid trapping moisture and damaging fabric.
Secondary glazing#: An additional, independent window installed on the inside of an existing historic window, improving thermal and acoustic performance without altering or replacing the original glazing.
Air source heat pump#: A low-carbon heating system that extracts heat from outside air, usually requiring an external unit fixed to or near a building — in a listed building, siting and appearance are key factors in whether Listed Building Consent is granted.
Historic Environment Record (HER)#: A local authority or archaeological body's database of known heritage assets and archaeological sites in its area, used as a source of evidence when assessing significance.
Archaeological priority area#: An area identified by a local planning authority as having a high potential for below-ground archaeological remains, where applications are more likely to require an archaeological assessment.
Setting assessment#: The staged process, following Historic England's GPA3, of identifying heritage assets that may be affected by a proposal, assessing the contribution their setting makes to significance, and assessing the effect of the proposed change.
Heritage statement#: A general term used by local planning authorities for any document explaining a heritage asset's significance and a proposal's effect on it — in practice usually meaning a Statement of Heritage Significance, a Heritage Impact Assessment, or both.
Planning Portal#: The UK government's official online service for submitting planning and Listed Building Consent applications, and a source of guidance on the application process and fees.
UK Planning Gateway (UKPG)#: An online planning-submission platform. HeritageAI has agreed a partnership with UKPG, with direct submission from HeritageAI to UKPG currently being connected.
RIBA#: Royal Institute of British Architects — the UK's professional body for architects, which also maintains a Conservation Register for architects with recognised conservation expertise.
ARB#: Architects Registration Board — the UK statutory regulator of the title "architect"; all practising architects in the UK must be registered with the ARB.
RIBA Conservation Registrant#: An architect recognised by the Royal Institute of British Architects as having demonstrated relevant knowledge, skill and experience in the conservation of historic buildings.