LISTED BUILDINGS &
CONSERVATION AREAS

WHEN YOU NEED IT

If your home is listed, you need listed building consent for any work that affects its special character, inside or out. That includes extensions, but also new windows, internal walls, staircases, fireplaces and many repairs that use different materials.

​

Listing covers the whole building, attached structures and older buildings within its grounds, not only the features mentioned in the list entry.

WHY IT MATTERS

Carrying out unauthorised works to a listed building is a criminal offence under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, with penalties of up to two years’ imprisonment or a fine.

​

Unauthorised work also causes real problems when you come to sell.

CONSERVATION AREAS

In a conservation area your permitted development rights are narrower. Side extensions, cladding and extensions of more than one storey to the rear need planning permission, and you must give the council six weeks' notice before working on most trees.

​

Every application has to preserve or enhance the character of the area. Waverley has 43 conservation areas and Guildford 38, and the South Downs National Park has 166 within or straddling its boundary.

HERITAGE STATEMENT

Every application needs an assessment of the building’s significance and of how the proposal affects it. National policy requires this, and a weak heritage statement is one of the most common causes of delay.

​

We set out what matters about your building, what the work changes, and why the balance is acceptable.

OUR EXPERIENCE

We have worked on more than ten listed buildings, and around 30% of all our applications are in conservation areas.

​

Where a case calls for it, we bring in specialists with local authority and heritage backgrounds.

COSTS AND TIMING

There is no council fee for listed building consent. If planning permission is needed as well, the two applications run side by side.

​

Councils aim to decide most applications within 8 weeks.

IF IT IS REFUSED

You can appeal within six months. Listed building appeals follow a different procedure from most planning appeals, so the case needs careful preparation from the start.

YOUR NEXT STEP

Start with a planning surgery: 45 minutes at our Haslemere office or on Teams, for a flat £95 plus VAT. We research your site’s constraints beforehand, so the time is spent on answers rather than background.

​

Prefer to talk first? Call us on 01428 892198. We reply to every enquiry within one working day.