One of the benefits identified from the Local Heritage Listing project is the opportunity to engage with owners of historic assets. This can be a simple as advising them their asset has been nominated or providing advice and guidance on managing historic properties.
Involving Owners
It is very important that we inform owners if their asset has been nominated and why it is considered significant so that they can make comment on the proposal or provide additional information that may further support the nomination. Alternatively, the information they provide may alert to a lessening of significance. Owners can also help the process by enabling access to the interior of the building so a more complete understanding of significance values can be sought. This is not a requirement of owners, but it does help us to ensure the quality of the assets included are based on sound evidence. Therefore, Officers in each local authority will advise owners if their property has been nominated to begin the dialogue. Any information relating to the asset collated during the process will be added to the Historic Environment Record, which is the repository for all known information on heritage assets in the area.
Ancient Cottages near Huyton Cross
(image courtesy of Knowsley Archive Services)
Farmhouse in Altcar
(image courtesy National Museums Liverpool)
Cottage Priest's Lane, Formby
(image courtesy National Museums Liverpool)
What does it mean if my property is added to the List?
As things stand, locally listed building are not subject to statutory protections in the way that listed buildings, or conservation areas are. This means that the thresholds that trigger the need to submit planning applications are unchanged by a building being included on the Local heritage List. However in some circumstances this is likely to be regarded as leaving locally listed assets at risk of inappropriate changes,
To address this Local Planning Authorities do have powers to alter these thresholds through the use of Article 4 Directions. If in the future the Local Authority chooses to propose the use of an Article 4 Direction for locally listed sites, this would however be subject to further specific consultation.
Therefore, if your property is nominated and/or included on the Local List, and you are looking to make changes to it, we recommend that you speak with the local planning authority or Conservation Officer to understand if and how the identification of your property on the Local Heritage List may affect any proposals you bring forward.