Understanding heritage significance in planning decisions in England: The current state of play

This research focuses on the challenges contained within the urban planning system of England which is meant to aid historic environment decision making for Local Planning Authorities (LPA) across the country. Alongside Historic England’s value system there is a vast amount of guidance on how to properly understand the values to determine the significance of a heritage asset which extend from purely the aesthetic to looking at a holistic approach containing intangible and tangible values. There are also difficulties such as confusion over the mechanisms needed to present a holistic understanding of the historic environment. This research seeks to analyse the extent to which these forms of guidance along with policy documents are influencing understanding of the significance of heritage assets within England. In order to gain insight a case study approach was adopted to examine five randomly selected heritage statements from five LPAs, resulting in 25 heritage significance statements. This approach enabled an initial understanding of some of the actors contributing to what was found to be an overall lack of quality, appreciation, or comprehension of the influence significance and value have in planning decisions making about the historic environment. This has implications in terms of how we educate built environment practitioners, the accessibility of information, the lack of professional recognition, and the underpinning of legislation when it comes to the historic environment.