Advice from the Civic Trust for Wales

Sustainability and significance

New planning guidance has recently been published in England and Wales. In England Planning Policy Statement 5 (PPS 5) provides a holistic and sustainable approach to the historic environment and in Wales a revisedPlanning Policy Wales (PPW) updates the Welsh planning agenda including for the historic environment. There are distinct changes between the approaches taken in England and Wales, and the possibility that these will become more divergent with different political parties in control in the two countries.

Planning for the historic environment: sustainability and significance
New planning guidance on heritage, Planning Policy Statement 5 ‘Planning for the Historic Environment’ was published for England this year. Since planning guidance in Wales has a habit of following that produced by England it is fair to hope that new guidance for Wales will be published for consultation shortly.  
   PPS5 marked a positive advance in the previous English governments’ consideration of the historic environment however their approach did not reach as far as taking forward the proposed Heritage Protection Bill. The Bill would have been a legislative framework for a unified and simpler heritage protection system designed to be more open and transparent, but it did not make it into the Queen’s Speech in 2009 or 2010 because of the Brown Government’s focus on the economy. An update on the Bill's status is awaited from the new coalition government.

Planning Policy Statement 5: Planning for the Historic Environment

PPS5 is a concise document that brings together all aspects of the historic environment under one policy. PPS 5 replaces two guidance notes Planning Policy Guidance note 15 ‘Planning and the Historic Environment’ (PPG15) and Planning Policy Guidance note 16 ‘Archaeology and Planning’ (PPG16). A practice guide ‘Planning for the Historic Environment’ has also been published to accompany PPS5 to provide further explanation and guidance, and is also classed as a material planning consideration in the making of planning decisions.

The twelve policies of PPS5:

PPS5 introduces a number of significant changes to the approach to heritage management in England. Principally that sustainability is introduced into the historic environment and a new descriptive term ‘Heritage Assets’ is used to describe significant features of the historic environment. Both these elements, which are explained in more detail below, could also enter future Welsh guidance.
   ‘Historic assets’ is the name given by PPS5 to “those parts of the historic environment that have significance because of their historic, archaeological, architectural or artistic interest…” (Para.5). This includes all nationally designated and registered heritage assets (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, conservation areas, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, archaeology, World Heritage Sites), and all locally designated heritage assets (locally listed buildings, sites of local archaeological interest etc). ‘Significance’ (see earlier quote) is a key term within the PPS policies and is used to encapsulate the qualities that make a place a heritage asset rather than an ordinary place, this will be the total of its historical, archaeological, historic and architectural interest (Historic Environment Planning Practice Guide para. 12).  This approach while maintaining a difference between designated and non-designated heritage sites allows greater protection for the non-designated sites.
   There has long been a contention over the increasing divide between non-heritage properties and heritage properties when it comes to climate change and sustainability. Heritage assets are a non-renewable resource, something PPS5 is aware of in terms of the sustainability of assets: It is necessary to “recognize that intelligently managed change may sometimes be necessary if heritage assets are to be maintained for the long term” (Para. 7). Policy HE1 (HE1.1, HE1.2 and HE1.3) specifically addresses climate change and heritage assets.  
   Policy HE1 requires Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) to place in their planning policies consideration of climate change mitigation methods for heritage assets. It advocates the reduction of carbon emissions and sustainable development (through enhancing energy efficiency, improving the resilience to climate change, allowing greater use of renewable energy and allowing for the sustainable use of water) where it is appropriate for heritage assets to be modified. Adaptation of heritage assets allows them to be kept in use as well as to save on further consumption of energy and building materials as well as the generation of waste from their demolition and the construction of new buildings. (Policy HE1.1) Despite this the policy is clear that should climate change mitigation measures negatively impact upon a heritage asset the LPA should assist the developer to find some that are less damaging (Policy He1.2) and where this is not possible the “the public benefit of mitigating the effects of climate change should be weighed against any harm to the significance of heritage assets in accordance with the development management principles in this PPS and national planning policy on climate change” (Policy HE1.3).
   These are important and long-awaited changes for the sustainability of the historic environment but because they are not specific on types of mitigation measures to some extent they leave the practicality of introducing mitigation methods up to the discretion of the LPA. This is where the accompanying document ‘Historic Environment Planning Practice Guide' comes into play. The Guide (p10-11 para.24) recommends LPAs to

• prepare planning policies that take into account the wider sustainability benefits of heritage assets, and address specific heritage assets and details how to manage inconsistencies between conservation and mitigation measures.
• produce appraisals of assets at risk to inform the writing of planning policies, and identify any assets at risk as a result of climate change e.g. from changing water levels.
• prepare supplementary planning guidance to illustrate how heritage assets within their area can be adapted to improve environmental performance without impairing their significance.

Aside from issues of climate change PPS5 make if a requirement that if a heritage asset must be lost the developer is obliged to record the asset before it vanishes. The Local Planning Authority is required to impose a planning condition to ensure the work is carried out and the evidence is published (Policy HE12).
 
The historic environment in Welsh planning policy
The historic environment in Wales is covered by a number of Acts, Circulars, Planning Policy Wales (PPW) and Technical Advice Notes (TANS) which all address different aspects of the historic environment or the historic environment in relation to another issue. The exception is chapter 6 in PPW which considers the historic environment per se.
   PPW considers the historic environment should be part of a local authority’s responsibilities to be taken into account in the formulation of planning policies and exercise of development control functions. The objectives stated for the historic environment are:

• preserving and enhancing the historic environment,
• protecting archaeological remains,
• ensuring the character of historic buildings are safeguarded,
• ensuring conservation areas are protected and enhanced while remaining alive and prosperous.

An updated PPW (2010) has recently been published which has continued the Assembly Government's strong sustainability slant but has not extended to inclusion of climate change mitigation measures with regards to the historic environment. Unfortunately the new TAN 22 ‘Planning for Sustainable Buildings’ (2010) has also not done this since it only addresses new build.
   Two other concepts that have not yet transferred into Welsh policy are the collective term ‘historic assets’, a term that originates from the draft Heritage Protection Bill, and the concept of ‘significance.’ Hopefully a future WAG TAN will be issued quickly that amalgamates all the aspects of the historic environment, updates Circular 61/96 and includes climate change mitigation measures, the concepts of heritage assets and significance.
   Positively however on historic landscape Wales has advanced further in approach through the ‘Historic Landscape Characterisation’ (TAN 12 2009 para. 5.5.2) which provides detailed assessment of the historic landscape. Welsh planning policy closely inter-links the historic environment and landscape something not done in England (TAN 12 2009). Unfortunately however TAN 12 also does not consider mitigation measures for climate change for the historic environment.

Welsh policy on the historic environment

Planning in England and Wales
PPS5 was the last planning statement to be published under the previous government. Following the recent election the English planning system, will be changed, yet again, to reflect the Conservative Party’s ‘Open Source Planning’ approach. The Conservative Party consider the planning system is broken and requiring a radical reboot. It proposes to reboot planning through:

• removing issues it considers to be too bureaucratic (the regional planning tier in England, removing the power of the Planning Inspectorate over local plans, amending the Use Classes Order to support land allocations in the local plan and limiting appeals against local planning decisions).
• introducing collaborative planning with the creation of infrastructure plans by local authorities and by requiring local authorities to cooperate with local people on planning issues.
• creating a presumption in favour of sustainable development i.e. that there is a right to build homes and buildings as long as they comply with set national economic, social, architectural and environmental standards. The government will make approving planning proposals for such development much faster.

This will be a significant change in approach to the planning system in England. The planning system in Wales is also likely to see some changes, however these will be as a result of a review of the Planning Application Process in Wales by GVA Grimley (2010) and commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government. This review did not consider the planning system was broken but just that it needed improving. The draft findings of the review, which has been fully adopted by WAG, put forward sixteen recommendations that included the need for policy statements on economic development, a reform of the Design and Access Statements and the extension of Permitted Development. The changes will be noticeable but they are seeking to enhance the existing planning system rather than rebuild it. While the outcome of this review is awaited it will also be interesting to see what effect the significant changes due to occur in England as a result of a new Government will have up on the Welsh planning system.

References

England

Communities and Local Government (1990) Planning Policy Guidance Note 16: Archaeology and Planning London http://www.communities.gov.uk/archived/publications/planningandbuilding/ppg16
Communities and Local Government (2005) Planning Policy Guidance Note 15: Planning and the Historic Environment
http://www.communities.gov.uk/archived/publications/planningandbuilding/ppg15?view=Standard
Communities and Local Government (2010) Planning Policy Statement 5: Planning for the Historic Environment,
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/pps5
Communities and Local Government, English Heritage and Department of Culture, Media and Sport (2010) PPS5 Planning for the Historic Environment: Historic Environment Planning Practice Guide
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/pps-practice-guide/pps5practiceguide.pdf
DCMS (2008) Draft Heritage Protection Bill
http://www.cadw.wales.gov.uk/default.asp?id=289&navId=276&parentId=11
Conservative Party (2009) Open Source Planning Policy Green Paper No. 14 Conservative Party
http://www.conservatives.com/~/media/Files/Green%20Papers/planning-green-paper.ashx

Wales

Welsh Assembly Government (2010) Planning Policy Wales Cardiff,
http://wales.gov.uk/topics/planning/policy/ppw2010/?lang=en
Welsh Assembly Government (2010) Technical Advice Note 22 Planning for Sustainable Buildings
http://wales.gov.uk/topics/planning/policy/tans/tan22/?lang=en
GVA Grimley (2010) Review of the Planning Application Process in Wales. The Welsh Assembly Government Planning Division
http://dataroom.gvagrimley.co.uk/welshconsultation/index.htm