Demolition in a conservation area and your right to comment

Demolishing an unlisted building in a conservation area needs planning permission. The GPDO 2015 removes the usual permitted development right for demolition where the building is in a conservation area, so what used to be called conservation area consent now arrives as an application for planning permission for relevant demolition. That application is publicised, which gives you a formal right to comment, and the council must pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of the area under section 72 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.

The point most commenters miss is that the replacement matters as much as the loss. An application to demolish with nothing proposed in its place is a weak application, and saying so is often the most effective objection available.

What consent demolition requires

Since the change in the consent regime, demolition of an unlisted building in a conservation area is treated as development requiring planning permission, described as relevant demolition. The GPDO's demolition class in Part 11 is disapplied in a conservation area, so the prior approval route for demolition does not help.

Some limits apply. Demolition of a building with a volume below the threshold in the Order, and of certain gates, fences, walls and means of enclosure below a stated height, falls outside the requirement. Partial demolition is a question of degree, and where the works amount to alteration rather than demolition they are assessed as alteration instead, which is a different test. If a scheme is described as "removal of rear wing", check whether the council has treated it as demolition or alteration, because that determines the test.

Carrying out relevant demolition without permission is an offence, not merely a breach. That is worth knowing if work starts before a decision.

The statutory duty on the authority

Section 72 requires the authority, in exercising its planning functions in a conservation area, to pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of that area. It is a positive duty and it applies to the whole of the decision, not just to a heritage section of the report.

National policy adds that the significance of the designated heritage asset, here the conservation area as a whole, must be conserved, with great weight given to that conservation, and harm requires clear and convincing justification. Where the building makes a positive contribution to the character or appearance of the area, its loss is harm that has to be justified. Where it makes no contribution, or detracts, the loss may be neutral or even an enhancement.

So the central question in a demolition case is whether the building makes a positive contribution. That is where a comment can do real work, because the applicant's heritage statement will usually argue that it does not.

Publicity for a demolition application

Publicity for relevant demolition follows the Development Management Procedure Order. The authority must publish a notice in a local newspaper and display a site notice, and most authorities also notify immediate neighbours, with a comment period of 21 days from the later of those steps.

Three practical points. The site notice is the one that carries, so photograph it with its date if you find it, because disputes about publicity sometimes turn on when it appeared. The weekly list of registered applications is the reliable way to track a building you are worried about. And where any part of a listed building is involved, the national amenity societies are notified, which is not automatic for unlisted buildings in conservation areas.

You can bring an application to the attention of the relevant amenity society or local civic society yourself. A short note with the reference number and what is proposed is usually enough, and their representations carry weight because they address significance rather than inconvenience. Our note on whether neighbours are reconsulted on amended plans covers what happens if the scheme is revised during the process.

Replacement scheme as part of the assessment

National policy is clear that the authority should not permit the loss of a building that makes a positive contribution without being satisfied about what will replace it. In practice that means two things for an objector.

Where demolition is sought on its own, with no approved replacement, the absence of a scheme is a legitimate and strong objection. A cleared gap in a terrace or a street frontage is itself harm to the character and appearance of the area, and a demolition permission with no replacement risks exactly that.

Where demolition is sought together with a replacement scheme, the assessment is of the package. The relevant comparison is the contribution of the existing building against the contribution of what is proposed, including its scale, materials, rhythm and relationship to the street. A replacement that is acceptable in isolation may still not justify the loss.

Ask, in your comment, whether a condition tying demolition to delivery of the replacement has been considered. That is a standard and readily imposed control, and asking for it is more likely to succeed than asking for outright refusal.

Evidence of condition and viability

Applicants frequently argue that the building is beyond economic repair. That argument is capable of carrying weight but it has to be evidenced, and it is often the weakest part of the application.

What a properly evidenced case looks like, and therefore what to check for:

• a structural survey by a suitably qualified engineer, describing the defects and their causes rather than asserting a conclusion
• costed repair options, prepared on a comparable basis, including a do-minimum option
• evidence that repair has been considered rather than only replacement
• where viability is argued, an assessment prepared on recognised principles with inputs stated
• evidence of marketing where the applicant says no viable use can be found
• an account of how the building reached its current condition, since deliberate neglect should not be rewarded

Deterioration through neglect is a point worth making explicitly if the history supports it. National policy indicates that deliberate neglect of, or damage to, a heritage asset should not be taken into account in favour of the applicant. If you have photographs showing an open roof or missing rainwater goods over several years, that is evidence, and it is the kind of evidence only a neighbour usually has.

Conditions tying demolition to a contract

Where permission is granted for demolition with a replacement, the usual control is a condition requiring that demolition shall not take place until a contract for the carrying out of the redevelopment has been made and planning permission for it granted. The condition has a long history in conservation practice and it is intended to prevent cleared sites standing empty.

Ask for the ones that fit the case. A salvage condition on a building with handmade brick or Welsh slate is proportionate and easy for an officer to impose.

Recording before loss

Where a building of some interest is to be lost, recording is the fallback. Historic England sets out recording levels 1 to 4, from a basic visual record through to a full analytical record with measured drawings, and a condition can require a record at a specified level to be deposited with the Historic Environment Record before works begin.

This is the request most likely to be granted, and it is worth making even where you expect demolition to be permitted. The record is what survives for the next person researching the street, and the obligation to produce it sometimes prompts a better understanding of the building that changes the scheme.

Historic Building Recording is a report type where councils usually expect a suitably qualified author and professional review is strongly advised. A short, specific representation asking for a recording condition at a stated level, with reasons, is frequently adopted word for word in the officer report. Our guide to reading a decision notice as a neighbour explains how to check which conditions were imposed, and breach of condition notices covers what happens if the contract condition is ignored.

Where you want to understand the documents an applicant should have supplied, the report index sets out what a heritage statement, a structural survey and a historic building record each contain.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.