A heritage statement costs from £565 at Fixed Fee Plans. It is the written document that tells your council what is significant about a listed building or conservation area house, what your proposal changes, and why that is acceptable. We research it and write it for you.
Many London homes need one without their owners knowing. A rear extension in a conservation area, new windows on a Georgian terrace, a loft conversion on a locally listed villa: each can be refused at validation if the statement is missing. The statement is short, but it has to be right.
Do I need a heritage statement?
You almost certainly do if the building is listed, in a conservation area, or in the setting of either. Councils publish a validation list, and most ask for a heritage statement where designated assets are affected. The national policy points the same way: the National Planning Policy Framework's policy HE5 says proposals affecting heritage assets should be accompanied by an assessment of their significance, including any contribution made by their setting.
Check which applies before you pay for anything. Our constraints report tells you if the address is listed, locally listed or inside a conservation area, and whether an Article 4 direction removes rights you thought you had. If the house is in none of these, you do not need a heritage statement, and we say so.
What does a heritage statement contain?
It describes significance, assesses the effect of the proposal on it, and justifies any harm. A good one is proportionate: HE5 says the level of detail should be proportionate to the importance of the asset and no more than is necessary to understand the potential effect. A single-storey rear extension on a locally listed house needs a few pages. A Grade I mansion needs a research project.
The law behind it is two sections of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. Section 66 requires special regard to the desirability of preserving a listed building or its setting, and section 72 requires special attention to the character or appearance of a conservation area. The council has to apply those tests, so the statement is written to give its officer the answer, in terms of what is significant, not what is pretty.
What happens if I carry out work without consent?
On a listed building, it is a criminal offence. Section 7 of the 1990 Act forbids demolishing a listed building, or altering or extending it in a way that affects its special interest, without listed building consent. Under section 9, a person convicted on indictment is liable to up to two years in prison or a fine, or both, and on summary conviction to up to six months or a fine.
The reason to know this is simple: listed building consent is the application, and the heritage statement is its core document. The consent itself carries no planning fee, according to GOV.UK's fee guidance, so the cost is in the statement and the drawings. Where the application also changes the outside of the building, the planning application goes with it, and a design and access statement is required for every listed building consent application.
What does the fee cover, and what does it not?
The fee covers the research and the written statement for a house-sized proposal. It does not cover drawings, so if you do not yet have them, our proposed drawings service draws the scheme, or the complete planning drawing service at £645 drawings + £150 survey (£795 total) covers survey, drawings and the application. It starts from £565 and is a floor: a larger building, a Grade I or II* listing or a scheme with several parts is quoted in writing first.
We write what the evidence shows. If the proposal harms significance, the statement says so and offers the change that reduces it, because a conservation officer who reads an honest statement trusts the rest of the application. We do not promise a decision. A statement helps a good proposal get a fair reading; it does not rescue a poor one. Our permitted development checker shows what needs no application at all, which in a conservation area is less than you might expect.
Frequently asked questions
Is a heritage statement the same as a heritage impact assessment?
For a house, the terms are used loosely and councils accept either. The content is the same: significance, effect and justification. A large site may need a fuller impact assessment, and we say so when we quote.
Do I need one for new windows in a conservation area?
Usually yes, if the windows need planning permission, because the council must pay special attention to the character of the area under section 72. Our windows and doors planning application includes the supporting documents.
Is there a fee for listed building consent?
No. GOV.UK lists applications for listed building consent among those that carry no planning fee. A planning application running alongside it still pays its own fee.
Can you write one without visiting?
For many house-sized proposals we work from your drawings, photographs and the published records. Where the evidence is not enough, we tell you before we write, and we do not guess about what we cannot see.