Heritage Impact Assessments

A Heritage Impact Assessment is required by most local planning authorities for works affecting listed buildings, conservation areas, and the settings of designated heritage assets. The statement identifies the asset's significance, describes the proposed works, and assesses their effect on that significance in line with the NPPF and adopted local policy.

The purpose of a Heritage Impact Assessment is to give the decision-maker what they need in order to say yes. A planning officer cannot approve works affecting a designated heritage asset without a written understanding of what makes that asset significant and how the proposals would affect it. Where that evidence is missing or thin, the safest decision available to them is refusal.

The terms matter, because they drive the outcome. National policy asks whether harm is substantial or less than substantial, and whether it is outweighed by public benefit. A report that identifies significance clearly, acknowledges harm honestly where it exists, and sets out the justification is far more persuasive than one that simply argues there is no harm at all.

Assessments are prepared by Charlotte personally, drawing on more than a decade in heritage planning and three local authority Conservation Officer posts. Having assessed these applications from inside a planning authority is the most useful preparation there is for writing documents that satisfy one.