8. Valuing: Statutory designation

This guidance note is for contributions to the National Heritage List for England. For those proposing or enhancing entries emphasising distinctiveness.

Listing is the catch-all term for the practice of statutory designation. Listed Buildings, Scheduled Monuments and Protected Wrecks have legal protection from specific actions. Registered Parks and Gardens and Battlefields are also included. The conservation of all assets identified on. The National Heritage List accords great weight in Local Planning Authority decisions.

Additions to the List need to meet national criteria. They must be of special interest or national importance. Locally distinctive significance will not enable a heritage asset to meet these criteria. There are exceptions described in the Principles of Selection for Listed Buildings, 2018).

1. where assets 'illustrate the importance of distinctive local and regional building traditions’
2. or ‘because they represent a nationally significant but localised industry’

Assets that do not reach these criteria should still be recognised. This could be through Neighbourhood Development Plans, Conservation Area Appraisals, or other documents. The Cornwall and Scilly Historic Environment Record welcome nominations.

Assets placed on the NHLE are formally described by Historic England. Anyone can enhance these records through the Missing Pieces Project.

Boscawen-Un stone circle

Ideal outcomes

• Effective joint working between Historic England and local partners. Identification of distinctive candidate assets for statutory or local designation.
• Public and professionals engage in new research that uses the distinctiveness assessment. This identifies potential nominations for designation. It also supplements List entries through the Missing Pieces Project mechanism.

Things to consider

• New list entries must meet the tests set out in legislation and the stated criteria. Refer to DCMS Principles of Selection and Historic England guidance available here.
• Missing Pieces Project contributions do not become part of the statutory designation entry. Any information may be taken into account by a decision maker. Contributions which connect facts to robust evidence are particularly valuable.
• Older (‘legacy’) list descriptions will range in length and content. Early entries contained briefer descriptions than those of today. Cornish distinctiveness can contribute when planning and statutory consents are considered.
• Local terms within Listing Descriptions or Missing Pieces Project may need more explanation.

Approaches and resources

• Local terms can be used within list proposals alongside accepted national terms. Where no equal national terms exist the distinctively Cornish term may be appropriate.
• Where a term is derived from the Cornish language, the Cornish term should take primacy. Its English translation should be in in parenthesis. for instance plen-an-gwary (playing place). If appropriate the term should be nominated for the Thesaurus of Monument Types. The thesaurus is maintained by the Forum on Information Standards in Heritage (FISH).
• Submit assets that do not reach the listing threshold to the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly HER. Where appropriate include them in other adopted documents or guidance.
• Consider nominating assets with locally important uses as Assets of Community Value.
  

The following Guidance Notes may also be helpful:

7 Identifying assets of local significance

9 Research