Guide to listed buildings - Fine and Country Leamington Spa

Описание: Today we are at The Marble House in Warwickshire, in the very centre of this famous medieval town, and I would like to talk to you about listed buildings. A building is listed when it is of special architectural or historic interest.

A listed building is of national importance and therefore worth protecting. There were a limited number of buildings protected under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act of 1882.

It was the bombing campaigns in World War II that created the desire to preserve a larger selection of the traditional buildings in the UK. Listed buildings account for less than 2% of English building stock, just one in fifty.

There are three different grades and ratings.

Grade I: Buildings of exceptional interest for instance the Palace of Westminster.
Grade II: Buildings that are of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve them.
Grade II*: Particularly important buildings of more than special interest.

The older a building, the more likely it is to be listed. In order to make changes to a listed building you may well need to apply for specialist listed building consent.

The listing status can protect the interior and exterior of the building, as well as objects or structures fixed to it, and any object or structure within the curtilage of the building which has formed part of the land before 1 July 1948.

There are no general rules about what can and cannot be done, as each building is unique and will have been listed for reasons particular to that building.

A local authority conservation officer can establish whether proposals are likely to affect a building’s architectural or historical interest and therefore whether listed building consent is required.

Listed building consent must then be obtained from the local planning authority.

Decisions will generally take 8 to 13 weeks, and appeals can be submitted to the Secretary of State within 6 months. It is not possible to make outline applications for listed building consent.

It is a criminal offence to alter listed buildings without listed buildings consent and the local planning authority can have works reversed with an enforcement order if they do not have consent.

Owners of listed buildings do not always perceive themselves in fact to be owners. Quite often they see themselves more as custodians. Keepers of a piece of architecture that over the years could no doubt tell many a story. In their stewardship they care and love for the property before passing it on to the next custodian. A journey that started here in this Jacobean styled home back in 1650.