Policy information sourced from the Elmbridge Development Management Plan

DM12 - Heritage

Planning permission will be granted for developments that protect, conserve and enhance the Borough’s historic environment. This includes the following heritage assets.

  • Listed Buildings and their settings
  • Conservation Areas and their settings
  • Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest and their settings
  • Scheduled Monuments and their settings
  • Areas of High Archaeological Potential and County Sites of Archaeological Importance (CSAIs)
  • Locally Listed Buildings and other identified or potential assets (including non-designated locally significant assets identified in the local lists compiled by the Council).

Listed Buildings

  • The Council will encourage appropriate development to maintain and restore Listed Buildings, particularly those identified as being most at risk.
  • Development to, or within the curtilage or vicinity of, a listed building or structure should preserve or enhance its setting and any features of special architectural or historical interest which it possesses.
  • A change of use of part, or the whole, of a Listed Building will be approved provided that its setting, character and features of special architectural or historic interest would be preserved or enhanced. Consideration will also be given to the long-term preservation that might be secured through a more viable use.
  • Development which would cause substantial harm to or loss of a listed building (including curtilage buildings), such as total or partial demolition, will be permitted only in exceptional circumstances. In such cases, consideration will be given to the asset’s significance. Applicants will need to clearly demonstrate that either:

There are substantial public benefits outweighing any harm or loss; or

All of the following apply:

  • the nature of the listed building prevents all reasonable use of the site;
  • no viable use of the listed building can be found in the medium term through appropriate marketing that will enable its conservation:
  • it can be demonstrated that charitable or public funding/ownership is not available to enable its conservation;
  • any harm or loss is outweighed by the benefit of bringing the site back into use.

Conservation Areas

  • Proposals for all new development, including alterations and extensions to buildings, their re-use and the incorporation of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, must have a sensitive and appropriate response to context and good attention to detail.
  • Development within or affecting the setting of a conservation area, including views in or out, should preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the area, taking account of the streetscape, plot and frontage sizes, materials and relationships between existing buildings and spaces.
  • Open spaces, trees and other hard and soft landscape features important to the character or appearance of the area should be retained or be in keeping with the character of the area.
  • Proposals to demolish buildings and/or structures will be assessed against their contribution to the significance of the conservation area as a heritage asset. Where substantial harm would be caused to a conservation area’s significance, the proposal will be resisted unless exceptional circumstances, including substantial public benefits outweighing any harm to the conservation area, can be demonstrated. Where the harm would be less than substantial, it will be weighed against any public benefits of the proposal, including securing optimum viable use of the heritage asset and whether it would enhance or better reveal the significance of the conservation area.

Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest

  • Parks and gardens identified as being of special historic interest, including landscape features and buildings, and their setting, will be protected and their sensitive restoration encouraged.
  • Any proposed development within or conspicuous from a historic park or garden will be permitted provided that it does not detract from the asset.

Scheduled Monuments and County Sites of Archaeological Interest (CSAIs)

  • Development that adversely affects the physical survival, setting or overall heritage significance of any element of a Scheduled Monument or CSAI will be resisted.
  • Any new development should be sensitive to these criteria and positively act to enhance the monument or CSAI overall and ensure its continued survival.

Areas of High Archaeological Potential

  • Proposals for development should take account of the likelihood of heritage assets with archaeological significance being present on the site, provide for positive measures to asses the significance of any such assets, and enhance understanding of their value.

Locally Listed Buildings and other non-designated heritage assets

  • The Council will seek to retain these, where possible, and will assess proposals which would directly or indirectly impact on them in the light of their significance and the degree of harm or loss, if any, which would be caused.

For more information please see the Elmbridge Development Management Plan