Emergency Funding for Research

Key criteria

Please note: 

• The financial assistance that Historic England provides is ‘funding of last resort’ for urgent situations where immediate intervention is necessary to investigate/record the asset. 
• We must be consulted as soon as it appears that unexpected discoveries have been made. We will not consider retrospective applications to cover costs already incurred when we have not been consulted or agreed to the response and its cost implications.   
• Requests for emergency funding must come from the local planning authority and be submitted by the person responsible for the case. We're unable to consider direct funding requests from contractors or consultants.   

What is the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)?  

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out planning policies for England and explains how these should be applied. Its central theme is the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’. The responsibility for funding any historic environment work which is necessary to mitigate the effects of development is placed on developers.   

Historic England’s good practice advice Managing Significance in Decision Taking in the Historic Environment notes that where a new heritage asset is discovered or proves to be more significant than foreseen at the time of application, the local planning authority is advised to work with the developer to seek a proportionate solution that protects the significance of the new discovery, so far as is practical, within the existing scheme (paragraph 44). Developers are advised to incorporate the potential for unexpected discoveries into their risk-management strategies.  

Emergency funding during the planning process

We recognise that the best-planned and informed scheme can result in entirely unexpected discoveries of national significance. Therefore, it may be possible for Historic England to provide funding to ensure that a suitable record is made prior to destruction or loss of significance.   

Where discoveries are made during the planning process, we'll only consider financial assistance towards the investigation, analysis or dissemination of such discoveries if the following criteria are met:  

• The desk-based assessment and field evaluation were appropriate and sufficient, and the discovery is genuinely unexpected and could not reasonably have been predicted. We cannot provide funding if the threat to the historic environment could have been predicted but was missed because desk-based assessment or field evaluation was inadequate or inappropriate, whether as a result of poor practice by a contractor or inadequate brief.  
• The asset discovered is of national significance. We'll look to our local office, the local planning authority’s heritage adviser and expert opinion to provide a judgement on the significance of the case.   
• The planning process set out in the NPPF has been followed. We cannot fund cases where the NPPF has not been followed by the local planning authority or where appropriate and reasonable conditions were not placed upon the developer. We normally expect to be provided with copies of permissions and briefs.  
• It can be demonstrated that every effort was made to accommodate unexpected discoveries within the available resources. We cannot underwrite developers who are not prepared to meet the full costs of the conditions placed upon them. Statements on the mitigation strategies that have been explored following unexpected discoveries are essential.  

Emergency funding outside of the planning process

In exceptional circumstances where discoveries are made outside of the planning process we'll consider financial assistance towards investigation, analysis or dissemination of such discoveries only if the following criterion is met:  

• The asset discovered is of national significance and at risk. We'll look to our local office, the local planning authority’s heritage adviser and expert opinion to provide a judgement on the significance of the case.   

How to apply

To apply for emergency funding you must be the person at the local planning authority with responsibility for the case and have the appropriate delegated authority to make the funding request.  

1. If you have not done so already, please contact your Historic England local office to inform them of the discovery and tell them that you intend to apply for emergency funding. You'll need to discuss the funding criteria with them in preparation for making the funding request.  
2. When you're ready to submit a request please complete the ‘Emergency Funding for Research Questionnaire’ provided below and email it to the Central Grants Team using the email address provided. We'll endeavour to respond as quickly as possible.