Counter-Terrorism Security

To be within scope of the Act, a qualifying premises must consist of at least one building and be wholly or mainly used for one or more of the uses specified in Schedule 1 to the Act. These include uses that may encompass heritage assets, e.g. visitor attractions, museums, galleries and halls.

Qualifying premises must reasonably expect, from time-to-time, to have 200 or more individuals on the premises at the same time. Smaller premises (200 to 799 individuals) are required to put in place standard tier public protection procedures to reduce the risk of physical harm to individuals who may be present.

Those responsible for larger premises, where it must be reasonable to expect that 800 or more individuals will be present at any one time, must also put in place enhanced tier public protection measures designed to reduce the premises' vulnerability to an attack.

Under Schedule 2 to the Act certain premises, which may also encompass heritage assets, are exempt from being qualified premises under the terms of the Act, e.g. Houses of Parliament and parks and gardens.

Places of worship will always be considered as a standard tier premises, even if the expected attendance is 800 or more individuals at any one time.

The Home Office has produced a quick guide on qualifying premises.

For an event to be in scope of the Act it must take place in a building, on land, or a combination of the two, and can take place on premises that are otherwise not qualifying premises under the Act, e.g. parks and gardens. Qualifying events may take place on or within heritage assets, including underground archaeological remains and earthworks.

A qualifying event must have measures in place to check that attendees satisfy a condition of entry and must be accessible to members of the public.

For an event to be in scope it must be reasonable to expect that 800 or more individuals will be present at any one time. Those responsible for qualifying events are required to have in place both public protection procedures and public protection measures at the site for the duration for the event.

The Home Office has produced a quick guide on qualifying events.

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) has been appointed as the Act's regulator. It will seek to support, advise and guide those responsible for premises and events in meeting the requirements of this legislation. The SIA will have various powers to help ensure compliance, including issuing of a range of sanctions in the event of serious or persistent non-compliance.

The following links provide further information to help interpret the Act:

• Home Office statutory guidance: The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025
• Home Office factsheets
• ProtectUK Martyn's Law webpage
• The Act and church buildings.

The first criterion of whether a site meets the definition of a qualifying premises is that it must consist of a building, or a building and other land. Paragraph 4.7 of the Home Office guidance states that there is no specific requirement that the building is made of a certain material or is of any particular size.

The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 sets out that subject to certain exceptions, 'buildings' have the same meaning as that set out in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which among other criteria, defines a building as including "any structure or erection, and any part of a building, as so defined, but does not include plant or machinery comprised in a building". This definition captures an array of heritage sites under the term 'building', from an inhabited Grade I listed home to a disused Abbey with no roof or the exposed foundations of a Roman villa.

However Schedule 2 of the Act generally excludes open-air locations, including parks and gardens, as being qualifying premises if the location is open access. Therefore, broadly speaking, a heritage site that is wholly an open-air site (e.g. the foundations of a Roman villa) would not fall within the scope of the Act as a qualifying premises, even if 200 or more people may be present at the site at any one time.

However, it may still fall within the scope of the Act if any of the following conditions are met:

• A specific event takes place at the site, that has restricted or controlled entry and expects to have 800 or more people present at any one time; this would make it a qualifying event
• The site also includes non-open-air buildings that are accessible to the public and used as part of the sites Schedule 1 purpose, e.g. a visitor centre of cafe.

The Home Office guidance is clear that the premises or event Responsible Person must ensure that, as applicable, appropriate public protection procedures and public protection measures are in place, so far as is reasonably practicable. There is no one-size-fits-all approach and the Responsible Person must consider the nature of their premises or event and the resources at their disposal. The objectives of the desired procedures or measures must be balanced against the cost, time and challenges involved in implementing them.

For a qualifying heritage premises staffed by a small number of volunteers, such as a parish church, what might be considered as reasonably practicable public protection procedures may be influenced by the capacity of these volunteers to arrange, implement and enact said procedures.

For a listed building, what might be considered as reasonably practicable public protection measures may be influenced by the available budget, as well as restrictions on making alterations to the building in accordance with the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.

For any qualifying heritage building or site, the Responsible Person must consider the significance of the heritage asset before installing any physical security measures. It is important to engage with the Local Planning Authority (LPA) or Historic England at an early stage in this process, to help ensure a suitable solution can be found.

Historic England's Good Practice Advice note Managing Significance in Decision-Taking in the Historic Environment provides useful information on assessing the significance of heritage assets, as well as the decision making process involved when implementing historic environment policy in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

If the Responsible Person for an enhanced tier premises or qualifying event decides that the implementation of public protection measures requires the installation of a physical feature (e.g. a security barrier or CCTV cameras) that affects the special interest of a listed building, they must first apply for Listed Building Consent from their Local Planning Authority (LPA). The LPA Conservation Officer can advise on whether consent will be required for the planned work.

The LPA may also need to be consulted where a qualifying event requiring the installation of public protection measures is taking place within a registered park, garden or battlefield. The potential impact on sub-surface archaeological remains and earthworks must be considered. Our guidance on Temporary Structures in Historic Places can be used to support proposals for temporary structures at events being held on or within a heritage asset.

The installation of physical security measures within a scheduled monument may require Scheduled Monument Consent before the work can proceed. Historic England's regional teams can help advise on these requirements. Remember, it is a criminal offence to carry out any unauthorised works to a listed building or scheduled monument.

Ultimately, the outcome of these consent procedures may influence what reasonably practicable public protection measures can be implemented at a site.

The Responsible Person for an enhanced tier premises or qualifying event has a duty to document the reasons for applying certain public protection procedures and measures. This document might form part of a remote assessment or on-site inspection by the SIA. Therefore, if applicable, it may be appropriate to provide a statement here explaining how the available resources and the physical nature of the site have influenced what is reasonably practicable when seeking to apply proportionate public protection procedures and measures. This might include any restrictions arising from the site being a listed building or scheduled monument.