Local Heritage Lists and Area Designations

The National Heritage List for England (the NHLE)

Administered by Historic England on behalf of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

Local Heritage List

Usually administered by the Local Planning Authority (LPA) with input from local groups and communities. Sometimes the local heritage list is developed by a local group (such as a Civic Society).

The National Heritage List for England (the NHLE)

The NHLE covers the entire country.

Over 99% of people in England live less than a mile from a listed building.

Local Heritage List

Not every LPA has a local heritage list.

We estimate that around 70% of LPAs have one or more local heritage lists, however the list may not cover the whole local authority area.

The National Heritage List for England (the NHLE)

Listed Buildings and Registered Parks and Gardens are graded according to significance (Grade II, Grade II*, and Grade I).

Local Heritage List

No grading system.

The National Heritage List for England (the NHLE)

There are over 400,000 entries on the NHLE, including over 370,000* listed buildings.

Local Heritage List

There is no official figure, but a 2025 survey of Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) found that, of the 89 LPAs that responded, there were an average of 681 non-designated heritage assets (NDHAs) per local heritage list.

However, the number of NDHAs varies greatly between local authorities.

* Entries on the List can sometimes cover multiple individual buildings, such as a row of terraced houses.

The National Heritage List for England (the NHLE)

For listed buildings, changes that might affect the building’s significance have to be managed through the Listed Building Consent (LBC) process.

Local Heritage List

The conservation of a non-designated heritage asset (NDHA) on a local heritage list is a material consideration when determining the outcome of a planning application. There is no additional process for obtaining consent.

The National Heritage List for England (the NHLE)

Heritage assets may come forward for assessment through applications from the public, LPAs, local groups, or amenity societies, or they may be identified internally as part of project work. Applications are assessed by Historic England’s Regional Listing Teams, who make recommendations to the Secretary of State, who takes the final decision.

Local Heritage List

NDHAs may be identified by the LPA (for instance, through decision-making on planning applications) or may come from external sources, such as the public or local groups. The assessment method will vary between LPAs; some might have selection panels, others may delegate decision-making to conservation or planning staff.

The National Heritage List for England (the NHLE)

The criteria depend on the type of designation. For listed buildings, the criteria are special historic or architectural interest.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Principles of Selection for Listed Buildings sets out these criteria.

Local Heritage List

LPAs are free to determine the criteria for their local heritage list, and this may be done with input from the local community.

Historic England Advice Note 7 (HEAN 7) includes suggestions, but most importantly, the criteria should be relevant to the heritage of the local area.

The National Heritage List for England (the NHLE)

The National Heritage List for England (the NHLE) is a database of all nationally protected historic buildings and sites in England. You can search by local authority area, by asset type, name, architect, and more.

Local Heritage List

Local heritage lists, where they exist, should be available on the LPA’s website and in the local Historic Environment Record (HER). Sometimes they are hosted by a local civic society or other local organisation.

Local heritage lists are lists of non-designated heritage assets (NDHAs) which, due to their local heritage significance, have been identified as being of value to a particular place and the community who live and work there. All NDHAs (not just those included in local heritage lists) are afforded a degree of protection through the planning system, although this is less than the protection given to designated heritage assets.

A heritage asset being included on the local heritage list doesn’t prevent future change, but it does mean that any proposed changes should carefully consider the potential effect on the asset.

A local heritage list enables:

• The recognition, celebration, and protection of heritage that people care about
• Buildings that people care about to be identified for reuse
• The celebration of a diverse range of heritage types and values
• New audiences to engage with heritage
• The support of specialist craft & heritage skills
• Wellbeing benefits through heritage engagement
• The character of an area to be recognised and reinforced, contributing to people’s pride in place

You can explore more benefits of local listing in our Research Report ‘Local Heritage Lists: The National Perspective’, and in Local Heritage Listing: Identifying and Conserving Local Heritage, Historic England Advice Note 7 (3rd edition).

According to research we conducted in 2025, around 70% of LPAs now have one or more local heritage lists, and the NPPF emphasises their role in local plan-making. There are many benefits to developing and maintaining a local heritage list, both for recognising locally important heritage and to give people a voice in identifying what is of value to them.

In combination, these benefits will help improve the likelihood for locally listed assets to be retained and conserved so they can benefit future generations, contribute to civic pride, and play a role in delivering locally distinct places.

Because they are managed locally, the presentation of the local heritage list will vary between LPAs (for instance, it might be a PDF, an interactive map or a spreadsheet), as will the criteria used to assess assets for inclusion. The scope of what is included also varies between LPAs – for instance, some may include archaeology, others may not.

They may also use different names, such as ‘buildings of local interest’ or ‘buildings of townscape merit’, but the concept remains the same. ‘Local heritage list’ is recommended as a consistent term.

Most Local Authorities publish their lists on their website, and some can also be found on the local Historic Environment Record (HER). Sometimes the local heritage list is managed by a civic society or other local group and is hosted on their website.

Essential to local listing is a push to improve access to clear, comprehensive, and up-to-date information about the local historic environment. This will involve ensuring that the information contained on local heritage lists is publicly available, best achieved by being included in the HER for the area. Some HERs are also searchable through Heritage Gateway.

Local listing provides an opportunity for communities to voice their views on local heritage. It recognises that the importance we place on the historic environment extends beyond the confines of the planning system, to recognise those community-based values that contribute to our sense of place. Community involvement may include informing the selection criteria as well as researching and nominating assets for inclusion on the list.

Historic England has developed comprehensive guidance on developing local heritage lists, based on research and examples of good practice from around the country.

See our guidance and research on Local Heritage Lists

Potential candidates for the local heritage list may be identified through:

• Public nominations
• Nominations from local history or archaeology groups, friends’ groups, amenity and civic societies
• Research in existing publications, blogs, podcasts, and oral histories
• Records in existing databases and crowdsourced mapping tools
• Listing advice reports
• Records held in local archives, local records offices and local studies libraries
• Historic Environment Records (HERs)
• Historic maps
• Previous planning decisions that have identified NDHAs
• The Local Plan process
• The Neighbourhood Plan process
• Conservation Area appraisals and reviews
• As part of the decision-making process for planning applications

Provided they meet the requirements of the local planning authority's selection criteria, local heritage lists can include a diverse range of heritage assets, including:

• Buildings (such as a railway station or a chapel);
• Structures (such as docks or canals);
• Places and spaces (such as a town square or terrace);
• Designed landscapes (such as cemeteries or town parks);
• Natural landscapes (such as a stream or tor);
• Monuments (such as war memorials or a tomb);
• Public artworks (such as mosaics or sculptures);
• Archaeological remains (below or above ground, such as the remains of a kiln or furnace);
• Street furniture (such as post boxes or telephone kiosks);
• Wayfinding (such as milestones or fingerposts);
• Other elements of the historic environment such as historic routeways, cobbles, setts, parish or ward boundary markers, ghost signs, gable end murals and more.

Almost any structure that has been created by humans is eligible for inclusion on a local heritage list if it meets the definition of a heritage asset and meets the local selection criteria.

The local heritage list ensures that owners are aware of the value that the heritage asset adds to the local area. Hopefully, by identifying that it is an asset of value locally, this will encourage careful stewardship. There are no additional obligations on a homeowner by virtue of their property being locally listed.

Taking a proactive approach through the local heritage list also means that homeowners know that their building has heritage significance at an early stage, so that this can be taken into account by decision makers during the planning process and hopefully avoid delays on this basis.

Conservation areas are designated in order to preserve or enhance the character or appearance of that area because of its special architectural and historic interest of a place – in other words, the features that make it special. Every local planning authority in England has at least one conservation area, and there are around 10,000 in England. Conservation areas are an important tool for local planning authorities. Effective management of conservation areas requires the preparation of a character appraisal and accompanying management plan. Local authorities usually publish these documents on their websites.

Appraisal: Before a conservation area is designated, the local planning authority will usually prepare an appraisal which will include information on what should be included in the designation.

Management Plan: Once a conservation area is designated, the management plan is the key tool for reviewing the area and its boundaries and developing proposals for the preservation and enhancement of the area.

Most conservation areas are designated by the Council as the local planning authority.

Find out more about how they are designated and managed.

In conservation areas there are some extra planning controls and considerations in place to protect the historic and architectural elements which make the place special. Find out about living in a conservation area, including details on obtaining consent and opportunities for grant aid.

Some local planning authorities use additional methods of local designation to manage their local historic environment. These generally take the form of areas of special local character, designed to capture historically important areas that haven't met the criteria for designating conservation areas.

Although areas of special local character are generally used to identify areas which have architectural importance, or which contribute to the local townscape, they may also deal with other elements of the historic environment such as locally important landscapes or archaeology.

If your local conservation area intrigues you, you could:

• Look up Conservation Area Appraisals on your local authority's website to learn more about the area’s unique character
• Look up your local history group, civic society or the national amenity societies and get involved in their activities

England's protected landscapes are amongst its finest and most treasured landscapes. The landscapes we see today are cultural landscapes – the result of thousands of years of human influence on the countryside as people interact with nature. They continue to be living and working landscapes and the people who manage the land today help safeguard their special qualities.

National Parks and National Landscapes

England's National Parks and National Landscapes (previously known as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, or AONBs) cover nearly a quarter of the land area of England that together form some of our finest protected landscapes. Although these protected landscapes are not administered by Historic England, they contain thousands of listed buildings, nationally important ancient monuments, and registered parks and gardens.

Other natural designations

In addition to National Parks and National Landscapes, there are further national and international statutory (legal) environmental designations which contribute to England's natural environment and make a major contribution to national and regional character.

These include:

• Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
• Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)
• Special Protection Areas (SPA)
• Ramsar Sites
• National Nature Reserves (NNR)
• Local Nature Reserves (LNR)
• Marine Protected Areas (MPA), including a Marine Nature Reserve at Lundy