Cheshire East has a rich legacy of historic buildings which are protected through a system of "listing" by the Department of Digital Culture, Media and Sport.
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Historic England is the built heritage government agency. It advises local planning authorities, when relevant. If you are proposing changes to a Grade I or Grade II* listed building, we advise early discussions with Historic England and our Conservation Officers.
Pre-Application can be arranged directly with Historic England.
Useful links:
Anyone can nominate a building to be listed. You can do this by applying to Historic England (you will need to create an account with Historic England to do this). You would get it listed if you wanted to:
- celebrate it for its architectural interest or significance
- protect it from future alterations - there will be more control over what can be changed
You can also use the same form to ask Historic England to consider amending or removing entries. In rare instances, a building owner may consider that their building is no longer worthy of listing. Delisting can be submitted to Historic England for consideration. See all supporting information you will need to apply for this.
Listed buildings are sensitive to alterations as these can affect their special character and appearance, as well as the way their historic fabric functions. Listed building consent is required for all changes to a listed building that affect its character, in addition to any planning permission that may be required.
If you want to demolish, alter or extend a listed building in a way that affects its character or appearance, you must apply for listed building consent from us.
When the planning authority considers whether to grant or refuse an application, it must pay particular attention to the desirability of preserving the building, its setting and those features which make it special. These are the things you should think about when you are planning your proposed changes.
Even if planning permission is not required, we want to make sure that new work fits in with the old. There is no fee for listed building consent.
Improving energy efficiency forms part of the Governments objective to achieve a sustainable environment. This will lower carbon emissions and fuel bills and often increase comfort.
Listed Building Consent and Planning permission is often required for alterations to your building to make them more energy efficient, typically EV charging points for your electric vehicle(s) and solar panels will require consent.
Maintenance and repair of your old building is essential to keep your home a comfortable, healthy, safe and energy efficient place to live.
It is also necessary to sustain (and enhance) the value of your home as a financial and heritage asset. Maintenance is cost-effective. By tackling problems at an early stage, you can avoid making more expensive and invasive repairs in the future.
Historic England provide helpful tips below to help you organise and manage the upkeep of your home:
Carrying out unauthorised works to a listed building is a criminal offence and individuals can be prosecuted. It is therefore important you discuss any works you wish to do to your building before starting.
A planning authority can insist that all work carried out without consent is reversed. You should therefore always talk to the local planning authority before any work is carried out to a listed building.
An owner will have trouble selling a property which has not been granted Listed Building Consent for work carried out.
If you suspect works are being carried out to a listed building without consent, please refer to our unauthorised works page.
Listing marks and celebrates a building's special architectural and historic interest, and also brings it under the consideration of the planning system, so that it can be protected for future generations. Listed Buildings are buildings and structures defined by the Secretary of State as being of “special architectural or historic interest”. They include buildings and structures that are deemed to be of importance on a national scale.
Listing is not intended to prevent change. It does not freeze a building in time, it simply means that listed building consent must be applied for in order to make any changes to that building which might affect its special interest.
The description in the statutory lists is used for identification purposes. It is important for owners to note that the description of a listed building is often quite basic and won’t go into detail about all features of the building. Just because a feature of the building is not mentioned, it doesn’t mean it isn’t listed. The listing legally covers the inside, outside and very often structures and features within the grounds, for instance walls, garden structures ,statues and other built form within it grounds.
If you live within a farm complex or near to a listed building, your building could also be listed by “curtilage”. It is important to speak to a conservation officer to check before proceeding with works.
Before doing any work to your listed building, please speak to a conservation area expert. We can help you through the process; ensuring the works are done correctly along with Listed Building Consent if required. This service is free of charge, further details can be found on the Heritage Applications page.
Further information can be found on the Historic England website
The heritage team can advise you on planning proposals for new developments and alterations to existing buildings.