Heritage Now

18   HISTORIC BUILDINGS & PLACES CASEWORK Casework review Matthew Saunders Ross Anthony THE STATUTORY ROLE OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS & PLACES Historic Buildings & Places is recognised as one of the National Amenity Societies under the Plan- ning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. This means we are a statutory consultee on applications for listed building consent in Eng- land and Wales. The Government has reconfirmed this role in the recently updated Arrangements for Handling Heritage Applications – notification to Historic England and National Amenity Societies and the Secretary of State (England) Direction 2021. The Direction requires all local planning authorities to consult the amenity societies on all applications involving the partial or total demoli- tion of a listed building. We are unique amongst the amenity societies in that our remit covers buildings of all types and all ages. Therefore, we respond to applications for all types of buildings and places that are of architectural or historical interest, whether they are listed structures, scheduled ancient monu- ments, registered parks and gardens, locally listed structures, or within a conservation area. This includes houses, barns, bridges, dovecotes, mills, town halls, theatres, dock yards, public houses, churches and chapels. We also comment on ap- plications for listing and delisting structures and provide the consent authorities (local and county authorities, diocesan advisory committees) with feedback and advice on the historic elements of applications with the aim of preventing unneces- sary demolition and alterations. In doing so we are advocates for sensitive and appropriate design of new development within historic settings. For the first quarter of this reporting year (April to June) we responded to approximately 130 applica- tions, of which 20 per cent were ecclesiastical and 15 per cent were in Wales. Here is a small selection of cases we have commented on this year. SECULAR CASES BY ROSS ANTHONY PARK FARM, GILLINGHAM, DORSET While we are generally in favour of renewable energy, there are some circumstances in which the harm to the historic environment is not out- weighed by the benefit of introducing such energy schemes. A recently proposed solar farm near Gillingham, Dorset is one such example. The pro- posed solar farm site falls within the boundary of the former Gillingham Royal Deer Park, a medieval hunting ground known to be in existence since 1228 and ‘disparked’ in 1628. The northern bound- ary of the former deer park contains the Kings Court Palace moated site, once a royal hunting lodge used by King John, and the remains of East Haimes House and the adjacent section of the deer park pale, the residence of the fee forester of the deer park. The south-eastern end is marked by the well-preserved deer park boundary bank, a vir- tually unbroken bank of about 1.3 miles. All three sites are scheduled ancient monuments and have considerable evidential and group value. Their rural setting is remarkably intact and this contrib- utes to their significance and our understanding of a medieval leisure and aesthetic landscape. While the solar farm site is not a scheduled site itself, it would result in a disconnection of these inherently related ancient monument sites and cause consid- erable harm to their setting and significance. Our casework officer, Ross Anthony , highlights the role of the society within the planning framework and, with Matthew Saunders , showcases recent casework that demonstrates the broad range of work we do across historic buildings and places of all types and all ages.