Heritage Considerations

What Does NPF4 Mean for Heritage?

Historic Assets and Places are covered by the first section of Policy 7 of NPF4. This states that development proposals with a potentially significant impact on historic assets or places must be accompanied by an assessment which is based on an understanding of cultural significance of the historic asset and/place.

This assessment of cultural significance already takes places in Scotland, as it forms part of HES policy guidance, and stems back to the ICOMOS Burra Charter. NPF4 is further emphasising the importance of this process to inform decision making using terminology already seen in heritage and environmental impact assessments.

In terms of policy requirements such as alterations to listed buildings, demolition, developments affecting the setting of conservation areas, scheduled monuments and designed landscapes for example, this is in the main a reiteration of current best practice and existing Local Development Plan approaches to the historic environment. The main difference being these policy requirements are now explicitly set out in national policy.

Key Considerations for Future Development

ƒ There is greater emphasis given to non-designated historic environment assets; this can be taken to mean undiscovered archaeological remains, but the meaning is broader; the opening sentence of paragraph o) states that “Non-designated historic environment assets, places and their setting should be protected and preserved in situ wherever feasible”.

ƒ NPF4 infers that historic assets that are not already recognised through designation may be harder to demolish although further guidance would need to follow on this.