The Council offers pre-application advice as outlined below, but strongly suggests that the advice provided by Historic England should be accessed in the first instance.
Please note: Wealden District Council does not provide advice on Listed Buildings located within the South Downs National Park. Please refer to the South Downs National Park website for further advice and information.
Historic England Advice
Historic England has a wealth of advice on works to listed buildings, from extensions, to alterations and repair. Further advice can be accessed on the Historic England website .
Historic England has published recent guidance about listed building consent as an application process and on how to judge whether proposals need consent including advice on when and how to apply for listed building consent.
In addition to the advice above, Historic England has further advice on common works to listed buildings for homeowners and traditional farm building.
- Changes to internal layout of historic buildings
- Building materials for historic buildings – selection and use
- Saving energy – general advice
- Repointing brick and stone walls
- Access to Historic Buildings
Windows – alterations, repair, replacement:
- General advice
- Traditional windows – their care, repair and upgrading
- Draught proofing windows and doors
- Secondary glazing
Insulation:
- Dormer Windows
- Flat Roofs
- Pitched Roofs – Cold Roofs
- Pitched Roofs- Warm Roofs
- Solid Ground Floors
- Timber Framed Walls
- Solid Walls
Roofing:
The full list of the Historic England advice publications are available on their website.
- Maintenance and repair of traditional farm buildings
- Adapting traditional farm buildings
- Adaptive re-use of traditional farm buildings
- The full list of the Historic England advice publications are available on their website
Historic England good practice: Bats in Traditional Buildings
The full list of the Historic England advice publications are available on their website.
Wealden Design Guide
If you are considering submitting an application to extend or alter a listed building , you are advised to look at the Wealden Design Guide – Chapter 12, a Supplementary Planning Document, the purpose of which is to encourage a higher standard of design for development within the District. This chapter provides specific advice to help you through the process of submitting applications and to provide help in ensuring proposals are sympathetic to these special buildings.
Pre-application advice
The Council normally offers two types of listed building pre-application advice, the Listed Building Enquiry Form for basic enquiries, and more detailed pre-application advice through a surgery appointment for works to a listed building.
Services for pre-application advice are temporarily suspended. Please continue to make use of the information within the Council’s heritage webpages and advice from Historic England.
If you require further advice then you may benefit from the services of an independent heritage consultant.
The Council are not permitted to specifically recommend any particular company, but useful information can be found on the following websites;
- Historic Environment Service Provider Recognition
- buildingconservation.com (search under Directory)
If you require formal confirmation that Listed Building Consent will not be required please submit an application for a Certificate of Lawfulness of Proposed works to a Listed Building.
General advice on preparing an application
The Council would expect that any proposals are informed by an understanding of the significance of the listed building. Historic England provides guidance on understanding significance:
- Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance
- Making Changes to Heritage Assets, Advice Note No 2
- Good Practice Advice Note No. 2 – Managing Significance in Decision Taking
- Understanding Historic Buildings
- Good Practice Advice Note No. 3 – Setting of Heritage Assets
You may also find it useful to view our Heritage Statement webpage.
Information required to support applications can be found within the Validation Requirements document.