Local List Criteria

Re: Local List Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) Consultation

Thank you for consulting the Historic Environment Management team on the Rochford Local List Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) Consultation.

The draft English Heritage Guidance on Local Lists advises that all types of 'heritage asset' should be included on the local list. This includes archaeological sites, monuments, places and landscapes, as well as buildings. It is clear that this document focuses primarily on the built environment, on the buildings and street furniture of Rochford and fails to address the wider issue of all heritage assets.

The draft Guidance mentions that the HER is an important resource in compiling a local list and in the future it may be useful to contact the Essex Historic Environment Record (HER) as part of this process. The HER has a range of sources, surveys and general information on the historic environment which could be consulted as part of this process, particularly when wider 'heritage assets' are being considered for inclusion on the list.

We are quite concerned that many agricultural buildings, mainly 19th century or earlier barns, later 19th century railway structures (stations and bridges) and civic buildings such as local primary schools are being proposed for removal from the list. All, for different reasons, have particular historic significance for the district, ie the development of industrialised agriculture in the form planned farming or the provision of an integrated transport network etc. These structures survive as the material evidence of these undertakings and are (depending on levels of alteration) at least locally significant.

Also many buildings taken off the list have been 'assumed to have been demolished'. It may be a good idea to conduct a survey to establish whether this is actually the case.

Thank you for inviting Essex County Council to comment on this stage of consultation on the Local List SPD. Set out below are officer comments on the document.

Essex County Council fully supports the preparation of the Local List SPD. It should assist the process of retaining the locally distinctive character of Rochford District and its settlements.

The County Council has no comment on the suggested status of individual buildings or street furniture as set out in the Consultation Document. Nevertheless, a rigorous and robust application of the criteria for selection of properties for inclusion in the Local list should contribute to the long-term integrity and benefit of the List when assessing future development proposals and programmes for management of heritage assets. In this respect, it should be noted that English Heritage is currently consulting on a draft Good Practice Guide for Local Listing, which may be accessed at http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/local/local-designations/local-list.

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I object to groups of buildings which do not have individual significance being excluded from the Local List. Often it is the fact that there is a group of buildings that makes them worth including when, individually, they may not be considered of particular significance.