It might not be the most immediately obvious fit, but the Octonauts’ motto has a surprising degree of relevance to the conservation of historic parks and gardens.
Explore! Identifying historic parks and gardens is an essential prerequisite for their protection, and this means getting out and about and finding them, through research and through site visits (rarely a hardship).
Rescue! Historic parks and gardens face a number of threats. Some result in immediate loss, such as fragmentation and development, and some result in more gradual deterioration, such as neglect, but many parks and gardens need a degree of rescue, and all need regular attention and maintenance.
Protect! Simply knowing they exist is not sufficient: a formal mechanism for their protection is also needed. In England, this centres on the power to compile a register of historic parks and gardens, and provisions within the planning system in respect of that register.
The remainder of this post focuses on the ‘protect’ part of this stirring call to action: how does the system work in England?
First, find your garden
The historic parks and gardens singled out for particular protection are those on the ‘Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England’. The power to create the Register was introduced via the National Heritage Act 1983, specifically a permissive power for English Heritage (now Historic England) to create a register of ‘gardens and other land situated in England and appearing to them to be of special historic interest’ (there are also provisions for designating gardens locally rather than nationally, but that’s a story for another day). As an aside (and another story to be picked up in due course), it’s worth noting that this recognition of historic parks and gardens took place just over a century after the recognition given to monuments, via the Ancient Monuments Protection Act of 1882, and about forty years after recognition for buildings (via the Town and Country Planning Acts of 1944 and 1947). Still, better late than never.
Registration proceeded apace, but, by 2010, it was noted in the ‘Planning Practice Guide’ accompanying national planning policy for the historic environment that more work needed to be done: ‘the Register of Parks and Gardens of Historic Interest in England is thought to represent around two thirds of sites potentially deserving inclusion’.
By November 2022, there were 1699 registered parks and gardens, across three different grades (as currently defined in the Register of Parks and Gardens Selection Guides):
- 146 (9%) at Grade I (‘of exceptional interest’)
- 460 (27%) at Grade II* (‘of more than special interest’)
- 1093 (64%) at Grade II (‘of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve them’).
Entries on the Register can be found on the National Heritage List for England (NHLE), a very useful resource in which it’s possible to search using a map, or a name, or a date, or a grade… you get the gist. NHLE entries include historical background, reasons for designation, and more.
But what does registration mean in practice?
Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail
The primary use of the Register is within the planning system. The current system in England is still recognisably based upon the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. In introducing that legislation, the Minister of Town and Country Planning described the objectives of planning as being to:
… secure a proper balance between the competing demands for land, so that all the land of the country is used in the best interests of the whole people…. Some must result in more land being brought into development…. On the other hand, town and country planning must preserve land from development.
The distinction – and resulting tension – between meeting development needs and protecting land from development remains a feature of the current planning system, the overall purpose of which is now articulated in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) as being ‘to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development’.
The protection of historic parks and gardens arguably falls more within ‘protecting land from development’. Reflecting the point above about needing to identify historic parks and gardens in order to protect them, an early policy statement (Circular 8/87: Historic Buildings and Conservation Areas – Policy and Procedure) confirmed the purpose of the Register:
The register, which has no statutory force, lists and grades gardens which still retain their special historic interest. Its purpose is to record their existence so that highway and planning authorities, and developers, know that they should try to safeguard them when planning new road schemes and new development generally.
The current planning protections for historic parks and gardens are threefold: a statutory consultation requirement, provisions in national planning policy, and provisions in local policy.
i) Statutory Consultation
The statutory consultation requirement was introduced in 1995, twelve years after the power to compile the Register. It requires local planning authorities considering planning applications for ‘development likely to affect’ registered parks and gardens to consult Historic England (the Government’s statutory adviser on the historic environment in England) in relation to those classified as Grade I and II*, and to consult the Gardens Trust in relation to registered parks and gardens of all grades (thereby making the Gardens Trust a statutory consultee in the planning system).
This is an important provision, as it is intended to ensure that local planning authorities receive specialist input to inform their decision-making. In its application to development ‘affecting’ a historic park or garden – whether within or outside the park or garden boundaries – it is broad in scope, but this lack of specificity can also be unhelpful, with some consideration as to what ‘affects’ the site(s) in question being required before the need for consultation can be confirmed and garden-related expertise accessed.
ii) National Planning Policy
Since 2010, national planning policy for the conservation of the historic environment has been the same for all types of ‘designated heritage asset’: there is policy parity in relation to World Heritage Sites, scheduled monuments, listed buildings, protected wreck sites, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields and conservation areas. This policy is currently set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), and is predicated on the concept of ‘significance’ (defined as ‘the value of a heritage asset to this and future generations because of its heritage interest’). The NPPF must be taken into account in preparing local plans, and it is also a material consideration in planning decisions.
NPPF heritage policy starts with a requirement for local planning authorities considering planning applications to give great weight to the conservation of parks and gardens (and of course other heritage assets) – ‘great weight’ being the strongest in national planning policy. Any proposed harm to a registered park and garden requires ‘clear and convincing justification’, and substantial harm should be exceptional (‘wholly exceptional’ in relation to Grade I and II* parks and gardens), to the point that local planning authorities should refuse consent where proposals would lead to substantial harm (unless that harm is necessary to achieve substantial public benefits that outweigh the harm or loss, or a range of specific tests is satisfied).
The net effect of all this is to give parks and gardens a strong degree of protection through the planning system, if of course the planning system is invoked (not all proposals for change need planning permission), and the significance of the park or garden – and the impact of a development proposal upon it – is properly understood.
iii) Local Planning Policy
Planning policy is also prepared at the local level, in local and neighbourhood plans (both part of the ‘development plan’ for an area). Since 1991, the English planning system has been plan-led, due to a provision in legislation that the determination of planning applications shall be made in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. It is therefore important to have appropriate policies in place for the protection of historic parks and gardens, noting the NPPF requirement for plans to ‘set out a positive strategy for the conservation and enjoyment of the historic environment’.
Does it Work?
Planning mechanisms have increased in strength since parks and gardens were first formally recognised as part of the historic environment and worthy of protection, and they certainly can work. They need to be properly applied, though, and research suggests that this is not always the case (e.g., this 2018 study). To be effective, significance-based policy needs to be informed by an understanding of what’s important about a park or garden, and how the proposed development will affect it. This is itself supported by input from those with an understanding of parks and gardens, as long as the statutory consultation requirements have been observed, and that expert input invited and received.
The necessary tools do exist. The important thing is that they are used properly, and here there is a role for all those interested in the conservation of historic parks and gardens, initially by gathering the requisite information: activity to research parks and gardens, and thereby understand their significance, can be invaluable in supporting the implementation of the planning system. This is particularly the case when that information is actively applied, such as when those with the parks and gardens knowledge respond to consultations on planning applications, ensuring that the relevant information is taken into account in decision-making, and the decisions – hopefully – improved as a result. Calling all Octonauts….
Gardens, Heritage and Planning 