Guidance Open for Consultation
Your chance to have a say on advice and guidance documents we've published in draft. Your feedback will help us make our advice and guidance useful.
Environmental Archaeology: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Methods, from Sampling and Recovery to Post-excavation
This is the 3rd edition of the Historic England guidelines ‘Environmental Archaeology: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Methods, from Sampling and Recovery to Post-excavation’. This new edition has been developed in response to changes in the English planning system over the last decade and developments in developer-funded and academic archaeological work. It has been written by Historic England staff in discussion with environmental archaeology specialists and local authority archaeologists. The core text has been split into an expanded and developed version of the previous sections 1-3. Appendix 1 covers some common types of evidence previously covered in Section 4. Several new case studies have also been added.
The guidance is intended to support the work of local authority archaeologists, archaeological consultants, and project managers in integrating environmental archaeology into their projects.
This is an updated version of the Environmental Archaeology 2nd edition.
Please consider the following when submitting your feedback:
- Are there commonly encountered issues in your work that you feel are not covered by this current version?
- Are there other specific case study topics you feel would be beneficial for your work?
- Are there aspects of the guidance which need greater detail?
- Are there topics not currently covered in Appendix 1 that should be added?
Download the draft document
Responses and questions can be sent to Don O’Meara, Science Advisor North East and Hadrian’s Wall, email: [email protected]
Closing date for consultation: 5 February 2024
Climate Change and Historic Building Adaptation Historic England Advice Note
The new Historic England Advice Note (HEAN) covers Climate Change and Historic Building Adaptation. It aims to provide advice to local planning authorities, and others involved in the planning process, on:
- The need for planning permissions and/or other consents for some of the common changes required to decarbonise and improve the energy efficiency of historic buildings.
- Determining proposals to decarbonise and improve the energy efficiency of historic buildings to enable positive climate action.
- How local plans and other planning mechanisms can deliver a positive strategy for historic buildings that proactively supports climate action.
The final version will be supported by a series of online case studies and training for local authorities.
This is the first HEAN to set out a more progressive stance on climate change mitigation and is a key action in the delivery of Historic England’s Climate Change Strategy. Other areas of our work are set out in the Historic England Corporate Plan.
The government has signalled an indication to review the National Planning Policy Framework, in light of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act receiving Royal Assent on 26 October. We will keep the HEAN, along with the need for further advice and training, under review, in response to any future legislative or policy changes.
The consultation
We are seeking feedback on the effectiveness of the advice contained in the HEAN. To help focus your feedback on the areas within scope for this consultation, we have compiled a list of nine questions as part of an online survey. If you do not wish to, it is not necessary to answer all the survey questions, however, we are only accepting feedback through the online survey. If you just want to provide general feedback, please see the last question which is an open question for general comments.
To help identify the sections of text that your comments relate to, please provide page, paragraph and/or sentence references.
Download the draft advice note
The consultation will close at 12 midnight on Sunday 24 December 2023
What is a Historic England Advice Note?
Our written advice is available to local planning authorities alongside owners and developers when they are considering proposed changes to historic buildings, monuments, places and landscapes, usually referred to as heritage assets.
Historic England's published planning advice comes in two forms:
- Good Practice Advice notes (GPAs) - provide supporting information on good practice, particularly looking at the principles of how national policy and guidance can be applied.
- Historic England Advice Notes (HEANs) - include detailed, practical advice on how to implement national planning policy and guidance.
We keep our advice under review and update it in light of changes to the National Planning Policy Framework.
Why have you published one on climate change and historic buildings?
Historic buildings have a critical role to play in climate action. They can and must adapt to ensure they meet the future’s need for a low carbon society. Protecting historic buildings and addressing climate change are compatible goals; they can both be achieved.
This Advice Note sets out how carbon reduction, energy efficiency, and small-scale renewable and low-carbon energy generation measures can be accommodated and supported in historic buildings.
What is Historic England’s role in the planning system?
For more information on Historic England’s role in the planning system and how HEANs fit in see further explanation on our website.
Why is Historic England consulting on this new advice?
Historic England always consults on new advice notes, both internally and externally, to ensure they are accurate and useful, drawing on sector expertise and knowledge.
Will feedback on the advice lead to changes in the final Advice Note?
We want to ensure that the Advice Note is effective and gives clear advice to help local planning authorities determine applications relating to climate change mitigation. We welcome comments that will help us improve the effectiveness of the Advice Note.
Is this advice progressive enough given the growing urgency of climate change?
This Advice Note sets out a more progressive stance on delivering climate change mitigation and adaptation and is consistent with current government planning policy. We are aiming to make it clear that it is not a question of if historic buildings can be adapted to be more energy efficient but a question of how.
Conserving and making the most of our heritage and addressing climate change are not mutually exclusive aims; they can both be achieved, and this Advice Note sets out a clear position on how we will approach giving advice in the planning system.
Historic buildings need to be made more energy efficient and if done thoughtfully can support a low carbon economy. With 5.1 million historic homes in England, appropriate adaptation can help us to reach Net Zero.
We will support local authorities with advice and guidance and will be delivering training on this topic soon. We have developed a new training platform for the heritage and planning sector to do this.
Sympathetically upgrading and reusing buildings not just improves energy efficiency but keeping a building in use avoids losing the carbon emissions embodied in the building from its construction.
Why is the HEAN focused on buildings?
This Advice Note was developed to address the immediate need for historic buildings to play a critical role to lower carbon emissions, our reliance on fossil fuels, and household bills.
We recognise the role that other elements of the historic environment, beyond buildings, can play in delivering climate action. We also recognise that our responses to climate change can impact all aspects of the historic environment, beyond just buildings and beyond just carbon reduction and energy saving measures.
We will be producing advice on other climate challenges affecting the historic environment and have started the process of identifying additional advice requirements.
