Listed building consent and heritage statement for alterations to a Grade II* country house.

A phased approach to repair and alteration.

Paxhill Park presented the challenge common to many large privately owned listed buildings: a significant programme of repair and alteration was required, but the owners needed to manage it in stages, prioritising the most urgent works while planning ahead for later phases. The initial instruction was therefore not simply to prepare a listed building consent application, but to establish the heritage framework within which a multi-year programme of works could be understood and justified.

Heritage Unlimited began with a significance review, not a full Conservation Management Plan, but a structured assessment of what survives at Paxhill Park, why it matters, and how proposed changes relate to it. This review informed the sequencing of the programme, identifying which works were routine maintenance (and could be carried out without consent), which required straightforward listed building consent, and which would need more detailed justification.

The review also gave us the foundation for the heritage statement submitted with the consent application. Rather than writing a statement from scratch, we were able to draw on a considered analysis of significance that had already been tested against the proposals.

Pre-application engagement with Mid Sussex.

The character of pre-application engagement varies considerably between authorities. Mid Sussex District Council’s conservation team is thorough and engaged, and pre-application advice, while not mandatory, significantly reduces the risk of an application being refused or requiring amendment after submission.

Heritage Unlimited managed the pre-application process, preparing a concise brief for submission and attending the pre-application meeting with the local planning authority. The conservation officer’s observations were specific and addressed directly in the final application. Two points raised at pre-application stage led to modifications to the scheme before submission, both of which strengthened the heritage case and reduced the risk of conditions being attached to any consent.

The heritage statement: significance, impact, justification.

The heritage statement submitted with the application set out the significance of Paxhill Park, assessed the impact of the proposed works against that significance, and provided the justification for why the works were necessary and proportionate.

The statement was written to be read by a planning officer with a caseload, not an academic audience. It was specific to the proposals, free of generic text, and structured so that the conservation officer could move directly from the statement to the relevant section of the application drawings without cross-referencing a lengthy document.

Listed building consent was granted without conditions requiring amendment to the scheme. A second application for a later phase of the programme is in preparation.