Heritage Statement for new homes in the setting of a Grade II listed cottage.

An objection, and no heritage statement.

National policy requires an applicant to describe the significance of any heritage asset affected by a proposal, including any contribution made by its setting. Where that has not been done, a heritage objection is difficult to answer, because there is no assessment on the applicant’s side to weigh against it.

We visited the site within days of being instructed and issued the Heritage Statement before the end of the month. After the visit we also suggested a planted buffer on the boundary nearest the cottage, which the planning consultant added to the plans.

What the maps said about the field and the cottage.

The assessment followed Historic England’s guidance on setting. It drew on the tithe map of 1839, Ordnance Survey editions from 1881 to 1954, and the valuation survey of 1910.

The cottage is of high significance, much of it residing in its historic fabric, and its rural setting contributes to that. The records showed, however, that the field had historically belonged to a neighbouring farm and not to the cottage, and that the cottage’s own plot had grown roughly fivefold in the later twentieth century by taking in farmland. The cottage is now heavily screened from the site by planting and by two modern outbuildings, and the character of the hamlet had already changed through recent permissions for new houses.

Permission on the planning balance.

Our assessment was that the proposal would preserve the setting of the cottage, and that if any harm were found it would be at a low level and outweighed by the benefit of new homes. The council’s conservation adviser reviewed the statement and maintained the view that there would be a low level of less than substantial harm.

The planning officer’s report recorded that the statement met the policy requirement, drew on its findings about the expanded plot and the screening, and gave the identified harm great weight. It concluded that the public benefits outweighed that harm. Outline permission (UTT/25/0287/OP) was granted on 12 May 2025.

We were instructed again in 2026 to assess a revised scheme for the site, laid out in a line along the road in response to the council’s later advice.