Managing Change

 English Heritage wishes to secure the future of this country’s historic places of worship as living buildings in the heart of their communities. We believe that they should be well used and visited and enjoyed by all. To this end we work with congregations to accommodate changing patterns of use while seeking to protect the special architectural and historical interest of the buildings.

English Heritage has a statutory role as consultee within a) the consent procedures operated by those denominations which have exemptions from listed building consent and conservation area consent, and b) local authority listed building consent procedures for those places of worship outside the exemption.

Our publication New Work in Historic Places of Worship sets out the principles that English Heritage applies when considering proposals for the alteration or extension of historic places of worship.

More information on how places of worship are protected by law and the systems for controlling changes can be found on the Places of Worship section of the Historic Environment Local Management (HELM) website.