Heritage Protection Process

Hoover Building

Designation allows us to protect and celebrate England's historic buildings, monuments, parks, gardens, battlefields and wreck sites, by highlighting their special interest in a national context. It identifies an asset or site as having significance within the historic environment before any planning stage that may decide its future.

In this section you can search The National Heritage List for England to look for information on all nationally designated sites across England.  You can also nominate a heritage asset to be added to The National Heritage List for England or apply for an entry on the Heritage List to be removed or changed using our online application form

The Heritage List 

Details of all nationally protected historic places in England from buildings to battlefields are now available online.

Search the Heritage List 

NHPP  

Find out more about our priorities for heritage protection in the National Heritage Protection Plan. 

Priorities for heritage protection

World Heritage Sites

Information on the designation and management of World Heritage Sites in England.

Protecting World Heritage Sites

Listing and Designation

Explore our pages on Listing and Designation for more information on current processes for protecting our heritage.

How heritage is protected

Criteria for Designation 

Our Selection Guidelines outline the criteria for designating different asset types.

Read the guidelines

Showcasing Designation

Our designation case studies are designed to demonstrate the recent work and current priorities within heritage protection.

News and case studies