I am grateful, first, to all those noble Lords who expressed their support for the amendment relating to the extension of the blue plaque scheme. I am glad to see that it has had support from across the House, as it did from the cross-party Local Government Association, so I am grateful to all those who mentioned it in their contributions now.
My noble friend Lord Lexden was particularly kind. He was right to point out that one of the motivations here is to increase people’s curiosity and knowledge about the past, including untold or surprising stories. I am glad to hear of the progress that he and the noble Baroness, Lady Stuart of Edgbaston, are making with their campaigns for plaques—not blue ones, but important ones—in Birmingham to the two sons of that city and of Joseph Chamberlain, who is already commemorated. My noble friend is right that they are people of international and national significance, as well as of great local pride. I look forward to seeing those plaques added to the Chamberlain memorial.
I am also grateful for what my noble friend Lord Mendoza said about the importance of the blue plaques scheme in increasing people’s connection to and sense of pride in place. That is a very important aspect of the scheme.
The noble Baronesses, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle and Lady Hayman of Ullock, are right to point to the need for a greater diversity of stories. That is something that English Heritage has been focusing on in recent years. For instance, of the plaques that have been unveiled since 2016, more than half have been to women. The noble Baroness is right that there is a job of work to do to ensure that we are telling more untold stories of women, working-class people, people of colour, people of minority sexualities and so much more. I hope one of the benefits of extending the scheme across all of England will be being able to draw on the greater diversity of the country in telling those stories, which are always so interesting and important.
The noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, asked some questions on blue plaques. Yes, local schemes—which, as I say, have operated for many years in parallel—will be able to do so. In fact, a number of London boroughs
organise their own schemes on top of the blue plaques scheme which has operated in the capital—so the more the merrier, I say.
I was remiss in not thanking the noble Earl, Lord Lytton, in my opening speech in relation to the amendment when I thanked the Historic Houses association, with which I know he has been in touch. I am grateful to him for the time and attention he has given this and for the discussions we have had on that amendment.
The noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, rightly asked a few more questions on BPNs. Our original proposal was without this further amendment recognising the need for speed in these instances. I reassure her that Historic England is adept at dealing with these and other listing and heritage matters quickly when the situation needs, and there is an expedited process for listing when something is believed to be at risk. One of the advantages of having Historic England’s chairman in your Lordships’ House is that my noble friend Lord Mendoza will have heard those points and be able to reflect them back to Historic England, which already works quickly. That point will be carefully considered in the production of the necessary guidance. I hope that addresses her concerns on BPNs.
I turn now to the amendments in this group tabled by other noble Lords. I am very grateful to my noble friend Lord Northbrook for tabling Amendment 203 and for the correspondence we have had on this issue this week. His amendment seeks to require that, in meeting their statutory duty under Section 72, local planning authorities should have regard to any relevant advice produced by Historic England. I agree that this should be the case, but it is already something that local planning authorities do, and the Government’s planning practice guidance points them to Historic England’s advice.
My noble friend Lord Bellingham is right to remind us that Historic England has a duty to liaise with local authorities, and I hope he will be reassured by what our noble friend Lord Mendoza said about the frequency with which it does that. When our guidance is next reviewed, I am happy to ask officials to consider whether the links to Historic England’s advice could be strengthened. I hope that, with that assurance, my noble friend Lord Northbrook will be content not to press his Amendment 203.
Amendment 204, also in my noble friend’s name, relates to replacement windows in conservation areas. An existing permitted development right allows for enlargement, improvement or other alteration to a dwelling-house. That is subject to a condition that the materials used in any exterior work—other than those used in the construction of a conservatory—must be of a similar appearance to those used in the construction of the exterior of the existing dwelling-house. That applies to replacement windows in conservation areas. The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, in his housing speech in July, launched a consultation which included a proposal to apply local design codes to permitted development rights. He also announced that the Government will consult this autumn on how to better support existing homeowners to extend their homes. On top of that, the Government are undertaking a review of the practical planning barriers which house- holders can face when installing energy-efficiency measures.
Although I am grateful to my noble friend for raising this issue, I hope he will understand that it would be premature to accept his Amendment 204, as it would curtail the scope of any legislative recommendations that the review might set out in due course. Additionally, powers to amend permitted development rights already exist in primary legislation. For these reasons I cannot support Amendment 204 but am happy to reassure my noble friend that we keep permitted development rights under review.
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I turn now to Amendments 204A and 204B, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews. I am grateful to her, the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, and my noble friend Lord Carrington of Fulham for their time discussing these issues just before the Summer Recess. Amendments 204A and 204B would mean that works to demolish affected buildings would require a planning application. The noble Baroness and the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, were right to raise the issue of the Crooked House pub, which has underlined the importance of local heritage to communities. I hope they will understand that, with the active police investigation into the fire, I cannot comment extensively. However, I know how loved and admired the building was, not just in the Black Country but more widely, and what a powerful reminder it is of the importance of our built heritage to local communities.
I can reassure noble Lords more broadly that the Government recognise the importance of local pubs, especially historic ones. That is why pubs are specifically excluded from the permitted development right which grants planning permission for the demolition of most other buildings in England. That means that an application for planning permission for their demolition must be submitted in advance to the relevant local planning authority for consideration.
More broadly, the Government recognise the need to protect historic buildings and other assets which are so valued by local people. We intend therefore to consult on options for changes to this permitted development right to ensure that local planning authorities have the opportunity fully to consider the impacts on the historic environment, and we will make further announcements on this shortly.
I hope the noble Baroness will be pleased to hear that we will seek views on two options that she raised in Committee and in our discussions before the summer: an exemption from the right for buildings built before 1948 or an exemption for buildings which are locally listed, meaning that local planning authorities would need to consider the specific circumstances of each case. I stress that it is a consultation, and so I cannot pre-empt the conclusions we might draw from the views put forward, but I hope she will be reassured that we are looking keenly at the issue that she and other noble Lords have raised in their amendments. With that, I hope she will not press her amendments today.
The amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Redesdale, relate to Clause 220, which introduces a new statutory requirement for all local authorities to maintain a historic environment record. These records are important sources of information for plan-makers and applicants, as well as being a source of information
for the public and other government bodies. The Government’s intention is that the variety of ways in which local authorities currently make provision for historic environment records will continue as now. Existing local government legislation allows local authorities to arrange for the discharge of their functions by other authorities. This means that they can share or outsource their services, including the provision of historic environment records.
The measure will need to be implemented by local authorities to ensure that an up-to-date historic environment record is maintained for their area, allowing public access to help increase understanding of the historic environment. It will also ensure a consistent and quality standard of digital records is maintained to assist plan-making and decision-taking. This should be supplied at the upper tier by the county councils or, where there is no county council, by the district.
Amendments 261 and 263 seek to ensure that the different arrangements that currently exist for providing historic environment records can continue in the future. I assure the noble Lord that that is absolutely the Government’s intention. We believe that Clause 220 as currently drafted achieves this.
The noble Lord’s Amendment 262 seeks to make provision for a dispute resolution process. With the provision of historic environment records, there will already have been discussion and agreement between local authorities about the coverage and responsibilities. This established approach is likely to continue, and our guidance will help to minimise the scope for any disagreements.
I hope that, with those reassurances, the noble Lord will be happy to leave his amendments as probing ones. With gratitude to the noble Lords for their support for the government amendments in this group, I commend them to the House.