Dear Mr Salisbury Further to my acknowledgement below, I am now able to respond as follows: 1. Currently the Council has no agreed criteria for determining if a building subject of an application fulfils the requirement of being a building of "local interest" for the purposes of Policy HE.6. For policy HE.6 to have weight a building would have to be included within an approved list of buildings of local interest. Since no approved list exists the requirements of Policy HE.6 have little weight. On occasion. specialist officers are required to make a judgement if a building has architectural or historic interest that would warrant it being described as a building of local interest. Within a conservation area the assessment criteria provided by English Heritage and in PPG15 is generally used, i.e. to determine the contribution a building makes. It is sufficient to conclude that a building makes a positive contribution and it is not necessary to debate if it is a building of "local interest". Outside a conservation area, criteria used will be based on the assessment criteria for listing buildings. English Heritage is currently devising an assessment methodology for assessing historic buildings that do not qualify for listing but that may possess local interest. If a building is listed then it is already identified as possessing local and/or national interest. 2. There is a list of buildings. It is draft and incomplete and has not been the subject of any consultation and the buildings have not been individually assessed since 1974. The list exists as the result of those buildings included in the 1974 draft list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest that never made it on to the final, Secretary of State approved, list. Over the last 30 years or so, buildings that officers, members of the public and local groups have considered deserved recognition for their local interest have been added to the list. The Council has recently transferred the handwritten lists to the Council's database and it should be possible for you to search addresses via the Council's web site to determine if a building is included in the list. The list is not complete and at present there are no resources to do anything more with it. In a recent appeal, a planning inspector has already described the "list" as having little weight. Officers are exploring funding opportunities with English Heritage to see if there is scope to run a pilot study in Oxford to test methodologies and assessment criteria. 3. Please find attached the current list. 4. Whilst officer's delegated and committee reports may refer to Policy HE.6 and a reason for refusal may even refer to Policy HE.6 this policy has not been relied on in any planning appeal. In part this is because those cases that have gone to appeal have been within conservation areas and the Council can rely on Policy HE.7 and the conservation area consent regime. Outside conservation areas in those cases where the Council had expressed a view that existing building should be retained and the owner has resisted, the buildings have been demolished (because neither planning permission nor conservation area consent is needed from the local planning authority). The Council does not have records readily available of applications determined under the Planning Act where there has been reference to Policy HE6. To provide such information would require each individual planning file to be checked. To examine each file is likely to mean that the appropriate time limit as defined by s12 of the Freedom of Information Act (which equates to about 18.5 hours per request) would be exceeded. If you disagree with any part of this response, you are entitled to ask the Council for an internal review of the decision made. You may do this by writing to the Monitoring Officer, Oxford City Council, Town Hall, Blue Boar Street, Oxford, OX1 4EY. After the result of the internal review, if you remain dissatisfied, you may ask the Information Commissioner to intervene on your behalf. You may do this by writing to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Yours sincerely Sent on behalf of Michael Newman (Corporate Secretariat Manager & Freedom of Information Officer) Oxford City Council, Town Hall, St Aldates, Oxford, OX1 1BX Tel: 01865 252400 Fax: 01865 252256 -----Original Message----- From: EASTAFF Charleane On Behalf Of NEWMAN Mike Sent: 10 March 2010 10:07 To: 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx' Subject: 1250: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - "Buildings of Local Interest" in Oxford Dear Mr Salisbury Thank you for your email below. I am looking into the matter and will respond to you in due course. Many thanks Sent on behalf of Michael Newman (Corporate Secretariat Manager & Freedom of Information Officer) Oxford City Council, Town Hall, St Aldates, Oxford, OX1 1BX Tel: 01865 252400 Fax: 01865 252256 -----Original Message----- From: Ian Salisbury [mailto:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx] Sent: 06 March 2010 11:08 To: NEWMAN Mike Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - "Buildings of Local Interest" in Oxford Dear Mr Newman, Thank you for your reply. Although it contains interesting and helpful information, I would be grateful if I may have the precise information that I have requested, for that has not been provided. I would be grateful if you would conduct an internal review of your reply so as to ensure that all of the information I have requested is provided. Yours sincerely, Ian Salisbury -----Original Message----- Dear Ian Further to my acknowledgement below, I have discussed your Freedom of Information request with officers in Planning and I would comment as follows: Paragraph 5.4.1 of the Local Plan states that there are buildings that although they may not meet the criteria to be included in the statutory list of buildings of architectural or historic interest, they will possess local interest that is valued by the local community. It continues stating that the Council will compile, review and make available to the public a "local list". Policy HE6 is intended to give effect to this list in the consideration of development proposals. At present, the Council does not have an approved list. Through the Heritage Protection Review Bill and the draft PPS15, the Government has advised councils that English Heritage will be producing guidance on the preparation of local lists. Any list compiled that does not accord with this guidance (when it is produced) would carry less weight in planning decisions. Currently, planning permission is not needed for the demolition of buildings outside a conservation area. The existence of a local list will not change this. Within conservation areas, total or substantial demolition is controlled by the conservation area consent process. In this respect there is a presumption against demolition if a building makes a contribution to the character or appearance of the conservation area. The existence of a local list can assist in assessing the heritage significance of a building, but it is not essential because English Heritage provides guidance on how to assess the contribution a building makes on a case by case basis. As has been shown in a number of recent Planning Inquiries in Oxford, the existence of a conservation area appraisal is a material consideration and can inform analysis of the contribution a building makes. A building that is statutorily listed will not also be included on any "local list". (There is a need to beware of the use of the term "local list" as one of the government's proposals is to unify the statutory protection registers and have two lists - a "National list" and "local list" - as part of a register of all heritage assets. If this is brought into effect, the local list will then include Grade II listed buildings, historic parks and gardens and historic battlefields as well as buildings of local interest). That said, works of demolition of or alteration, or extension to a listed building that will affect the special interest of a listed building in any manner will require listed building consent. The criteria for assessing the impact of any proposal on a listed building are set out in PPG 15 'Planning and the Historic Environment, but simply, there is a presumption against works that would harm the special interest of listed building. For planning applications that involve the demolition of existing buildings outside conservation areas, the relevant policy considerations are included with the Local Plan and National Policy Guidance and Statements. Local Plan Policies CP1, CP8, CP9 have relevance in assessing the impact of a proposal on the character and appearance of the area. In one instance, the Council served an Article 4 Direction to control the demolition of an existing building, that was proposed as part of the redevelopment of the site. The Government Office for the South East advised that it would not support such a notice (An Article 4 Direction in such instances requires Secretary of State approval) and the notice therefore lapsed. Consequently, planning permission was granted for the redevelopment of the site. It would be a difficult and time consuming task to establish how many applications that have been refused where Policy HE6 is a reason for refusal. Advice to case officers has been that HE6 is not robust without an agreed local list. I hope that the above information has covered all of the points contained in your request. However, if I can be of further assistance, please let me know. Yours sincerely Sent on behalf of Michael Newman (Corporate Secretariat Manager & Freedom of Information Officer) Oxford City Council, Town Hall, St Aldates, Oxford, OX1 1BX Tel: 01865 252400 Fax: 01865 252256 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/about#officers Please use this email address for all replies to this request: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx If you find WhatDoTheyKnow useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to suggest us on your organisation's FOI page. -------------------------------------------------------------------