Please note there are no scheduled elections taking place in the Tewkesbury Borough area on Thursday, 7 May 2026.
Historic Environment
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Heritage strategy
The Tewkesbury Borough Heritage Strategy was adopted on 12th April 2022.
Check Your Historic Constraints
Use this tool to check whether any historic designations affect your property.
What we check
A listed building is a building or structure that has been identified as being of special architectural and historic significance worthy of preservation. Listed Buildings are Graded I, II* & II.
This protection covers the interior and exterior of the building and any historic buildings or features within its garden or curtilage (sometimes referred to as Curtilage Listed structures). Listed Building Consent will be needed to carry out demolitions, alterations and extensions, including the replacement of elements such as doors and windows.
It is a criminal offence to carry out work to a listed building without obtaining consent beforehand. Furthermore, the Borough Council has powers to enforce owners to reinstate following inappropriate and unauthorised work.
Policy HER2 of Tewkesbury Local Plan refers to Listed Buildings. For more information maintaining and living in an old building, Historic England have published advice.
You can search all the registered listed buildings nationally here.
A Conservation Area is a part of a settlement that has been identified as being of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which is worthy of preservation or enhancement.
For more information visit Living in a Conservation Area on the Historic England website.
The Conservation Designation means that Planning Permission is sometimes required for some works such as demolition of a building, removal of a boundary wall and cladding or rendering of a house. In addition the impact of any development requiring Planning Permission upon the character and appearance of the Conservation Area is a material consideration of the planning process.
Policy HER1 of Tewkesbury Local Plan refers to Conservation Areas.
An Article 4 Direction is an additional restriction on permitted development rights (usually applied within a Conservation Area) with the result that planning permission is required for certain works such as replacing windows and external doors or altering front boundary features. The objective is to be able to control works that would have the potential to harm the character or appearance of an area.
In some villages the article 4 Direction is restricted to individual houses that are not listed but are of local architectural merit worthy of protection. In other areas the Article 4 Direction gives blanket coverage of an area and includes all buildings.
In simple terms this means that if you are covered by an Article 4 Direction you may need to apply for Planning Permission for some works. The details of individual Article 4 Directions can be found on our Conservation and Article 4 information page.
There is one Registered Battlefield in Tewkesbury Borough (Tewkesbury 1471). This designation refers to an area of land where a battle took place, for which there may be features or archaeology.
The impact of any development requiring Planning Permission upon the significance of a Registered Battlefield is a material consideration of the planning process. Policy HER6 of Tewkesbury Local Plan refers to Registered Battlefields.
For more information visit What Are Registered Battlefields? on the Historic England website
Formerly referred to as Scheduled Ancient Monuments, these designations generally refer to an area of land, earthwork (or sometimes a structure) that have national archaeological significance.
Scheduled monuments are administered by Historic England under a separate consents regime to the Borough Council. It is illegal to metal detect, excavate or build on land that is scheduled without Scheduled Monument Consent from Historic England.
More information is available on the Historic England website.
Registered Parks and Gardens are areas of designed landscape of national importance and are graded like listed buildings from Grade I, II* and II.
More information is available on the Historic England website.
The impact of any development requiring Planning Permission upon the significance of a Registered Park and Garden is a material consideration of the planning process.
Policy HER3 of Tewkesbury Local Plan refers to Registered Parks and Gardens.
What we can't check
A Curtilage Listed Structure is a building, wall or other structure that is within the curtilage of the main Listed Building, is ancillary to the main Listed Building, was constructed before 1948 and was in the same ownership at the time of listing. This could be a brick outhouse to a terrace house, a barn associated with a farmhouse or stables to a country house.
Curtilage Listed Buildings are not generally registered anywhere and are identified solely by the local planning authority. Nevertheless they have the same protection as a Listed Building and Listed Building Consent would be required for demolitions, alterations and extensions.
To establish the status of a Curtilage Listed Structure it will be necessary to contact the Borough Council’s Conservation Specialist.
Policy HER2 of Tewkesbury Local Plan refers to Listed Buildings.
A Non-designated Heritage Asset is a building, monument, site, place, area or landscape identified as having a degree of local architectural or historic significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, because of its heritage interest.
The Borough Council does have an emerging list of buildings which are identified as Non-designated Heritage Assets known as the “Local List”. However, this is an emerging list and is not extensive.
Most Non-designated Heritage Assets are identified by Officers as part of the planning process and may not yet be recorded. The impact of any development requiring Planning Permission upon the significance of a Non-designated Heritage Asset is a material consideration of the planning process and should be taken into account in determining applications.
Policy HER5 of Tewkesbury Local Plan refers to Non-designated Heritage Assets. For more information visit our Local Heritage Listing page
Other Advice
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- The council has produced a range of guidance documents for historic buildings. These can be found in the published guidance sidebar on this page.
- We offer a formal pre-application advice service for owners who are considering making changes to their property for which planning permission or listed building consent would be required. Information regarding this service is available on our planning enquiries page.
- More information regarding Tewkesbury High Street Heritage Action Zone is available on our heritage action zone page.
- Technical advice and a helpline number for owners of historic buildings can be found on the website of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.
- Practical and planning guidance relating to historic buildings and conservation areas can be found within the advice section of Historic England’s website.