Historic Environment Supplementary Planning Document - Consultation Draft (February 2026)
8.0 Setting
Introduction
8.1 The setting of a heritage asset is defined as the surroundings in which the asset is experienced. Its extent is not fixed. Setting includes visual and non visual factors such as noise, activity, and historic relationships. Elements of an asset’s setting may enhance, detract from, or make a neutral contribution to its overall significance. Public access is not required for setting to contribute to the asset’s significance.
8.2 In terms of physical extent, the setting of an asset sits somewhere between the surrounding landscape and the curtilage of an asset. The landscape is a wider area shaped by natural and human factors and broader than setting whereas the curtilage is a legal boundary around a building, usually smaller than its setting. The extent of setting cannot be permanently fixed or mapped because surroundings and knowledge of the asset and surroundings evolve.
The contribution of Setting to Significance
8.3 Setting is not a defined as part of the heritage asset or designation. Its importance is in how it contributes to the significance of an asset or the ability to appreciate that significance. The key factors are:
8.4 Change over time: Settings evolve as surroundings change. Understanding this history helps predict how future development will affect significance. Original settings often strongly contribute to significance, but later changes can also add value, such as a townscape shaped by phases of development. Conversely, inappropriate past changes may diminish significance, and thereby removing such intrusive elements can enhance it.
8.5 Cumulative change: Where significance has already been compromised by unsympathetic development, further change must be assessed carefully. Additional harm could sever remaining links to original settings, while positive change might restore historic landscapes or remove structures blocking key views. Screening intrusive developments can help their assimilation, though it is not a substitute for good design.
8.6 Access and setting: The contribution of setting does not depend on public access. Equally numbers of visitors are not a measure of significance. Significance is qualitative and can include tranquillity, remoteness, or local community value. Restricted access does not diminish importance; interpretation or improved access can enhance appreciation.
8.7 Buried assets and setting: Heritage assets that are not visible, such as archaeological remains or submerged sites, still have settings that influence significance. Strategic views, historic street patterns, and continuity of land use can reveal their presence. Even if obscured, the setting may retain associative or historical value.
8.8 Designed settings: Many heritage assets have settings deliberately created to enhance their presence or create drama (e.g. formal parks and gardens around country houses). These designed settings may themselves be designated heritage assets and often extend beyond the immediate boundary, including distant features or borrowed landscapes. Evaluation should consider immediate, wider, and extended settings, as large-scale development can affect significance even from afar.
8.9 Setting and urban design: In urban areas, setting interacts with townscape and design considerations. Attributes such as enclosure, street layout, lighting, and visual harmony influence how heritage assets are experienced. Protecting setting often aligns with good urban design principles.
8.10 Setting and economic viability: Sensitive development can support the sustainable use of heritage assets, while poorly designed or intrusive development can reduce economic viability. Balancing heritage and economic considerations is essential.
Views and Setting
8.11 Views often express how setting contributes to significance. Important views include those designed as part of an asset’s function, those with historical or cultural associations, and those linking multiple assets.
8.12 Designed, historic, associative, or culturally important views may be especially relevant, with some assets intentionally intervisible for functional or symbolic reasons. Views may be static or kinetic (experienced while moving). Conservation Area Appraisals and Heritage Management Plans often identify key views, but additional views may also merit consideration.
8.13 Landscape assessment differs from setting assessment because not all parts of a landscape contribute to significance. Landscape assessment considers everything within a view, while setting focuses on elements that contribute to an asset’s significance. Views that do not relate to significance fall under general amenity rather than heritage considerations. Amenity relates to general enjoyment, not heritage value.
Development, Setting and Significance
8.14 Identifying which heritage assets and their settings are affected. This initial key step should identify the assets whose experience may be affected by development. The extent of the area of assessment varies depending on the scale and prominence of the proposal and the sensitivity of the asset to development.
8.15 This involves defining the surroundings where the asset is experienced and determining whether the development could influence that experience in any way. At the pre-application or scoping stage, it is good practice to indicate whether a proposal might affect the setting of specific assets or to define an “area of search” for potential impacts.
8.16 Assessing the degree to which settings and views contribute to significance. The next step is an evaluation of how setting and views support understanding of an asset’s significance. The assessment should start with the asset’s key attributes and then consider physical surroundings, associations, sensory factors, and how views reveal significance.
8.17 Mapping past and present relationships between the asset and its surroundings can help visualize contributions and identify opportunities for enhancement. Local Historic Environment Records and landscape character assessments are valuable sources of information.
8.18 Assessing the effects of the proposed development. The identification of whether development will harm or enhance significance should consider location, form, appearance, wider effects, permanence, and cumulative impacts. The issue is whether the development enhances or harms significance through the principle of development, its scale, or its design.
8.19 Exploring ways to maximise enhancement and avoid or minimise harm. Early discussion is crucial to identify opportunities for enhancement and reduce harm. Enhancement may involve removing intrusive features, restoring views/lost historic elements, or improving access or introducing new features or interpretation that improve public appreciation. Harm can be reduced through design changes, repositioning, or screening. However, screening should never substitute for good design and must be carefully planned to avoid creating new visual intrusions with the consideration of longterm management measures secured through planning conditions or legal agreements.
