(PG) Planning Guidance : The Historic Environment
NB: This consultation is now closed.
It was agreed at a meeting of the Development and Transport Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel on 04 September 2020 to consult on new Planning Guidance (PG) The Historic Environment
The Historic Environment is an important part of West Lothian's cultural heritage; it helps to enhance the local distinctiveness of the area; and contributes towards the achievement of sustainable economic growth by playing a key role in supporting the growth of the area's tourism and leisure industry.
The guidance explains the council's policy approach for Conservation Areas, Listed Buildings, Areas of Built Heritage and Townscape Value, Archaeology and Scheduled Monuments. It also sets out additional details on specific topics: for example, the industrial heritage of West Lothian (including protection of shale miners rows and shale bings); proposed new designations, Historic Gardens and Designed Landscapes, landscapes of merit; it promotes best practice for conservation of the historic environment and it guides applicants who are proposing to submit an application for planning permission and other related consents.
Planning Guidance (PG) is produced by the council in order to explain how particular development plan policies should be applied in practice. The PG explicitly supports LDP policies HER 23 - 33 which collectively seek to ensure that new development causes no detriment to the character and fabric of the historic environment.
When approved the guidance will be a material consideration which the council will have regard to when it considers applications for planning permission relative to development in conservation areas and potentially affecting the historic environment, although as individual site characteristics must also be considered, and each case is different, compliance with the guidance will not in itself guarantee that planning permission would be granted.
