This seminar will examine implications of policies on setting in the new National Planning Policy Framework and the National Planning Policy Statements. The session will look at guidance recently published by English Heritage, and the heritage values enshrined in their Conservation Principles Policy and Guidance.

The seminar will explain:

• how to establish the scope of historic setting in the context of a proposal
• how to assess and describe the historic significance of historic places within that scope
• how local and national planning policies may inform that assessment
• how to use the assessment in the design process
• how to present your assessment in terms that others will understand, consistently
• how to address and resolve differences of opinion

  The course will be illustrated with appeal decisions influenced by matters of setting, and examples of new development that has successfully accommodated the setting of heritage assets.

Speaker: Steven Bee is a chartered town planner with unusually extensive and particular experience. He is a Director of the Academy of Urbanism and a member of the Executive Committee of the Historic Towns Forum. He is a member of the CABE Planning Advisory Committee and a member of the Urban Design Group. He is now the Principal of Steven Bee Urban Counsel, a consultancy providing advice, guidance and expert support to those engaged in changing places through development.

RIBA Core Curriculum topic: Context: historic environment and its setting.