Our Offices and Services Affected by Coronavirus
Following the latest advice from Government in relation to Covid-19 (Coronavirus), we have closed all our sites and offices until further notice.
Our staff are working from home and we'll continue to provide advice and process grant payments as usual. We’re doing what we can to maintain our level of response to planning and listing applications and general enquiries, but please do bear with us if responses are a little slower than usual.
On this page:
Contacting Historic England
Our local teams remain the best first point of call so if you need to contact us, please email your region as normal:
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
Journalists with media enquiries should email [email protected] or call 020 7973 3250.
An update on affected services
We have closed our sites and postponed a small number of planned activities in line with the latest advice:
| Service | Update |
|---|---|
| Bessie Surtees House | The site is now closed to the public until further notice. |
| Grant-Aided Places | We do not expect any grant-aided properties to be open at the current time. Anyone that has received a grant from us (or English Heritage before April 2015) will not be required to provide public access until further notice. |
| Grants | Rest assured, we will continue to process grant payments as usual. If you’re concerned about specific grant conditions, please contact the named people on your grant offer. We're not making site visits at the moment. If you’re worried that you need a site visit in order for a payment to be made, please contact us for help. We will do our utmost to ensure that contractors are paid for work they’ve done, even if it is an interim or partial payment pending a detailed inspection. Read more |
| Heritage Training Placements 2020 | Unfortunately there will be no Heritage Training Placement Scheme for this summer. |
| Jobs | All but business critical recruitment is on hold. |
| National and Local offices | All of our offices are now closed. |
| Professional Zooarchaeology Group (PZG) | The planned summer meeting of the PZG will now take place in the autumn. Read more |
| Shrewsbury Flaxmill | The site is closed until the end of May and all activities, including building works, are on hold. Although the site is closed, our staff and the Friends of the Flaxmill Maltings are continuing their work on the project, and will be answering enquires as best they can. Contact [email protected] Read more |
| Swindon Archive & Library | The Public Search Room and Library is closed and services reduced, but you may be able to find what you need online. |
| Training | We have suspended our national programmes of face-to-face and classroom-based Historic Environment Training. Read more |
Planning advice services
It’s likely that planning consents and permissions will take longer than normal, so do please bear with us. We work closely with all local authorities in England and will continue to do our best to provide input into planning cases as quickly as we can.
- Read our advice on requesting planning permission
- Visit the Government’s Planning Portal for further information on the planning system
- Check the Planning Inspectorate’s arrangements in response to Covid-19
- See our planning advice to the heritage sector during Coronavirus
Listing of buildings, other sites and enquiries
Requests for listing or amendments will take longer than normal but we continue to process cases as best we can.
It’s unlikely that we’ll be able to assess new cases in the usual way but it’s still very important that you tell us about really urgent cases. Where you have good reason to believe that a site is under immediate threat, please email [email protected] and highlight the urgency of the case.
Please be assured that we will respond to all enquiries as quickly as we are able under the circumstances but there is likely to be some delay.
GLAAS and the GLHER
The Greater London Archaeological Advisory Service and Historic Environment Record is still working, but from home at reduced capacity. As a result it may take us longer than normal to process enquiries, and priority HER searches will not be possible. Site visits will only be possible in special circumstances and some archaeological fieldwork may have to be postponed. Please contact your case officer to discuss concerns.
Our national training programmes
This affects our face-to-face and classroom based courses only. It’ll help to protect the health of our speakers, the delegates and the people who work at event venues. We’ll reschedule as many events as possible for later in the year and where appropriate we’ll provide online training as an alternative. Please see our online training webpages for information.
Current consultations on our guidance
We’re currently conducting public consultations on emerging planning advice on:
- Tall Buildings
- Commercial Renewable Energy and the Historic Environment
We’re also consulting on a new Local Authority Strategic Framework (LASF)
We’ve extended the consultation deadline for these consultations an extra month. Please use the formal response channels referred to in those documents if you need more time to respond.
Where there are live Government consultations affecting heritage (many of which are included in Historic England’s monthly Planning Bulletin) and more time is needed for heritage organisations to respond, we will ask for extensions. It’s helpful if you let us know if you’re concerned about your organisation’s ability to respond.
Information for suppliers
If you are a supplier and are worried that your work with us may be affected, please contact your contract manager for more information and advice.
We know that the impact of these closures will be greater for some suppliers and contractors than others and new ways of working may need to be explored. Please do continue to communicate with your existing contacts at Historic England who will do their best to help as soon as they can.
SHINE support for countryside stewardship funding
We’re working to maintain the service processing applications for stewardship funds.