Number 3: 70th Anniversary of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act

Published 1 September 2017

Listing identifies the buildings, sites and landscapes which are architecturally or historically special enough to receive protection, so they can be enjoyed by current and future generations.

This year marks 70 years since the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 which was the birth of the listed building system we know today.

The first lists were 'Salvage Lists', compiled as an emergency measure after the widespread bomb destruction of the Second World War, to identify which buildings were special enough to be protected in post-war rebuilding.

Throughout the following 70 years, The List has grown and today has over 400,000 entries including 710 windmills, 514 pigsties, 262 palaces, 72 piers, 16 plague crosses, 13 dung pits, three scoreboards, two fairground rides and one rocket.

In this edition of Heritage Online Debate we consider the designation and where the system is going, enforcement and the challenges presented. To start the debate we invited some prominent people to share their insights with us. We hope that you'll contribute to this debate too. Not only on the articles below, but also with your thoughts on how to progress this agenda within the heritage sector.

Please send your responses to Sarah Tunnicliffe and share this article on social media via the tab on the left.

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The Mother of All Planning Acts
By Dr Deborah Mays, Head of Listing Advice, Historic England
Conservation within Planning System
By Dr Victoria Thomson, Head of Planning Advice and Reform, Historic England
Building on Shared Values
By Harry Burchill, Planning Policy Officer at Royal Town Planning Institute
The Rise and Fall of the 1947 Planning System
By Hugh Ellis, Head of Policy, Town and Country Planning Association
The 1947 Act: Winners and Losers
by James Stevens, Director for Cities, Home Builders Federation
Enriching the List
By David Lovell, listed building enthusiast and top contributor to Enriching the List
Heritage Protection Enforcement
By Bob Kindred, Managing Director/Owner of Bob Kindred Heritage Consultants Ltd
Monument Protection in Germany
By Dr Birgitta Ringbeck, Cultural expert in the German Delegation to Unesco´s World Heritage Committee based in the Federal Foreign Office
Managing Urban Heritage
By Professor Michael Turner, architect and UNESCO Chairholder in Urban Design and Conservation Studies at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design
Summary of the Findings
Dr Deborah Mays summarises the findings in this Heritage Online Debate about 70th anniversary of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947
Reader Comments: 70th Anniversary of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act
Responses from readers to articles in the 70th Anniversary of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act issue of the Heritage Online Debate.