OUR CAMPAIGN FOR OWNERS

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Our campaign is a grassroots movement that depends on its members. We need all our members to get involved in our efforts by writing letters, attending meetings and creating groups in their local area. This will force politicians at all levels to take listed property owners seriously and have a position on our issues. There are over 1.5 million people who are directly affected by listed buildings, a huge group of voters that is presently not being represented. The Club is the only organisation that is campaigning for owners and giving you a voice in Westminster.

Listed property owners have faced real challenges in the past years. We lost our historic VAT benefits in 2012, some owners are being pursued for chancel repairs and flood damage has become more and more common. There is no public assistance to support private owners, and yet the government demands that we maintain our homes to their satisfaction. Most politicians are keen to ignore listed buildings and the challenges owners face today, content to penalise constituents who own historic properties.

We all agree this seems unbelievably unfair, but it is probably our own fault as we have never had representation in government to fight our corner. This has now all changed.

Working with 52 MP’s under the chairmanship of Craig Mackinlay, MP for South Thanet, we have created the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Listed Properties to provide owners with a voice in Westminster, with similar organisations in Holyrood and the Senedd.

When we lost the VAT benefits, churches were provided with extra funding to compensate, when English Heritage divided into two organisations £80 million of tax payers money was made available to bring certain buildings up-to-date and up to £5,000 was made available for each of 6,500 homes that suffered damage in the recent floods. (As the £1 billion cost of repairing the flood damage carried VAT, contributing £200 million to the government, a payment of £32.5 million seems rather insignificant).

WE NEED YOUR HELP

As you can imagine this task is very expensive which is why we need your help. We’re not asking you for money but if you could give some thought to moving your home insurance to the Club’s providers they will pass an introductory fee back to us and it is this fee that will finance our efforts. As the policies they offer provide an exceptional combination of reasonable cost and comprehensive cover, it’s a true win/win situation.

If you would like to talk to our insurance team, call us on 01795 844939, or let us know your current policy’s renewal date by clicking here, and we’ll contact you at the appropriate time.

Please scroll down for detailed information on our Campaign for Owners. You can also contact our Campaign Officer on 01795 844939 or by email at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

OUR CAMPAIGN IN 2019

Our campaign has been running since 2012, after the treasury unilaterally revoked the VAT relief on approved alterations that had been helping owners to maintain their buildings for decades. We realised that owners needed to become politically active if we wanted our voices to be heard in government.

Our campaign has grown substantially since it’s inception and now includes a wide range of issues. The tax increase inspired us to create a campaign but planning and regulations have long been a challenge for owners and so have also become a major part of our lobbying efforts.

We now operate at all levels of British politics, across the whole UK. We are constantly pursuing new avenues to pressure government and ensure listed building owners are supported. To see what the campaign is doing for you, you can read our guide to campaigning.

To request a printed copy of the Guide to Our Campaign, please call the club on 01795 844939.

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Download our 2019 Campaign Update

ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN

ABOUT OUR CAMPAIGN

The campaign has now reached a seven-year milestone, and during those years, we have been tirelessly lobbying MPs and Ministers for changes to benefit you as listed building owners.

CAMPAIGN ISSUES

Listed buildings face a wide range of challenges, including both legislative inaction and tough regulations. Get more information about the issues out campaign is focused on, and read our latest policy documents.

CAMPAIGN GUIDE

Our campaign guide explains our efforts to lobby government at the national, regional and local levels as well as the issues we are seeking reform on.

NEWS AND UPDATES

Click here to find out more on the latest news and updates for LPOC’s political campaign for owners, and have your say in our comments.

CAMPAIGN ISSUES

VAT RELIEF

The shock removal of the VAT exemption on listed building alterations in 2012 has had a huge impact on owners. The increase in costs led to an immediate drop in the number of owners carrying out approved works to their property. We aim to reduce VAT to 5% on repair, maintenance and approved alterations to make owning a listed building more affordable and ensure they are preserved for years to come.

VAT FACTSHEET

LISTED BUILDING CONSENT

The present listed building consent process comes with long delays and high costs. It can take months to gain consent and often only after spending a significant sum to produce the supporting documents required. We are lobbying for a streamlined system that would be more proportional to the works being undertaken, and as a result would reduce red tape and improve efficiency.

LBC FACTSHEET

COUNCIL RESOURCING

Local councils have faced major reductions in resources in the past decade which has hurt their ability to deliver a quality planning service. This has had a huge impact on listed building owners, who need to work with their local planning authority more frequently than any other type of property owner. We are campaigning for improved council funding, and ring-fenced resources for conservation officers and planning services.

COUNCIL FACTSHEET

CURTILAGE REFORM

The present listing system leaves many buildings in legal limbo, with no clear answer if they are protected or not. This can have a major impact on owners, often forcing them to assume all outbuildings and structures are listed and incurring significant costs to maintain and alter them. We are campaigning for enhanced listing to become cheaper and more available, to give owners certainty.

CURTILAGE FACTSHEET

WILDLIFE SURVEYS

Over the past decade planning authorities have become increasingly stringent in their requests for wildlife surveys, particularly for listed buildings. This is a result of unclear legal guidance that leads councils to be overly cautious in their interpretation. We are asking for improved guidance to be issued to clarify where surveys are needed.

WILDLIFE FACTSHEET

UNAUTHORISED ALTERATIONS

Unauthorised alterations made by previous owners are a major worry for all listed building owners. They can present a significant financial challenge when they are discovered no matter when they were made. We are campaigning for common sense reforms that would protect owners from being held responsible for previous unauthorised works.

UNAUTHORISED FACTSHEET

Have you been struggling with any of these issues? Contact the club on 01795 844939 for advice and support.

You can share your story here, which helps us build evidence for change and put pressure on government.

ABOUT THE APPG

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Listed Properties was created after tireless campaigning by the Club. Realising we needed a strong voice in Parliament speaking up for listed property owners we worked with sympathetic MPs from all parties to help establish the Group. Craig Mackinlay, the MP for South Thanet, chairs the Group.

The APPG’s mission is speak up for listed properties in the UK and raise awareness in Parliament of the role played by their owners in protecting the nation’s heritage; to advocate policies that support owners in preserving listed properties including tax and planning reform.

Now the Club acts as its Secretariat, providing the MPs with evidence of the challenges of owning a listed property, organising meetings and opportunities for owners to meet MPs and Ministers and put the case for reform. A recent highlight was a meeting with Heritage Minister Michael Ellis during which members outlined the costs and concerns created by the planning postcode lottery.

I am delighted that the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) is working with LPOC in campaigning for vital reforms that will help listed property owners. The APPG on Listed Properties has already won strong support from across all parties and it will provide a powerful voice in Parliament, raising the challenges listed property owners face and pressing for necessary reforms.

CRAIG MACKINLAY MP (CHAIR)

LIST OF APPG MEMBERS

MP’s & Peers Constituency Party
Craig Macklinlay MP (Chair) South Thanet Con
Sir David Amess MP Southend West Con
Sir Peter Bottomley MP Worthing West Con
Andrew Rosindell MP Romford Con
Peter Aldous MP Waveney Con
John Penrose MP Weston-Super-Mare Con
Helen Goodman MP Bishop Auckland Lab
Philip Davies MP Shipley Con
Oliver Colvile MP Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport Con
William Wragg MP Hazel Grove Con
Cat Smith MP Lancaster and Fleetwood Lab
Bill Wiggin MP North Herefordshire Con
Karen Buck MP Westminster North Lab
Christopher Chope MP Christchurch Con
Bernard Jenkin MP Harwich & North Essex Con
Rt Hon Frank Field MP Birkenhead Lab
Caroline Nokes MP Romsey & Southampton North Con
Johny Mercer MP Plymouth Moor View Con
Edward Argar MP Charnwood Con
Wendy Morton MP Aldridge Brownhills Con
Andrew Bridgen MP North West Leicestershire Con
Damian Collins MP Folkestone & Hythe Con
Luke Hall MP Thornbury & Yate Con
Ruth Smeath MP Stoke on Trent North Lab
Steve Baker MP Wycombe Con
Craig Whitaker MP Calder Valley Con
MP’s & Peers Constituency Party
Guto Bebb MP Aberconwy Con
John Whittingdale MP Maldon Con
Rehman Chishti MP Gillingham & Rainham Con
Stephen McPartland MP Stevenage Con
Oliver Dowden MP Hertsmere Con
Gareth Johnson MP Dartford Con
Andrew Murrison MP South West Wiltshire Con
John Howell MP Henley Con
Sheryl Murray MP South East Cornwall Con
Kevin Hollinrake MP Thirsk and Malton Con
Rt Hon Sir Oliver Heald MP North East Hertfordshire Con
Andrew Lewer MP Northampton South Con
Robert Courts MP Witney Con
Stephen Kerr MP Stirling Con
Geoffrey Cox QC MP Torridge & West Devon Con
Philip Dunne MP Ludlow Con
Brendan O’Hara MP Argyll & Bute SNP
Nick Herbert MP Arundel & South Downs Con
Neil Parish MP Tiverton and Honiton Con
Lord Tope Lib Dem
Lord Leigh Con
Lord Dear Con
Lord Crathorne Con
Lord Lingfield Con
Baroness Young of Old Scone Lab
Rt Hon Lord Tebbit Con

 

WALES AND SCOTLAND

Listed buildings in Wales and Scotland face a slightly different control scheme than in England. There are many similarities, but new laws affecting listed buildings are now made in Holyrood and Cardiff. Over the past decade the laws have diverged somewhat as the devolved parliaments have legislated.

Despite these changes, there have not been any major reforms to the issues that affect listed building owners such as consent law, planning resources and pre-application paperwork.

Now that powers over these issues are devolved to their respective parliaments each government needs to be lobbied separately to create truly national change. We firmly believe that this works in our favour; increasing the number of lawmakers that we can approach.

Our campaigns in Wales and Scotland are particularly important because their parliaments are more approachable, which gives our campaign a far greater chance of success. Obviously this would deliver immediate benefits for our members in Wales and Scotland, but it will also serve as proof that our policies are workable and deliver the benefits we propose.

There are more than 100,000 listed buildings in Wales and Scotland, a significant proportion of all historic buildings. More importantly, over 250,000 people live in listed buildings, and these owners need to be supported and protected as well.

Welsh and Scottish listed buildings all fall under their own parliaments and legal systems, and so they need their own campaigns. Only Holyrood and the Senedd can provide the reforms owners need, and we are committed to lobbying for them.

Our first goal in both Wales and Scotland is to find champions in the legislatures and establish lines of communication through cross party groups. Just as in Westminster, this will give us the opportunity to discuss policy and ask parliamentary questions.

We are also working with Historic Environment Scotland and Cadw to contribute to official policy discussions, as well as with council officers to understand their unique challenges. Through the past year we have gained a huge amount of ground in Wales and Scotland and look forward to some real successes in the coming year.

SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN

To be successful our campaign needs to reach as many people as possible, particularly the elected officials who can make a real difference on the issues that affect us as listed building owners.

We need your help to spread our message, to tell us what issues matter to you, and to build evidence of the challenges you face.

WRITE TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
Writing to your MP, MSP, AM or council gives you an opportunity to tell them what matters to you. Your letters bring attention to listed buildings, and that our issues are on the political agenda. Taking the time to write shows your representatives that listed buildings matter to you. Read our letter writing guide.

GATHER SUPPORT
The Club is the only organisation that represents the community of listed building owners. The more members we have the bigger the influence that we have when meeting with MPs and ministers, so recommend your friends and neighbours to us. Every member makes a difference. Click here to join the Club and show your support, or call us on 01795 844939.

START A LOCAL GROUP
A local group can bring together listed building owners with family, friends and the general public to boost our message and show how important listed buildings are to our communities. Even small groups can have a huge impact on a local level by writing letters and attending meetings. Working together helps our message to spread and shows a united front.

SUPPORT THE CLUB
Another way to support the Club is to use our insurance providers for your home. They offer comprehensive cover at a reasonable price, and your support helps our campaign. If you would like to talk to our insurance team, call us on 01795 844939, or let us know your current policy’s renewal date by clicking here, and we’ll contact you at the appropriate time.

SHARE YOUR STORIES
The personal impact of policies can be lost behind a wall of statistics, so we want to hear about your experiences as a listed building owner. Sharing your story helps us to personalise the issues when we speak with MPs and illustrate how their policies are effecting real people. Share your stories here or email us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

KEEP FIGHTING
The longer that we keep campaigning the more support we build; the greater the pressure that we can exert and the more fronts we can work on. Change takes time, but the only way to succeed is to not give up so keep fighting.

To support the campaign call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail campaign@lpoc.co.uk

CAMPAIGN NEWS

The full news and analysis from our campaign are in each edition of Listed Heritage, our bi-monthly 155 page magazine published for our members.

You can stay up to date with the headlines from our campaign below, and click here to sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Keep up to date in 2024

The Club’s 2024 campaign work will coincide with a general election and as such, we have been in working closely with Ministers, MPs and our members to help influence legislation on energy efficiency, planning, and of course pressing for a reduction of VAT on all repairs, maintenance and approved works. The Club’s progress will be published in Listed Heritage Magazine every two months, exclusively available to members. You can join the Club from just £58 a year and be the first to know about any policy changes and funding opportunities that will help make owning your listed property more affordable. Join online HERE or call the Club on 01795 844939.

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Minimum Energy Performance of Buildings Bill

It’s important to note that the bill may take a long time to pass and most listed property owners who do not rent their properties out are universally exempt from obtaining an Energy Performance Certificate in the first place. However as the bill in its draft form implies, all rented properties regardless of listed status may be required to: “{new tenancies to) have an energy efficiency performance of at least EPC Band C from 31 December 2025; and all existing tenancies must be at least EPC Band C from 31 December 2028 where practical, cost-effective and affordable as defined.” The Club will be writing to the MP who brought the bill, Sir Roger Gale, seeking clarification over whether listed property owners will be able to apply for an exemption if they already have an EPC and to clarify the definitions of practical and cost-effective. We will continue to update members about the passage of the bill as it moves forward. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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VAT research

The purpose of this research is to gather evidence on the impact that a VAT rebate scheme would have on the listed buildings in Scotland and the Club would like to see similar studies done in England and Wales. Just as the Club has done previously, HES have drawn inspiration from the successful Listed Places of Worship scheme, which provides a similar rebate for listed churches. The Club’s past policy paper on VAT modelled the public cost of the same scheme but for private homes and concluded that the overall tax loss would be small, while the benefit to owners would be substantial. We await the results of the HES study with great interest and we are confident the results will verify the positive impacts of a reduction in VAT on listed building works. The Club will keep members updated via Listed Heritage Magazine. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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ECO+ scheme

We have now addressed another key failing of the previous Green Home Grants (GHG) scheme. GHG required owners to seek out a TrustMark registered firm to carry out all works that the grants covered, which excluded almost all heritage specialists and local small traders. The Club has asked the minister to confirm that the ECO+ scheme will not repeat the same mistake and will allow owners to work with whichever tradespeople they trust to care for their home. The ECO+ scheme focuses on insulation, but this is a perfect example of why flexibility is needed. Most historic properties need different types of insulation, such as sheepswool, and need to have much more regard to airflow and preventing damp. We would like to see the ECO+ grant become a primary conduit for public support in the coming years and if it is not properly structured at its launch, listed property owners will lose out. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Energy Support

The government’s scheme to help people with the rising cost of energy has been operating since last year for gas customers, but their announced programme to help people who do not use mains gas for heating, which includes many listed property owners, has lagged behind. This month they have finally begun to provide some support to home owners who rely on heating oil, biomass or other kinds of fuel. The support is being provided in the form of a one-off credit of £200 to your mains electricity supplier, which will ensure that the subsidies reach the overwhelming majority of households. While millions of British homes do not have access to gas, almost every permanent building has an electricity supplier, with only a small number of houseboats and static caravans missing out. The Club are happy to see the government finally making good on their promises to support people who use alternative fuels. Many listed properties use heating oil, especially those in rural areas, and prices have risen steeply since last year. It does however come as a disappointment that owners had to pay out of pocket to fill their tanks and then wait for reimbursement, and equally frustrating that the support will come as a credit on other energy bills. Households will not actually receive a refund against the oil they bought and will have to wait until they use £200 of electricity to see the cost equal out. The Club encourage all owners to check their next electricity bill to ensure that your credit has been received. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Westminster Reception

We have invited ministers and senior members of all of the UK’s heritage and amenity groups, with the final line up of speakers and attendees to be announced closer to the date. We have asked speakers to address upcoming changes to planning controls and how we can maximise their impact for owners. We hope to see discussion of consent orders as well as reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework, giving owners an idea of what to expect when these changes are implemented. We are extremely pleased to finally get back to Parliament and to be able to bring our members and supporters with us. While remote campaigning has helped us to continue pressuring the government, only showing up in person can show the human dimension and the scale of the challenges that owners face. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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ECO+

The government has responded to the Club’s concerns regarding the upcoming ECO+ energy efficiency grant scheme. We wrote to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy last month, warning against the use of Energy Performance Certificates as the sole way to access funding. This has previously been a concern for us regarding other forms of public support and we were determined to ensure that the new scheme would not make the same mistake, and so lock out many listed property owners. BEIS have offered listed property owners at least some reassurance about the ECO+ scheme, and told us that while an EPC will be the primary method of entry, historic properties will be able to submit an independent assessment of their home instead which addresses both energy and historic significance. This is a sensible approach because listed homes, as well as those in conservation areas, need to be looked at holistically and improvements judged on a more individual basis. The Club do still have some reservations about the scheme, because there are questions unanswered about how ECO+ will interact with listed building consent. It is not clear whether owners will have to approach ECO+ first, or seek LBC, or do both at the same time. This does make it harder for owners to plan ahead, which is important given the amount of time it can take to have a consent application approved. Still, we are glad to see some joined up thinking in government and that specific thought has been given to historic properties. The Club has persistently pressured the government regarding overreliance on EPCs, which listed buildings are exempt from, and so we do see this step as a victory for our campaign. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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ECO+ scheme

The recently announced ECO+ grant scheme is designed to cover the costs of energy efficiency measures for those not currently eligible for government support. However it appears that to be eligible for this £1billion scheme, your property must be in possession of an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of 'D' or worse. The property must also be paying a lower council tax rate. Our recent Energy Efficiency Survey indicated that most listed properties have not obtained an EPC and therefore are immediately excluded from applying for this grant. We are disappointed that the Club was not consulted and that listed property owners are once again an afterthought. For those that are eligible, if, like the now defunct Green Homes Grant Scheme, there is a restrictive list of contractors and suppliers able to reclaim the cost of the work, listed property owners will struggle to source the correct natural insulation materials and people with the correct installation skills. The Club will be contacting the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy urgently to address this and further concerns about the fulfilment of this scheme. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Energy Efficiency Survey – Results

The results indicated that listed property owners are feeling the pinch from rising energy prices and have begun planning how to try reduce energy use in the New Year. An overwhelming majority of responses, 79% of owners, said that they are either somewhat or substantially more likely to carry out energy efficiency works because of increasing energy costs. When asked what kind of improvements owners were considering, the top two  responses were double glazing and solar panels; both of which were chosen by 19% of owners. This is a clear indication of how owners see their needs quite differently to planners and policy makers, with double glazing and solar panels being particularly difficult to gain consent for. Unsurprisingly then, when asked what had discouraged owners from making improvements already, 38% stated seeking listed building consent or planning permission as the reason. A further digest of the full survey will feature in the January/February edition of Listed Heritage Magazine. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Planning Reform

The new government has announced a raft of plans to change the planning system but details have yet to be announced, leaving the Club wondering how much impact this is likely to have. With so little detail to go on, beyond the new chancellor’s announcement that he will announce further changes to drive growth, it is hard to feel optimistic as a listed property owner. Both listed properties themselves and their setting can very easily be harmed by nearby development, particularly in greenbelt areas where there are few other buildings, so any reforms need to be very carefully considered. The policies that have so far been announced include the creation of investment zones around the UK, where planning rules will be relaxed to attract businesses and create jobs in deprived areas. As long as these are sensibly drawn with a focus on brownfield sites this could be a positive move but we are concerned that the zones could impose a great deal on valuable built heritage. As the continuing legal wrangling around HS2 and the Stone Henge tunnel show, even when the government aggressively pursues particular projects, they seldom stop to consider the existing heritage and nature protection laws already on the books. Making sweeping changes to planning law without updating the legal landscape of listing will leave the government open to legal challenges, but making changes without considering the longer-term impacts will undermine the system. We do want to see reforms to listing and planning but changes need to be practical and can not be forced through too quickly. We hope the new government will not fall into the same traps as previous ones in not solving the underlying issues. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Energy Prices

The government has announced a raft of measures to help families across the UK cope with the escalating cost of energy. While this benefits just about every home in Britain it will come as a particular relief to owners of listed properties. We know that energy costs were already a problem for some members so the news that prices will not continue to spiral into next year will be very welcome. Owners using mains electricity and gas will benefit immediately, and the £400 energy subsidy is being administered through energy suppliers so there is no need to take any action. However many listed buildings use alternative fuels and will have to take action to receive financial support. Homes that use heating oil, or other fuels including bottled gas and biomass, will have access to a fund that promises to offer an equal level of support to the mains price caps. Since the prices of these fuels have been fluctuating over the past year this will come as a relief but we have yet to see any details of how this will work. Owners should pay close attention over the coming weeks to ensure they complete any paperwork that will be necessary. Equally, owners who are eligible for an increased winter fuel payment or who receive means tested benefits should ensure that they will get the full measure of support that they are entitled to. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Financial Support

We know that VAT and public financial support for listed building owners is an issue close to the hearts of many of our members, so we are glad to report that we attended the first post-Covid meeting of the Heritage Alliance's Tax Working Group. This influential body brings together owners, professionals and external experts to discuss how the whole sector can campaign for better support. The idea is to draw inspiration from schemes that have been shown to work well and model a new listed property support scheme on them. We are glad to see this approach as it mirrors our more recent thinking on VAT and we look forward to more discussions once the new government is formed. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Listed Building Consent Orders – update

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has voiced its intention to improve the national planning policy framework and to encourage the use of listed buildings consent orders. Consent orders allow for any planning authority to grant consent to a specific kind of work before the owner asks for it. This means that a single consent order can remove the need to make hundreds or potentially thousands of future consent decisions, while allowing the council to specify their own safeguards and conditions. The Club has supported the wider exploration of consent orders and their possible implementation for routine works and energy efficiency improvements and we will keep a close eye on how DLUHC develop their policies going forward. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Planning Bill Arrives

The government’s planning bill has finally arrived after a constant series of delays. The Club first engaged on what was then called accelerated planning in 2019, and it has taken years to finally deliver a bill. Even more frustratingly, the bill is not at all what was promised and is instead a more nebulous levelling up bill. When the bill was released the Club hurried to express our concern at this change to the newly rebranded Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Working with members of the APPG on Listed Properties, and some newfound allies such as MP Richard Fuller, we have raised several issues that the new bill fails to address and are asking DLUHC to fix them. The biggest issue we see is a complete lack of action on energy efficiency, which could leave listed property owners struggling for years. We have also joined with other heritage groups to oppose some of the handful of heritage provisions in the bill including a change to building preservation notices. This last would allow any local council to halt works to any potentially listable building to allow them time to apply for listing. While we are glad to see worthwhile buildings being protected, the proposal to remove compensation to the owner is unfair and we believe it will allow the system to be abused. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Energy Performance Certificates

The Club have heard from a lot of owners in recent months with concerns about any changes to the present energy performance certificate scheme. As things stand, most domestic listed buildings are exempt from an EPC at the point of sale in England and Wales, however, it would only take very small changes for this exemption to disappear, as has happened in Scotland. While we strongly support owners making their homes as efficient as they reasonably can be, we also strongly disagree with the use of EPCs to try and force listed buildings to do so at great expense to the owner, and support the continuation of legal exemption. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Listed Building Consent Orders (LBCOs)

The Club has been a supporter of Local Listed Building Consent Orders since they were created in 2014. While there have only been a few created over the years, the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea have taken a major step in implementing a consent order for solar panels on listed buildings. As the borough contains some 4000 listed buildings, almost 1% of all in the UK, this is a major development that all owners should be paying attention to. The Club believe that consent orders can sensibly handle a range of work without creating any risk to the historic fabric of the buildings and we will be monitoring the use of Kensington and Chelsea's recent LBCO. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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VAT on Secondary Glazing

The treasury announced that they were removing VAT on energy efficiency measures two months ago, the Club were quick to celebrate. However, the final details of the new scheme fall far short of our hopes and leave owners very much out in the cold. The new scheme does reduce the VAT rate payable on energy saving measures, and even extends it to cover labour and materials in almost all circumstances. However, it also excludes secondary glazing from the scheme entirely. While non-listed buildings might not care about this, listed buildings have very few options to improve the energy efficiency of their windows and cannot normally use more modern approaches like double glazing. Secondary glazing is a cost effective approach to improving listed buildings that also keeps the existing historic windows in place. It is exactly the kind of improvement that the government should be supporting for listed buildings, but they have declined to do so. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Survey Response

The Club was pleased to see more than a thousand responses to our owners survey last month. The results were quite stark, with only 23% of owners saying they would buy a listed property in the present environment. The key problems owner’s pointed to were, predictably, struggles maintaining the property, the challenges of improving efficiency and the stress of navigating the planning system. While these do broadly confirm what the Club has long suspected, it is good to have clear figures demonstrating just how big these problems are. We also asked about energy efficiency works and heating systems were flagged as the biggest concern. An in-depth analysis of the results will be published in the May/June edition of Listed Heritage. The results will help to guide our campaign and will be presented to heritage groups and the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as part of their policy efforts. For the first time the Club is bringing rigorous data directly to these influential groups. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Planning Policy

Now that the mini-budget has passed, the next big event on the agenda is the planning bill. The shift to give more VAT relief does make us hopeful that there will be some complimentary measures to make these kinds of works easier and less bureaucratic for owners. The Club is continuing to pressure the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities around energy efficiency, particularly looking at places where technicalities result in duplicate permissions, or listed properties alone needing to make applications. This is needless and simply places more pressure on planners and on owners, without adding to the protection that listing provides. The goal should be for efficiency; both in terms of energy and time and effort involved and now should be the time to look at permitted development rights around heat pumps and ground level solar, as well as factoring in energy use in  listed building consent decisions. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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VAT relief on ESMs

The government have announced an extension of VAT relief on energy saving materials (ESMs), however it seems unlikely that the revised scheme will be extended to certain products historically outside the scope of ESM, such as such as secondary glazing and more specialised kinds of insulation like insulating lime render. Secondary glazing in particular is one of the most accessible forms of thermal efficiency improvements available to listed property owners,  and the Club believe secondary glazing should be classed as an ESM and be given the zero rated VAT. We have already contacted the treasury about this and in the meantime we ask that you contact your MP and ask them to support this, particularly if you plan to install secondary glazing in the future. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Planning Policy

The planning system is a constant problem for listed property owners, with a combination of inadequate services, planning fees and long waiting periods making it very difficult to carry out small but meaningful works. This is particularly true for works like installing external heat pump compressors or ground level solar, which require full planning permission no matter where they are located. This is a major problem, adding the costs of preparing and completing a planning application as well as the direct fees required by the local council, on top of the high costs of installing a green heating system. The Club are campaigning for all planning fees associated with green heating to be waived, to keep the costs of installing these systems as low as possible. In the longer term, we are campaigning for the application process for these specific kinds of work to be slimmed down to make cases easier and faster to determine.  If a heat pump only requires planning permission because it is located near a listed building, then the application should be exempt from the planning fee. Such applications should be more streamlined, with a presumption that permission will be granted, unless there is demonstrable harm to the setting of the listed building. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Green Heating Subsidies

Many owners are stuck with old, inefficient heating systems because alternatives are simply not available at a reasonable price or without making major changes to the fabric of the building. Greener heating systems have started to become available, but the uptake has been slow. The Club are campaigning to change this and are asking the government provide a dedicated support scheme to enable all listed buildings to start moving to green forms of heating. We are asking for a government loan guarantee for heat pump, biomass and solar thermal systems, as well as  subsidies that mirror the Renewable Heating Incentive scheme. The goal is simple; to reduce the effective cost of these systems and give owners full flexibility to use the most appropriate system for their particular property. We have written to the chancellor ahead of the budget asking him to consider this approach. While we cannot promise any immediate action, we do believe that our proposal meets the Treasury’s own spending guidelines and is clearly in line with government policy on reducing carbon. For the UK to achieve net zero from our housing stock, some kind of public funding will have to be committed to ensure that the most inefficient buildings move to more sustainable alternatives. Our approach keeps the upfront costs low while still allowing for immediate change and as such we think it is the best approach to quickly update listed buildings. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Growing Influence

Now that we have released our listed property manifesto on energy efficiency, the Club has begun to target more MPs as well as influential sustainability groups in the heritage sector. This month we are calling on opposition energy minister Ed Miliband to join the All Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties and show his support for owners who are trying to improve the efficiency of their home. We are asking every member in his Doncaster constituency to contact his office and all Labour members to contact their local party to voice the need for a strong position on improving the energy use of our least efficient homes. The Club are also starting to work more closely with heritage groups and giving owners more of a voice inside influential group’s discussions. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Environment Bill

Historic homes and the natural environment are closely connected, and often their regulatory schemes overlap or compete with each other. While the new Environment Bill does not aim to impact listed buildings, two amendments added this month in the House of Lords will have knock on affects for owners in England. The two amendments deal with the planning considerations around wildlife habitats and ancient woodlands. The wildlife considerations are particularly important, because listed buildings commonly become host to protected species like bats. The Bill had aimed to give ministers much greater powers to make decisions regarding habitats, and in effect to override EU habitat protections. The amendment will limit the scope of that power, and retain more of the status quo. This is bittersweet for listed building owners. Most of us strongly support conservation efforts, but the present regime that requires expensive, time consuming surveys to prove the absence of bats or other animals are not working well. It is hoped that this amendment will give a little more flexibility that can better take into account the needs of maintaining a listed building, while still giving proper protection to wildlife. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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EPCs for Listed Buildings

Energy use continues to be a huge issue for Listed buildings, and the present legal landscape is simply not working. Energy Performance Certificates are a perfect example of this. Listed buildings are the only homes exempt from needing an EPC, due to the unique challenges of improving performance. But  an EPC has to be obtained to rent a listed building, and the fact that many buildings are simply not efficient enough bars them being used like this. We need a better system, that allows for listed buildings the flexibility to be homes, rentals, venues and commercial spaces, and shift between them over time as circumstances change. We are campaigning for an EPC rating for Listed buildings that allows them to be judged appropriately for a historic building, but that also encourages improving efficiency. This will give owners the same rights as with any other property, but without penalizing them for living in a traditional home. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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DCMS & MHCLG Reshuffle

DCMS Last week's reshuffle has seen a bevy of new ministers, including a new secretary of state at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport who have overall responsibility for historic buildings. The new minister is Nadine Dorries, who was promoted from her position as a junior minister at the Department of Health and Social Care. Dorries is an unexpected choice for the role, with no particular connection to any part of the brief. Her professional background is as an entrepreneur in medical and childcare sectors, which was a much more natural fit at DHSC. Perhaps her most important qualification for the role is being a close ally of the prime minister. In a time when both heritage and media have become heavily politicised, Boris Johnson may well want someone who is loyal to him personally at DCMS, replacing Oliver Dowden who was promoted to Chairman of the party. MHCLG While the notional responsibility for historic buildings sits with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the planning system which determines so much about listed buildings belongs to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Last week's reshuffle saw this important post unexpectedly taken over by Michael Gove. The arrival of such a high profile figure to head MHCLG just as a major piece of legislation is due to be published cannot be a coincidence. Gove himself also has a history of leading major changes within any department he heads, which further signals some significant shifts in policy are likely to arrive in the near future. While we suspect that his major focus will be placed on local government reform, rather than the planning bill, this will still have major impacts on listed buildings. Council planning departments are a critical part of the system, so changes in structure or resourcing could have significant knock on effects for owners. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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DCMS Roadshows

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have been running an occasional series of roadshow events to discuss the challenges facing heritage in the modern world. While Covid has slowed down their timetable, they are still pressing ahead and we are happy to report that they have invited the Club to participate in an upcoming roadshow about climate change and heritage. We know that this is a critical issue to many of our members, so we are extremely pleased to be invited to join in the discussion and to bring feedback from all our supporters to officials. While the date and time are yet to be determined, in large part depending on whether the event can be held in person or will be a digital forum, this is a great opportunity for the Club to get involved with the officials who formulate heritage policy and we look forward to a productive discussion. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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VAT Pilot

Returning VAT support to listed buildings has been a long term goal for the Club ever since 2012. Responses for government have been lukewarm over the past few years, with little urgency shown even as Historic England supported the idea before the 2021 budget. Despite the wheels of government turning slowly, there is still some movement in this direction. The present focus is on proving that a VAT reduction would actually support the kind of positive ownership that the Club and the Government want to encourage. To do that, the government are planning a trial of VAT reduction in a smaller area to study what works are covered and whether the numbers increase. Despite being slow, this is still a positive step. As the trial scheme develops we will keep all members updated, and hopefully enable any local residents to take advantage of the scheme and demonstrate the value of a VAT cut. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Heritage Statement

The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have a complex relationship with listed buildings, as they have to support the cultural and historic value of our homes without much of the legislative power over them. The way that DCMS supports heritage within other departments is through annual Heritage Statements. The 2021 paper is moving towards its publishing date, and the Club were able both to give feedback to DCMS and discuss their existing themes and ideas at a recent meeting between the Club and officials. Two specific goals of addressing climate change, and “levelling up” heritage across the UK were discussed, and the Club were happy to bring forward our members concerns. Both of these will come as good news to owners, especially outside of the traditional listed building hotspots in the south east and south west. While DCMS cannot force other departments to enact it’s goals, the Heritage Statement is an official expression of government policy, and it can’t be directly contradicted by another minister under the principle of collective responsibility. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Planning Bill and Heritage

The upcoming planning bill, due to be published in the coming months, had been somewhat coolly received by the heritage sector. The white paper announcing the policies gave little concrete support for owners, and the Club as well as others, had felt that there would be little real change. However, we have started to hear some more reassuring noises from DCMS, and an explanation for the dearth of detail in the white paper. During recent talks with DCMS, their officials indicated that significant aims the Club has been championing, such as stronger emphasis on energy efficiency in planning and consent decisions, are intended to be included in the bill. However, these policies were not fully developed as the white paper was being written, and so were lacking detail. Officials were not able to offer any further insight into what form these policies might eventually take once the bill is published, but the Club are encouraged to hear that DCMS and MHCLG are intending to legislate and offer some genuine improvements for owners who want to make their listed home more energy efficient. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Decarbonising Listed Buildings

Climate change has become a greater and greater concern for all of us, especially for listed property owners who struggle to become energy efficient. Heating is the greatest concern amongst all owners, but the options to replace gas and oil heating, and even log burning fires with modern replacements are limited by cost and listed building consent. Many councils have declared that there is a climate emergency, alongside the government setting aggressive targets to reduce carbon in heating, but there have been no moves to support listed buildings decarbonising. This is an obvious omission and needs to be answered. Craig Mackinlay MP, Chair of the APPG on Listed Properties, will be submitting a written question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government asking them to explain why there is no accommodation to adapt listed buildings and challenging them to deliver a policy that is coherent. Similarly, Craig will be questioning the installation of electric car charging points and the challenges listed property owners face in doing so. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Review of Heritage Planning

Robert Jenrick, the Minister for Housing, Community and Local Government, has commissioned a review of heritage planning policy and the role of the planning inspectorate in making those decisions. While this has yet to be officially announced by the Ministry, Jenrick indicated a review was coming on his official Twitter account. The decision comes following a controversial “called in” planning decision that MHCLG made regarding the listed Whitechapel Bell Foundry, but which Jenrick himself did not approve. While very little is known, Jenrick appears to be dissatisfied with the process that resulted in a junior minister approving the scheme. Jenrick has been a more interventionist Secretary of State than his forbears, and has used “called in” decisions on a number of occasions, many of which we've reported on in Listed Heritage Magazine. While it is too early to know what the possible ramification might be from any review, the Club certainly welcome this. The Club will be immediately writing to Jenrick, and ensuring that private owners are listened to as the review progresses. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Local Election Results

The Conservatives were the primary winners but the Green party also picked up 88 council seats, more than doubling their previous result. While this is not a huge swing, hundreds of members are now represented by Green councillors who were not previously. This will give a jolt to many local planning decisions, and a greater sense of urgency to the need to reduce energy usage. This is key for listed building owners, who face significant challenges in making their homes more efficient. For members who now have a more environmentally conscious councillor, or who find a Green councillor on their planning committee, engaging with them about your listed building can help to ensure that more positive planning decisions are made in the coming years. Elsewhere, Sadiq Khan retained his London mayoralty which will likely see no change in the stalemate between Khan’s planning policy and Robert Jenrick’s use of called in decisions to overrule the Greater London Authority. While this is not necessarily positive, the tension between the two has at least maintained the status quo in London, at least preventing any additional harms. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Queen’s Speech and Heritage

The Queen’s speech is always used as an opportunity for the government to lay out their legislative agenda for the coming year. While details are few, it does give an indication of what new laws we can expect to see, and points to changes that might impact on heritage. There were three significant announcements for listed building owners: a commitment to net zero carbon emissions, the drive to “levelling up”, and a less publicised change which will further tighten requirements for those who use off-mains drainage. As part of so-called “levelling up” the government will be creating more Heritage Action Zones in the north, as well as expanding their Future High Streets program. This does create some funding for listed buildings, although it will likely be difficult for individual homeowners to apply directly. The Club will be engaging with the government on the other two proposals, asking how listed buildings will be expected to achieve net zero given the present planning restrictions, and conferring with DEFRA to discuss what the future standards will be and whether listed buildings may be given an exemption or support to make the changes. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Local and Scottish Elections

This may brings a super-season of elections, combining local councils with Scottish parliamentary elections and several high profile mayoral seats. We have already seen several new parties arise to contest these elections, and while we do not expect any upsets we do believe there may be impact on heritage policy going forward. In Scotland, Alex Salmond’s Alba party is strongly independence focused but can also be seen as a more traditionalist counterpart to the SNP’s more progressive vision for Scotland. Alba have attracted older SNP supporters, and may be the best option for members who previously have felt torn between the cause of independence and protecting Scotland’s heritage. The London mayoral contest is heating up and while Sadiq Khan seems very likely to continue in his post a very wide range of contenders have thrown their hats into the ring. While unlikely to take more than a few percent of the vote, candidates like Laurence Fox have included the issue of the cities heritage in their platform. The Club can at least say that we welcome public debate on these issues. Historic buildings are a crucial part of London’s heritage, including thousands of privately owned homes. Given the role that the mayor plays in planning policy across London, a real discussion about listed buildings and other heritage assets is a positive step towards improving procedures. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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PCSC and Heritage Crimes

The Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill has caused many waves since it was published, and its impact is even being felt in the heritage sector. Paired with increased sentencing guidelines for heritage crimes, the Government is proposing that more, or perhaps even all, cases of criminal damage to memorials will be heard in crown court. Although this is a seemingly innocuous change, it should be remembered that the much more significant sentences that are now recommended could only ever be applied by a crown court. By making it much easier to move a criminal damage case to crown court, there will be more opportunity to use the new punishments. This change may not itself impact members directly, but the bill does create a very broad definition of memorial which does apply to some homes, and it does also imply that such cases will be much more strictly policed. Once the bill becomes law, we would advise that owners are more vigilant of any damage to monuments and to be active in reporting it. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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New APPG Member

The Club are pleased to welcome former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Buildings. As the MP for the Cumbrian seat of Westmorland and Lonsdale, his constituency includes 2377 listed buildings. While he has only sat on the backbenches since leaving the leadership, he is still an influential figure in the party and we are glad to have him on board. As a churchgoer, Farron has certainly had more contact with listed buildings than many of his colleagues, but his interest may be shaped more by his family history. Growing up in Preston, surrounded by grand industrial revolution architecture certainly will have impressed on him the need to protect historic buildings. Farron joins over 57 of his parliamentary colleagues in the APPG on Listed Properties, which is working in Westminster to help owners protect their listed homes. We’re particularly glad to see another figure from outside of the major parties join, showing that listed buildings are not party political and really do impact the whole nation. The APPG on Listed Properties is a key part of the Club’s lobbying work in Westminster. The APPG is a body made up of MPs from all parties who support listed properties and their owners. The Club works as the secretariat of the group, and help MPs to understand the issues and target their support for owners. You can write to your MP and ask them to join the APPG, or contact your AM or MSP and ask them to raise your issues in Cardiff or Holyrood. If you would like some advice on how to do this, you can contact our dedicated Campaign Officer at campaign@lpoc.co.uk or request our Guide to Lobbying Government by calling the Club on 01795 844939. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Goodbye Green Home Grants

The Government’s ailing Green Home Grants scheme has been terminated by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. This is both good and bad news for listed property owners. The scheme had certainly badly underdelivered for historic homes, but the grants being discontinued mean that there will be no opportunity to reform them either. This is a difficult change to interpret for the Club. We did feel that it would be easier to get listed properties properly covered by an existing scheme than it would be to create a new one. However, the collapse of the scheme also demonstrates that its flaws were severe, and makes it very unlikely that a similar exclusionary approach will be taken in future. The Government has committed the full budget that GHG had initially planned to have for energy improvements, but moving forward local councils will administer all payments. This change can be seen as a cause for optimism, because local schemes are less likely to keep listed buildings out, but owners will all have to contact their own local authority to see what funding might be available for them. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Annual Achievements

The Club have updated our timeline of achievements for 2021, covering everything we have accomplished over the past 12 months as well as our plans for the coming year. Even during a very difficult and turbulent year, the Club have continued to push ahead with our work in Westminster, challenging the government and demanding changes to help protect our homes. While 2021 looks to be just as uncertain, we are still actively pursuing our Owner’s Forums and liaising with MPs and government officials. TIMELINE2017 JUNE 2017 The Club creates the first Owners’ Manifesto using evidence gathered at the Owners’ Voice sessions and presents it to MPs to put listed buildings on the agenda. JULY 2017 The Club hosts a reception on the House of Commons Terrace, hosted by Craig Mackinlay MP. Members meet with a group of MPs to share their first-hand experiences and ask for action on VAT and planning. SEPTEMBER 2017 APPG on Listed Properties officially relaunched, with newly elected MPs joining from all parties. The APPG agenda focuses on tax and the drastic fall in conservation resources within local councils. NOVEMBER 2017 The Club announces a series of Owners’ Forums, which allow owners to meet their MP and discuss local challenges. 2018 MARCH 2018 Listed Property Owners’ Forum held in Helensburgh with Brendan O’Hara MP. APRIL 2018 The Club attends Q&A session with Shadow Minister for Arts and Heritage Kevin Brennan MP. Listed Property Owners’ Forum held in Ludlow with Philip Dunne MP. MAY 2018 The Club is invited to attend an evidence session with Heritage Minister, Michael Ellis. Members attend to voice their challenges with inconsistent decision making. Heritage Minister, Michael Ellis, writes to APPG chair, Craig Mackinlay MP, voicing his support for action on VAT and a desire to open a discussion at the treasury. The Club is invited to join the Heritage Alliance Tax Working Group to help develop broader tax policy, covering both VAT and other forms of public support. JUNE 2018 Listed Property Owners’ Forum held in Witney with Robert Courts MP. Listed Property Owners’ Forum held in Leominster with Bill Wiggin MP. Listed Property Owners’ Forum held in Tiverton with Neil Parish MP. JULY 2018 The Club launches an official UK Government petition for the reduction of VAT on listed buildings. AUGUST 2018 Evidence session to support the VAT campaign. OCTOBER 2018 The Club launches the Campaign for Scottish Owners at the inaugural Scottish Listed Property Show. 2019 JANUARY 2019 The Club appoints a full-time campaign officer to develop policy, engage with parliament and capitalise on previous successes. FEBRUARY 2019 The Club launches a Campaign for Welsh Owners, making our campaign truly national. The Club embarks on a Freedom of Information campaign, demanding full statistics on listed buildings from all UK councils. MARCH 2019 The Club completes an updated and comprehensive Owners’ Manifesto covering tax, planning, energy efficiency and a package of local council reforms. The Club attends the Heritage Alliance Tax Working Group, supporting Heritage Action Zones, Future Highstreets and Living Cities as options to reduce the tax burden of ownership. APRIL 2019 The Club meets with Kirsty Williams AM, a member of the Welsh government, to discuss the challenges faced by Welsh owners. The Club takes part in the biannual review of Historic England, giving feedback on how they can better support members. MAY 2019 The Club are invited to Holyrood to meet with Shadow Housing Minister, Graham Simpson MSP, discussing the specific challenges of Scottish owners. The Club is invited to give evidence to the Welsh culture committee by Bethan Sayed AM. JUNE 2019 The Club attends a Welsh regional conservation officers’ forum to engage with officers and builds links for further discussions. The Club begins building evidence about local council services as the basis for a report on the present state of conservation services. JULY 2019 The Club attends the APPG on Apprenticeships to discuss the skills shortage in the heritage sector, and to campaign for more training schemes. The Club is invited to meet with the Welsh heritage agency, Cadw, to discuss the on-going review of planning processes in Wales. AUGUST 2019 The Club provides support to a group of local owners whose homes are under threat from external development. SEPTEMBER 2019 The Club is invited to consult with MHCLG and contribute policy ideas for their green paper, submitting written evidence and attending the ministry. Our advice is warmly received and will form part of the eventual white paper. The APPG on Listed Properties holds its annual general meeting, discussing their efforts in this Parliament, and considering issues for the future agenda. The first Listed Property Show South West is attended by Historic England and Cadw. Members from England and Wales come to discuss their challenges. The Club attends the Heritage Alliance Tax Working Group and supports a major study into VAT relief. OCTOBER 2019 Shadow Housing Minister, Graham Simpson MSP, speaks at the Scottish Listed Property Show and meets with owners and Historic Environment Scotland. NOVEMBER 2019 The Club holds a reception at the House of Commons, inviting members to share their challenges with MPs. Craig Mackinlay announces that planning policy will be the primary focus of the APPG in the next parliament. The Club holds a reception in Holyrood hosted by Graham Simpson MSP with Historic Environment Scotland speaking. Scottish owners have their first opportunity to speak directly to their representatives and share their challenges. DECEMBER 2019 General election delivers many new ministers and MPs. The Club begins approaching new APPG members and engaging with new ministers, Nigel Huddleston and Oliver Dowden. 2020 MARCH 2020 Westminster Hall Debate on VAT brings together representatives from 5 different Westminster parties to discuss the need to support listed building owners. The Club supports APPG Chair Craig Mackinlay in putting the case for owners. New found support from Wera Hobhouse and Hywel Williams. APPG on Listed Properties is re-registered for the new parliament, and beings expanding members. APRIL/MAY 2020 The Club participate in the steering group for Historic

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BEIS Responds

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have responded to the Club’s concerns over their Green Home Grants scheme. As we have reported over the past few months, the scheme leaves out most listed building owners and so results in the most energy inefficient buildings receiving the least support. BEIS’ response is not at all satisfactory to say the least. Their insistence on the use of TrustMark is perhaps predictable, given the context of the scheme, but equally they have completely refused to acknowledge the issues that we raised. This answer is especially upsetting as the Green Home Grants scheme has been extended, meaning that listed property owners will continue to lose out if no amendments are made. The Club will be responding strongly to BEIS, and asking our parliamentary supporters to raise the matter directly with the minister. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Permitted Development Consultation

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government have launched a consultation regarding permitted development rights and their role in the planning system. One of the reasons why listed buildings are so difficult to own is because owners do not have any permitted development rights at all. This means many small scale works require planning permission in addition to listed building consent. A good example is the need for listed building owners to seek full planning permission to put up a garden fence. The Club will be responding to the consultation putting the case for listed buildings to gain a small amount of permitted development rights, especially for sheds and fences. This is a perfect example of the kind of change the government is looking for; where the system can be made more efficient without sacrificing any protections. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Craig Mackinlay MP Interview

“We must continue to speak up for the preservation of listed properties in the UK and raise awareness in Parliament of the role played by listed property owners in protecting the nation’s heritage.” – Craig Mackinlay, MP for South Thanet. Craig Mackinlay has been a strong supporter of listed property owners in Parliament. His work as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties has been a huge part of the Club’s success in Westminster. The group is a unique place where we can communicate directly with MPs and bring owner’s issues to their attention. As featured in the last issue of Listed Heritage, Craig gave the Club an exclusive interview to discuss his work and his plans for future. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL INTERVIEW WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE APPG ACHIEVE IN 2021 AND WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BIGGEST ISSUE TO TACKLE FOR LISTED PROPERTY OWNERS? We must continue to speak up for the preservation of listed properties in the UK and raise awareness in Parliament of the role played by listed property owners in protecting the nation’s heritage. As I always say - we’re only borrowing these homes. We must persuade the government to be more sympathetic to supporting owners to preserve their listed property by, for example, reforming the tax and planning systems. In essence, we would like to see a reduction in VAT on all listed building planning alterations and repairs back to zero rate from the current 20% rate, or the introduction of a form of VAT relief similar to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. Of course, the Government cannot currently reduce the rate of VAT on the repair and maintenance of commercial buildings under EU law. But as we exit the transition period and fully take back control of our laws from the EU, a key advantage for us will be the ability to set VAT rates in line with the UK’s unique needs and interests. The Treasury should use this ability to ensure the VAT system safeguards our listed buildings and that private ownership remains viable.   WHAT DID THE GROUP ACHIEVE IN 2020? We secured a Westminster Hall debate on the issue of VAT on Listed Properties on Wednesday, 4th March just a couple of weeks before the national lockdown. During my speech I called for a reduction in VAT to help protect our nation’s heritage. In response the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jesse Norman MP, recognised the social, cultural, and economic importance of listed properties as part of our heritage, but did confirm that the Treasury had no current plans to change the treatment of VAT on listed buildings. These things, however, are always kept under review and I am determined to lead the fight for change.   FOLLOWING ON FROM THE DRINKS RECEPTION IN 2019 AT WESTMINSTER, INCONSISTENCIES WITH THE PLANNING SYSTEM AND THE POWER OF CONSERVATION OFFICERS CAME UP QUITE HEAVILY. HAS ANY HEADWAY BEEN MADE ON THESE ISSUES? At the reception we agreed that VAT relief on listed properties would align the interests of planners and owners by rewarding genuine conservation efforts and supporting owners who properly follow the regulations. It has to be recognised that any agreed works undertaken on listed properties are more likely bespoke, often requiring more expensive materials and contractors with specialist skills. Unfortunately frustrations remain with the planning system. There is the benefit of no planning application fee, but whatever saving this represents is almost always consumed by more extensive drawings and application complications requiring more expensive advisers. Too often disproportionate power lies within the opinion and discretion of local conservation officers with no consistency of decision-making even between adjacent local authorities and despite attempts at common national standards, in practice these are illusory.   HOW DO WE MAKE SURE THAT ISSUES LIKE VAT STAY ON THE AGENDA DURING DIFFICULT FINANCIAL TIMES? Clearly, in this Covid period the government’s attention is almost wholly focussed on dealing with the pandemic. Looking to the future, H. M. Treasury will be hungry for cash to fill the nation’s depleted coffers: tax savings are likely to be in short supply. Another problem as a result of Covid has been the lack of time available for parliamentary debates and also for the questioning of ministers with strict limits on the numbers of MPs who can be in the Chamber at any one time. However, with a variety of effective vaccines going through final testing and the possibility of the roll out across the population through to the Spring, I very much hope we can resume normal service. Reform of VAT on listed properties is at the top of my list of campaigning priorities, not least because the medieval town of Sandwich in my South Thanet constituency has the greatest density of listed properties in the country.   WHY DO LISTED BUILDINGS OFTEN GET IGNORED BY MINISTRIES LIKE BEIS AND MHCLG? Obviously government has lots of competing interests and it is easy to feel that you are being forgotten about. To be fair to the government, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport champions the ‘listed places of worship’ grant scheme and the Treasury Minister responded to my parliamentary debate on VAT. I don’t think it is helpful to pit one government department against another and recognise that they have to speak with one voice. I would also add that funding is rightly available for the maintenance of buildings and monuments that genuinely deserve financial protection, for the purposes of public benefits and not private gain, for example from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, or organisations such as Historic Scotland, Historic England, Cadw, or Northern Ireland’s Department for Communities.   HOW CAN MEMBERS MAKE THEIR MPS CARE ABOUT LISTED BUILDINGS AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO SEE MPS FROM ALL PARTIES SUPPORTING LISTED PROPERTIES? I would hope that all MPs from all parties will want to consider very carefully any issues of interest or concern relating to listed properties,

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Green Grants – Next Steps

After feedback from many members that Green Home Grants were difficult or impossible to access, the Club have written to the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to press the need for a more inclusive approach. The grants only cover works carried out by TrustMark certified traders, but almost no historic building specialists are a part of that scheme. TrustMark is not a bad scheme, but it is clearly aimed at modern contractors, and in many cases historic building work is simply not eligible to be covered. Thatching and lime-work is not covered at all, nor is any non-modern form of insulation. This means that the Green Home Grants are largely unavailable for listed building work, and the few tradespeople who are certified were quickly booked up and now cannot accept any more work. We have asked the Energy Minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, to act now and allow listed building owners access to the scheme without the need for TrustMark certification. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Consent Consultation

The Club has submitted our contribution to Historic England’s consultation on their Advice Note on Listed Building Consent. This is a high level consultation which offers an opportunity to give input into what is the guiding force for LBC in England. The Club has put forward the need for sensible and practical advice, and emphasised that cooperation is critical to delivering a better service. A significant goal for Historic England has been to make their resources more accessible and practical, and our contribution will certainly help to make sure this is the case. The Club is the only group putting forward the owner’s view so our contribution can offer some genuinely new insights into the process, and hopefully spur change. Listed building consent is administered by local councils, but Historic England provide official advice both to local planners and to the planning inspectorate. While HE cannot demand major action from councils, their advice is considered the gold standard, and improving this will help both owners and officers to work together. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Mackinlay Speaks

Craig MacKinlay is one of the Club’s longest standing supporters in Parliament. Craig’s constituency of South Thanet boasts the historic village of Sandwich, which claims to have the highest number of listed buildings per capita in the UK. Craig’s work as chair of the APPG for Listed Properties has been key to our influence in Westminster, and his sponsorship of numerous events has allows hundreds of members to come to the heart of government and discuss their issues. This month Craig will be giving an exclusive interview to the Club to discuss his work for members in parliament, and why he cares so deeply about historic buildings. Even throughout a very turbulent few years in Parliament, Craig has continued to press the case for change and championed owner’s issues. This insight both into his thinking and his plans for the future is a unique glimpse behind the Westminster curtain and shouldn’t be missed. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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APPG Growth

The Club are happy to report that the APPG on Listed Properties has grown its membership to 56 members since the election. This is a improvement over the 50 members we saw in the last parliament, and shows that our work is having a real impact. The APPG on Listed Properties is a key part of the Club’s lobbying work in Westminster. The APPG is a body made up of MPs from all parties who support listed properties and their owners. The Club works as the secretariat of the group, and help MPs to understand the issues and target their support for owners. You can write to your MP and ask them to join the APPG, or contact your AM or MSP and ask them to raise your issues in Cardiff or Holyrood. If you would like some advice on how to do this, you can contact our dedicated Campaign Officer at campaign@lpoc.co.uk or request our Guide to Lobbying Government by calling the Club on 01795 844939. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 150 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Green Grants – Follow Up

The much anticipated Green Home Grants scheme has arrived, and it has not lived up to the promise that we previously reported about. The biggest challenge has been that the new grants use an older scheme to determine which contractors are eligible to perform the work. That scheme, TrustMark, is not bad by any means, but it is aimed at large suppliers rather than individual specialists. Members have already reported difficulties in finding tradespeople who are both experts in listed buildings and also a part of the scheme, which makes it more difficult to obtain grants. This has effectively locked out a large number of owners from applying for grants, meaning that there continues to be almost no public support for individual private owners. The Club will be taking the matter up with both the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy who created the scheme, and with Historic England who have been strong supporters of energy efficiency in listed properties. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 160 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 8434939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Planning Paper Consultation

The Government’s white paper, “Planning for the future” has been a cause of contention both in the heritage sector and across the whole of society. This reflects the sheer complexity involved in planning reform, and the wide range of issues that are impacted by it. Listed buildings are a particular challenge, as listing impacts both the building itself, and those around it. The Government’s aim in the white paper was to try and move away from a single national policy and instead focus on more local decision making. The white paper offers a more standard way to make local plans, but leaves it to local councils to make the decisions themselves. This is both a blessing and a curse for listed building owners. National policy is often too vague to be useful to individual owners, either when making their own applications or commenting on others. However, local policy is quite patchy and can make it harder for owners to understand what to expect in their local area. The Club contributed to the Government consultation on the white paper, and provided feedback from our members on both sides of the issue. We drew particular attention to concerns that the aim to increase the speed of the planning system might erode the ability of local people to be involved, and as a result diminish the protection that listing offers. We also voiced support for attempts to make new development more sympathetic with their surrounding buildings, both listed and non-listed. Finally we repeated the need to fund the planning system and ensure that the resources and expertise are available. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 160 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 8434939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Freedom of Information Revelations

Our VAT grant scheme, Listed Maintenance Grants, has taken another step forward in the past few weeks. The Club sent a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to DCMS, the Treasury, and the body who administer the Listed Places of Worship grant scheme; in all cases seeking information about how the grants are dispersed. The Club can reveal that the figures for LPW line up exactly with our projections and vindicate the approach we have taken in modelling our new scheme. Even with the ability to package multiple works together, annual grants still cluster at the bottom end of the scheme, with a median far below the overall average. This is a strong piece of evidence for our grant scheme, and underlines that our grant fund can realistically support tens of thousands of people each year. Being able to confirm the scale of the cost underlines that our approach is reasonable and affordable, and still able to deliver a huge amount of good. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 160 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 8434939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Announced Planning Reforms

The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government have finally published their white paper on planning reform, after a five-month delay. The Club contributed to the original green paper last year, and have been awaiting the final announcement with some interest. Given the present environment, the focus has been placed heavily on commercial developers and driving the economy through new building. As the Prime Minister previous stated, the goal is to “build, build, build”, and the new policy certainly is aimed to do that. Listed properties do not get a direct mention in the consultation document that has been released, which is a little disappointing but not necessarily unexpected. When the Club met with MHCLG, they wanted to be radical, but their focus was on the core planning system and not on listed building consent. However, there are still some interesting development for private owners. Efforts to make the planning system faster and cheaper and make resources available to properly handle planning cases, will certainly be very welcome to all listed building owners. Listed buildings need to seek planning permission far more often than non-listed neighbours, so these changes would result in a disproportionately large improvement for listed properties. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 160 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 8434939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Green Housing Grants

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy unexpectedly announced a new green grants scheme last month. The £3bil grant scheme came with very few details at the time, and the Club saw this as a strong opportunity to lobby for owners’ rights before the full details were released. The Club wrote to BEIS voicing concerns that the new scheme would suffer from the same flaws as previous VAT relief on energy efficiency. We specifically pointed to the omission of secondary glazing as a major concern, and the need to be more flexible in the types of insulation that were covered. We also called for smart heating to be included, as a measure that could be applicable to any heritage property with central heating, regardless of any other measures taken. While we never received a formal response from BEIS, the newly published list of works that will be covered does touch on all of these. Secondary glazing is specifically allowed within the scheme, as is smart heating, and a much wider range of insulation is also included. The devil is always in the details, but we see this scheme as very positive for listed building owners. You can read the latest announcement from BEIS here. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 160 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 8434939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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The Corona Budget

Over the past months the Government has announced an unprecedented flurry of public spending in response to the Covid pandemic and its economic impacts. There is a great deal to break down, but there are some points which listed property owners will specifically be interested in. The biggest news is the government’s use of a VAT as a way to support struggling sectors. Previously the Treasury were strongly against this measure, and voiced concerns about the costs involved, but the lockdown has shown that such tools can be used when the situation demands it. The Club has argued that a VAT cut for listed building works is absolutely critical for the long-term survival of these national treasures. To see the Treasury now using these exact measures in other ways shows that our argument is very strong, and that the Government will agree to VAT relief if listed buildings are shown to be a big enough issue. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 160 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 8434939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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COVID-19

The present crisis has a knock on impact on just about everything, and historic buildings are no exception. The lockdown has caused some unique challenges for heritage owners, and led to some unprecedented legal complexities. Owners are obliged to maintain their buildings, but the lockdown has prevented almost every tradesman from working on site. Home repairs have not been given the same importance as new construction, leaving planned works uncompleted, and many owners unable to hire traders at any price. The law presently tells owners that they must carry out repairs, and also that repair services are unavailable. We would hope that no council's enforcement division will attempt to take action against owners in the present climate, but we should be concerned that there is no formal defence. The Club are working to raise these issues at the highest levels, to allow listed building works to continue, and offer statutory protection for owners who are unable to carry out repairs. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 160 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 8434939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Responsible Retrofit

There is an ongoing in the heritage sector around “responsible retrofit” and what these words really mean to individual owners. As part of the Heritage Counts steering committee, the Club and working with Historic England to help develop guidance for owners to help them retrofit their properties and achieve better energy efficiency. The Club is pushing for responsible retrofit to not just include large renovations, but also to look at the smallest interventions that can have the biggest impact. Minor changes that leave the majority of a property intact should be not just allowed, but encouraged, because these add up to prevent much larger and more objectionable changes being needed later on. The present landscape works the opposite way, with minor changes prevented to protect the historic fabric, and when the building falls into disuse and is at risk of demolition very large changes are seen as the only option. The result is more fabric is lost and the buildings spends far more time being far less efficient, pushing owners away and making living in a listed building much harder. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 160 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 8434939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Listed Maintenance Grants

The Listed Property Owners’ Club are proud to announce the Listed Maintenance Grants scheme (LMG). This is a proposal to provide VAT relief on all maintenance and repair work to listed buildings for the first time in British history, offering support to around 80,000 owners per year. Even under the 2012 VAT regime, where some works were zero rated, there has never been any broad support to the average listed building owner. The LMG scheme aims to correct this, and help all owners keep their buildings properly maintained. Instead of a small number of owners getting occasional VAT relief; all owners will get public support to help protect their building. Listed Maintenance Grants is a grant scheme, in line with the Treasury’s requests, and aimed specifically at the small and common works which increase the cost of ownership so much. At a total public cost of £52mil, it is a scheme that gives huge value for money and will make a huge contribution to protecting our built heritage. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 160 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 8434939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Planning For The Future

Last year, the Club consulted with MHCLG on their planning policy. While the fractious political environment and snap election […]

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Listed Property Forums

The Club are happy to announce that our Listed Property Forums will be continuing in 2020, bringing owners […]

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Delivering on VAT

The March 4th debate on VAT concluded with a major shift from the Government and signalled just how much impact […]

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VAT Debate

Yesterday saw a Westminster Hall debate on VAT and listed properties, secured by APPG chair Craig Mackinlay. Craig put […]

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Westminster Hall Debate

The Club’s campaign for VAT relief is continuing to build momentum in the run up to the budget. Craig Mackinlay, Chair of […]

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Cabinet Reshuffle

The much anticipated cabinet reshuffle has finally arrived, with new ministers being appointed to several critical heritage roles […]

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Historic England Engagement

Historic England are the government’s official adviser on heritage, and the de facto leaders of the whole sector. Their advice […]

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Letter To The Treasury

Our effort to reduce VAT on listed building works is the cornerstone of our political campaign. Owners across […]

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New Arrivals

The new parliament has brought in a new class of MPs. Almost a hundred seats changed hands, and many longstanding MPs […]

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Holyrood Reception

To follow up from our success at the Scottish Listed Property Show, the Club held a reception at Holyrood for members to […]

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Parliament In Review

It has been a tough eighteen months since the last election. The only certain thing was unpredictability in the last […]

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Westminster Reception

To celebrate our successes over the last parliament, the Club invited over 200 members to a House of Commons reception […]

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Scottish Listed Property Show

Our political work in Scotland has been a big focus of our campaign this year, and will be coming to a head […]

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Tax Working Group Feedback

While the Heritage Alliance Tax Working Group tends to move slowly, it is one of the most important bodies that the Club […]

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Tax Working Group – September

The Heritage Alliance Tax Working Group is a key advisory body to the government regarding listed buildings and tax […]

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CPG on Listed Properties

We’ve been working to influence policy at all levels in the UK, but our work in the national legislatures is perhaps the most […]

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Local Campaign Results

The Club's primary goal is always supporting our members with the challenges of owning a listed building. We actively campaign in all areas of government, from Westminster to your local town hall. Over the past month we have been contacting a number of listed building owners to ask them about the challenges they have been facing, to try and get a clearer idea of where problems are in the present local planning system. The Club would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has responded to us. Every insight into the experiences of owners on the ground level is extremely valuable to us, and helps us to focus our campaign work and find the issues where we can have the most impact. The submissions we've received will be turned into a case study on local council services and form the basis of a recommendation from the Club to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 155 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Listed Property Show South West

The Listed Property Shows are always popular events for owners, tradesmen and professionals alike, but they are more than just a trade show. Starting with the Listed Property Show at Olympia, our Campaign Officer is now part of our stand at every show, and available to speak with all visitors. Our inaugural Listed Property Show South West was held on Saturday 21st of September and it was a rousing success. Owners from across the Westcountry, Westmids and Wales came over to Bristol to meet with our stallholders, attend expert talks and discuss their challenges with our team. Dozens of owners took the time to discuss their challenges and talk about the issues that they would like to see action on. It was very positive to hear so much support for our efforts and appreciation for our work, as well as hearing all manner of fresh ideas and new perspective. We look forward to having a similarly productive day in Edinburgh next month at the Scottish Listed Property Show. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 155 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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MCHLG Consultation

We have just returned from our meeting with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to discuss planning policy and it's development over the coming months. Today's meeting was extremely positive for a number of reasons. The fact that the Club was invited to participate in this early stage of development marks a major uptick in our stature, now seen by government as the primary representative of listed building owners. It was also a very productive meeting. We were very happy to see hear that the Ministry wants to be ambitious with this paper, and intends to cover all aspects of the planning system not just planning permission. They are also keen to ensure that listed buildings aren't left out, and that owners get their fair share of reform. We will be continuing to correspond with the Ministry as they formulate their green paper and hope to build a strong relationship in the coming months. To read the full story, see the latest issue of Listed Heritage, the Club's 155 page bi-monthly magazine. Every issue includes a dedicated section on our lobbying efforts, as well as news, features and technical guidance from across the heritage sector. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk.

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Planning Support

  We’ve received numerous calls and e-mails from owners who’s listed buildings are under threat from various kinds of development including road widening, residential development and inappropriate building in a conservation area. As these enquiries continue to amass, we wanted to put out some guidance that can benefit all owners in a similar position. The single best piece of advice we can give is to make as much noise as possible about the case. You have a right to make objections on a planning case, which you should do, but also contact your MPs and councillors and the local press. Planning cases can take a very long time to be decided, but as long as you keep the pressure up the planning authority will be required to address your concerns. The Campaign For The Protection Of Rural England offer a step by step guide that you can refer to, and of course you can always contact the Club to speak about your specific challenges. Club members from Ipswich and Perth are running their own campaigns to protect local listed buildings, and we encourage all of our readers to show their support.    

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Response from MHCLG

  Receiving a positive response from central government is something of a rarity, especially for owners of listed buildings. However, the Club are very happy to report that we have recieved an invitation to meet with the new administration at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. We wrote to the ministry under it’s previous leadership, asking them to consider including listed buildings in their Accelerated Planning policy paper. Our hopes were not particularly high, and we were expecting to have to write again to the new minister. However, the new team of Robert Jenrick and Esther McVey have proven to be much more pro-active and asked us to engage with the department. The letter, opposite, hopefully marks the start of a strong relationship.    

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Meeting Cadw

    The Club were happy to be invited to meet with Cadw, the Welsh heritage body, last week. Since the launch of our campaign in Wales earlier this year we have been keen to build a stronger relationship with Cadw, so we travelled out to Cardiff for our first meeting with them. We had a really positive and wide ranging discussion about the Welsh heritage landscape. As a government body, Cadw have a slightly different view of the system than ourselves or our members, and it was really good to get their input. We were happy to discuss options for streamlining the planning processes for listed buildings and it was really good to have that discussion with Cadw themselves. We also discussed the upcoming review of Welsh planning laws and policies, the high quality of Cadw’s publications and efforts to better communicate with Welsh owners. All of this was extremely positive and we hope indicates a good relationship going forward.  

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A New Government

    The arrival of a new prime minister is always a difficult time for pressure groups. On the one hand, the Club are hopeful that the new regime will be more receptive to the concerns of over a million listed property owners. On the other, we are concerned that a single issue will continue to paralyse Westminster and prevent progress being made. There are certainly some reasons to be hopeful. Mr Johnson has publicly stated that he will loosen the public purse strings and we are hopeful that this will stem the local government cuts that have caused so many problems for owners. We also hope that the appointment of a new cabinet will bring some fresh blood and new ideas into the MHCLG and DDCMS, and that the new ministers will take their responsibilities to protect listed buildings more seriously. As we recently wrote, the present green paper on planning omits listed buildings and we hope that the new ministers will rectify this. The Club will of course be writing to the new ministers as soon as they are appointed to put the case for change.  

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Heritage Alliance Manifesto

    The Heritage Alliance are one of the industry wide bodies that the Club are a part of, who deliver recommendations to the government about how best to support listed buildings. Naturally the Club are tirelessly working within the group to ensure owners get the help they need to take care of their buildings. The Heritage Alliance recently published their funding priorities for the coming year and we are gratified to see that they have included VAT relief as one of their key goals. Readers will recall that the club has been championing various versions of this policy through the Heritage Alliance Tax Working Group. While the present version of their policy is more luke warm than we might like, we are at least happy to see that the wider heritage industry is listening to the needs of owners and sees the value reducing tax makes to keeping buildings maintained. You can see the full Heritage Alliance manifesto for 2019 here  

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APPG on Apprenticeships

    The lack of heritage skills available in the UK is a real concern to the Club. We are actively investigating ways to bring more young people into the sector through heritage apprenticeships. To that end we have begun to engage with the APPG on Apprenticeships, including being invited to their annual report launch last night. It was good to see a packed house in Parliament’s Strangers Dining Room, and it was a great opportunity to network and learn from those working in the area. We spoke with Andre Burwood, head of the Battersea Academy of Skills Excellence, to discuss the approach they have used to create apprenticeships both within their own team at Battersea Power Station (a grade II listed building) as well as within their partners and contractors. We hope to use a similar model around major heritage sites as the basis for more heritage apprenticeships.  

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Official Letter to MHCLG

  No matter how tumultuous the Westminster political scene, work still continues in Whitehall, particularly the drafting of major policy documents. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Accelerated Planning green paper is certainly continuing to take shape. The Club is extremely concerned to see that the draft paper has ignored heritage issues, and listed buildings in particular. Missing this opportunity to take action would be a major failing by the government, and so we have written to the ministry expressing the importance of including listed buildings. We hope to see other voices from the heritage sector join us.

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Skills Shortages

  Most owners know how much of a struggle it can be to find skilled and experienced tradesmen to carry out work on their property. Our own supplier’s directory can help you find the right people, but often there simply aren’t the right tradesmen in your area. The Club see this as a major concern, especially as older tradesmen retire without passing their skills on. We have decided that this needs some real action, and so we’ve adopted this as part of our political campaign. We have started looking closely at the apprenticeship system and discussing ways to make it more attractive to the small businesses who make up most of the heritage sector. We’ll be discussing policy options with trade bodies and ensuring that heritage isn’t forgotten in the discussion of training.     

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Mid and West Wales Conservation Officers Forum

    The Club are happy to report that we attended the Mid and West Wales Conservation Officers Forum at the Tywi Centre in Carmarthenshire yesterday, 25th of June. The group convers the centre of Wales, from Pembroke to Powys and is one of three regional groups for council conservation officials. The Club had a really productive discussion with the group about the challenges listed buildings present to councils and to owners. We are particularly happy to see a very open and accessible approach being taken in Wales, with officers who are keen to work with owners and provide the best service possible. We look forward to working more with the group and developing policy solutions that work for everyone.  

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Council Campaign

    Local government is just as important to listed building owners as Westminster and Whitehall. The way that regulations are interpreted and implemented by your council can have just as much of an impact on you as major policy changes. As part of our political campaign, the Club are starting to work on a local level with owners who are facing persistent struggles with their council. Over the coming months we will be reaching out to owners and starting to organise. The goal is to bring owners together and put more pressure on local authorities to deliver a better service.

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Answer from The Scottish Government

  One of the ways that the Club can place pressure on government is to write to ministers. Last month we wrote to Kevin Stewart MSP, minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning. Writing to ministers almost always creates a response and leads to the ministry officially stating it’s position. In our letter we asked for their present policy on heritage and planning. The answer (opposite) is from one of the civil servants within the ministry, and while it can be seen as frustrating it does open a dialogue with Holyrood. The Club will be answering in firm tones about the need for reforms in Scotland.   This browser does not support PDFs. Please download the PDF to view it: Download PDF

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Campaign Guide

We are happy to announce that our guide to our political campaign is now available. This sets out why we need a political campaign, and how we are putting pressure on all levels of government to support listed building owners.  You can click here to download the digital version. For those who prefer a printed copy, you can contact the Club to request a paper guide. You can either e-mail us on campaign@lpoc.co.uk or call us on 01795 844939. 

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Holyrood Events

Our campaign in Holyrood continues to see tangible results, thanks to the support of Graham Simpson MSP, the shadow housing minister who we met with earlier this month. His support enables us to make use of Holyrood as a venue, and to officially invite other MSPs to events. Later this year we will be holding several high profile events for our Scottish members in Holyrood, where you will have the opportunity to meet with MSPs and tell them directly about the challenges you face. This will help to show the impact that inaction is having on individual owners and ensure that your MSPs can’t ignore the issue. Once the dates are finalised, tickets will be available for our Scottish members.

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Meeting in Holyrood

The Club are happy to report our meeting with Graham Simpson MSP, shadow housing minister in the Scottish Parliament on the 16th of May. Of course it’s always positive when parliamentarians want to meet with us, but this was a particularly productive meeting for the Club. Graham already has some experience with listed buildings, as part of his work on the Tenement Working Group, so he already had a good understanding of the kinds of issues owners face in Scotland. We expect this will be the first of many trips to Edinburgh in the coming months and we look forward to a positive relationship with the Scottish Parliament. We will be continuing to work with Graham in the coming months to help support listed building owners, and to spread the word to other MSPs in Holyrood. The Scottish Listed Property Show will be coming back to Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms on the 26th of October. Click here for more information.

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Cross Party Group in the National Assembly

The Club are happy to report that our efforts to form a Cross Party Group in the Welsh Assembly have been successful. We visited the Assembly in Cardiff on the 30th of April to meet with Dr Dai Lloyd AM of Plaid Cymru. His support, along with Janet Finch-Saunders of the Welsh Conservatives and Mike Hedges of the Labour party means that we can move ahead with an initial meeting, and as a result the group can be officially recognised. This is a great success both for our members in Wales as well as in the whole UK. It’s extremely positive to see elected representatives supporting their local listed building owners, and the formation of this new group will demonstrate the need for reform to legislatures across the UK.

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Historic England Review

The Club are happy to report that we have been included in the periodic review of Historic England and their services. Obviously we are very happy to provide our feedback, but we are particularly proud to be included as one of the major stakeholders in the heritage sector. Our relationship with Historic England has always been very good, and includes their attendance at the Listed Property Show as well as giving lectures and writing pieces for Listed Heritage. We’ve always found them to be truly expert and very willing to work with us towards our shared goals. The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport are keen to get feedback from as many different people as possible, including from our members. You can click here to participate in the review online. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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Parliamentary Business

It’s been a busy time in Westminster over the past few months, but our campaign continues to press for change. We’ve focused our efforts on Whitehall in the past weeks, looking at the regulations and guidelines that impact listed buildings. We have been particularly pursuing the issue of Local Listed Building Consent Orders; instruments that would allow owners to carry out minor works without needing to submit an application. We believe that this system offers the potential for huge reductions in paperwork and major cost savings. The Club has submitted a number of Freedom of Information requests to government departments and non-governmental bodies and is working with APPG members to press for answers on this crucial issue. For full details see the next issue of our magazine Listed Heritage. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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Mid Wales Conservation Forum

We are happy to report that the Club has been invited to the Mid and West Wales Conservation Officers Forum. We’ll be attending to meet the heritage professionals who are at the forefront of listed building consent applications in the region, and to discuss the challenges that they face working in the present system. While the Club always has our members interests very much at heart, we see councils and planning officials very much as our partners in creating reforms. High costs for owners lead to high costs for councils, and we believe we can find common sense answers to reducing the costs to both. We look forward to seeing our colleagues in Llandeilo towards the end of June, and having some productive discussions! To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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Scottish Campaign

It’s been a quiet week or so for our campaign, but not one we’ve wasted. We have been laying the preparations for our launch into Scotland, something that has taken a bit more work than in Wales. In Wales setting up cross party groups is, relative to Scotland, quite easy and only requires three parties to be members. In Scotland this particular requirement is more stringent, requiring all five parties to be represented. We decided to take the time to research and plan our approach to ensure that we would garner support from all ends of the political spectrum. However, we are now ready to begin approaching MSPs and to start building an official group within Holyrood to represent the interests of listed building owners. It may take more time to find supporters, but we will be contacting almost every MSP and impressing on them the need to have a dialogue over the issues that affect our members. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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Meeting with Welsh Minister in Brecon

We’re happy to report our meeting with Kirsty Williams, AM for Brecon and Welsh Minister for Education. We took a drive up to Brecon on Friday the 5th and met to discuss the challenges facing listed building owners today. Brecon has over 500 listed buildings within a mile of the town centre, including the Liberal Democrat offices we met at, so clearly listed buildings are a big deal. We were really happy to see Kirsty already had a good understanding of the issues that listed building owners face and was keen to work towards helping them. While she is a member of the Welsh government, and so cannot be part of a cross party group, she was keen to help her constituents and ask some questions in the assembly. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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Tax Working Group

Yesterday the Club attended the Heritage Alliance’s tax working group. This body feeds into government discussions about heritage and tax reform, so it has a significant amount of influence. Tax remains a critical part of our campaign for owners, and we were happy to see the other stakeholders at the working group working to build the evidence case for tax relief. While VAT stands as the most obvious tax challenge owners face, the group is working on a number of possible schemes. The Club will be taking part as the group puts together it’s case for a pilot project to demonstrate that tax cuts would benefit both owners and the general public. For a fuller look at the different tax relief options see the latest edition of Listed Heritage. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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Survey Results

The Club are happy to report that we have already received hundreds of responses to our campaign survey over the weekend, and more continue to flow in. We are extremely pleased to see that so many of you support our work and are keen to influence our campaign. We’ve already seen some surprising answers come back, as well as confirming the need for reforms in tax and planning. And of course we are extremely proud to see that the vast majority of you see the Club as a valuable source of information. For a full breakdown of our campaign issues survey, see the next edition of Listed Heritage. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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Official Response from the Welsh Government

The Club’s lobbying work in Wales is already being taken seriously, both by AMs and the Welsh Government. After writing to the minister for housing, Julie James, we received an official response from the government. Dafydd Elis-Thomas, deputy minister for culture and tourism, responded to our letter enquiring about the government’s policy on listed buildings. We are gratified to discover that the Welsh government takes these issues seriously, and last year commissioned a report into planning and consent to discuss how to better administer building consent. The Club has responded with our own feedback to the report, as well as underlining the importance of including owners in discussions about listed buildings. For full details, see the next issue of listed heritage. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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Local Groups

Local groups are of course crucial to our national campaign. While the Club itself is approaching as many representatives as possible, it’s impossible for us to personally approach every MP and councillor ourselves. To help our members build local and regional groups to lobby directly to their representatives we have created a contact form where members can register their interest in forming a group. We hope that we can help members to find each other, and that we can provide better support once we know where our members are campaigning. Click here to find our campaign contact form. To show your support for our campaign, you can join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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Case Studies

We want to hear from all our members who have struggled with the present listed building control scheme. Whether that is due to high costs, long waits or unpredictable results; we want to hear about your case so we can show law makers just how big of a problem owners are facing today. It is so easy for politicians to ignore the individual effects of policies by just looking at the statistics. We intend to make sure that they can’t dismiss your challenges by working them into formal case studies that we can distribute to back up our policies. These stories will also help us to reach out to the press, by giving them some real human interest to report on. To send us your story you can use our online case study form , e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk or call in on 01795 844939. For full details of our political campaign, be sure to read the next issue of Listed Heritage.

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Freedom Of Information Results

We are approaching the deadline for local authorities to return our freedom of information requests. We have so far received well over 300 out of the 430 we initially sent out; a tremendous result for the club. The results will be completely tabulated for the next edition of Listed Heritage, and published as a full report in the coming months. Our initial findings point to an extremely wide range of performance between different planning authorities as well as a gap in the numbers of conservation officers and a declining quality of service. For full details of our on going freedom of information campaign make sure you read every edition of Listed Heritage. To show your support for our campaign, join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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Our Welsh Campaign

Today is St David’s day, which makes it the perfect time to announce the launch of our lobbying efforts in Wales. We have been preparing the ground for a few weeks, but today marks the start of our official campaign. Following the same approach as in England, we are campaigning for the creation of a Cross Party Group on Listed Properties within the Welsh Assembly, as a line of communication between our members and Assembly Members. Today we will be contacting a dozen AMs asking them to support a CPG, with more to follow in the coming week. Today we have also approached eight strategically chosen councils across Wales, focusing on listed property hotspots such as Gwynedd, Powys and Pembrokeshire, seeking to engage with them to develop a planning policy that will reduce costs and bureaucracy for our members in Wales. We hope you’ll agree this is a great way to celebrate St David’s day. Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant Hapus! To show your support for our campaign, join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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Conservation Convenants

The Government recently announced an intention to adopt so-called conservation covenants; a system somewhat analogous to listing for the natural environment. The Club contributed to the public consultation on the subject, as we know this is an issue that many of our members might be affected by. Our overall impression of the proposed measures is rather lukewarm. We are pleased to see a more flexible system than listing being proposed, but we are wary about provisions that would keep an agreement in place indefinitely, even after purchase or the owners death. Especially as the covenants would be private, individual contracts between land owners and local councils there doesn’t seem to be an immediate way to handle disputes other than costly court battles. On the whole we doubt that many land owners would use the new system, and those who do already protect their land voluntarily. However, we are watching the situation closely, both looking for lessons that could be positive for the listing system, and to offer our expertise on the listing system to benefit the new covenant system. Our campaign for owners is entirely supported by our members. To show your support, you can join the club. For a full roundup of the political developments see the latest issue of the Club’s magazine, Listed Heritage.

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Our National Campaign

This month we are officially launching a new phase of our political campaign, aiming at local councils and devolved parliaments. This will be a parallel campaign, running in tandem with our work in Westminster, looking to influence policy at every level of government. We will be targeting councils with high numbers of listed buildings and lobbying their councillors to ensure that listed buildings will be on the agenda at the upcoming local elections in May. We will also be reaching out to planning departments to engage with them on policy development, both on a local and national level. Our goal is to find measures that can benefit owners and councils, and to take those reforms back to Westminster with the backing of other stakeholders. The devolved parliaments are able to legislate on planning within their own nations and are more approachable about such issues than their counterparts in Westminster. We will be looking to build ties with AMs and MSPs and to lobby for legislative action. There is much less inertia within the devolved parliaments, as well as a greater interest in passing small but effective reforms, and we believe we can make a great impact here. For full details of our local campaign, see the March/April issue of Listed Heritage. To show your support for our campaign, join the club.

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Policy Development

As we have broadened our campaign to cover more issues and more levels of government, we have seen the need to develop some more concrete policies. We want to be able to take some well researched and actionable suggestions when we meet with representatives. Over the past month we’ve been reaching out to local councils and the heritage community to formulate ideas and start to build them into coherent documents. This is a substantial undertaking, that will require a great deal of consultation and redrafting, but in the coming months we will be releasing these to the public. For full coverage of the areas we will be developing policy for, see the March/April issue of Listed Heritage. To show your support for our campaign, join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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Freedom of Information Campaign

The club has used freedom of information requests in the past to gain access to official figures regarding listed buildings. We’ve now expanded these efforts, approaching every planning authority in the UK. We are determined to continue pressing every level of government for up to date information regarding listed buildings, including figures such as the numbers of conservation officers are employed and how resources are spent. Over the coming year we will be holding the government to account on their listed building policies. For full details of the campaign see the March/April edition of Listed Heritage. To show your support for our campaign, join the club.

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The APPG in 2019

We were happy to meet with All Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties Chairman Craig Mackinlay in Parliament on the 19th of February. This is the first time since the new year that we’ve been able to discuss the agenda for the group in 2019, so it was an important meeting for all involved. Craig continues to be a great standard bearer for listed building owners in parliament, and that will continue in 2019. Planning has been put front and centre of the agenda for the upcoming year, with a focus on reducing costs to owners and streamlining bureaucracy. We will be working with Craig and other APPG members to ensure these issues are taken seriously. Click here to learn more about the APPG and for full details of our meeting today, see the next issue of Listed Heritage. To show your support for our campaign, join the club.

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Our Campaign for Owners in 2019

The past few months have been quiet for the campaign but we have still been busy. Westminster has been rather distracted since the new year, but this has given us the opportunity to plan out our campaign for the coming months, both in Parliament and across the whole UK. Over the past years we’ve had some major successes, including spurring the creation of the APPG on Listed Buildings; the first time that owners have had a direct line of communication with legislators. We’ve received answers from government departments, as well as pressuring the planning minister to open a dialogue on VAT. Our message has been received by government but we have yet to see any real action. In the coming year that will be our goal. In 2019 we will be launching a truly national campaign, working at every level of government from councils to ministers. We’ll be expanding our campaign to include more issues, and leveraging all our resources to push for change even on a small scale. We are encouraging all our members to reach out to their legislators and ensuring that listed buildings are on the agenda, and creating more awareness of our issues. A full briefing on our campaign work in 2019 will be in the March/April edition of Listed Heritage. To show your support for our campaign, join the club. To send us your feedback, call us on 01795 844939 or e-mail us at campaign@lpoc.co.uk

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LPOC’s Proposed Response to HM Treasury

The LPOC’s petition calling on the Government to reduce VAT to 5% on repairs and approved alterations to listed buildings reached the 10,000-signature milestone that triggers a Government response. We have now received that response and although it was no surprise that the Government would turn down our appeal, the arguments Ministers have made are deeply disappointing. The Government has claimed that it would not be possible to introduce a reduced rate for repairs and alterations to listed properties alone and to do so for all properties would cost the Exchequer at least £2.5 billion a year. For this reason Ministers say have no plans to change the VAT treatment of renovations and repairs at this time. We are not satisfied with this response and will take advice on whether there is any legal or tax reason to prevent a discrete reduction for listed properties. (see VAT Directive 2006/112/EC which clearly permits member states to apply a reduced rate of VAT on housing renovation and repair. This directive was updated in 2009 to allow all member states to permanently reduce VAT to 5% on the renovation of private dwellings, excluding material) Therefore EU rules are not a barrier to the UK Government choosing to apply a reduced rate of VAT on this type of work. Furthermore given a specific VAT rate existed for listed properties until 2012 we believe there is no reason why a different rate cannot be reintroduced to support what Ministers accept is the valuable contribution the owners of listed properties made to the UK’s heritage. The impact on the Treasury’s finance would be minimal given listed properties only represent around 1.6% of total UK building stock. And who can forget the outcry when the then Chancellor decided to introduce the pasty tax – the Treasury can make individual and specific decisions when it wants to. It is also surprising that the Government continues to maintain the argument that it must stick with EU rules on VAT when it is negotiating Brexit. An independent report commissioned by the Federation of Master Builders in 2014 suggests a reduction of VAT on housing repair and renovation could provide a £15 billion economic stimulus over a five year period, creating more than 42,000 extra full time jobs and an additional 53,000 jobs in the wider economy. So our campaign does not stop here – far from it. We will continue to keep up the pressure and we have a good deal of ammunition to make our case and are developing a number of plans to build our VAT campaign. In the meantime I would urge all listed property owners to continue to sign the petition which remains active until 2nd January 2019 Click here to sign the petition. We need to show Ministers what a powerful body of opinion there is behind the campaign. We will also be writing to the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell urging him to consider the VAT reduction as part of the Labour Party’s manifesto planning. One interesting part of the response was that the Government said it recognised the particular challenges owners like us face in dealing with planning regulations and had introduced measures to streamline the listed buildings consent regime, including giving local authorities the power to grant a general consent for minor works to listed buildings. We intend to work with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties to examine how far these reforms have extended and to identify those local authorities not granting such general consents. I will write to you shortly to let you know of further developments but in the meantime we shall provide updates in the Club magazine “Listed Heritage” Best wishes Martin Anslow Editor-in-Chief, The Listed Property Owners’ Club

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Government Response to reduce VAT

This response was given on 8 November 2018 – We recognise the valuable contribution to UK Heritage made by owners of listed buildings. We continue to promote our country’s heritage and we will ensure that everyone can enjoy and benefit from it. Protecting and making the most of the UK’s heritage is important for our economy and society. We released a Heritage Statement in 2017, setting out how we will support the heritage sector. Historic England and the Heritage Lottery Fund provide advice and support for the conservation of heritage, including listed buildings. The government recognises the particular challenges faced by private owners of listed properties in planning regulations, and this is why we have introduced measures to streamline the listed buildings consent regime. These measures include giving local authorities the power to grant a general consent for minor works to listed buildings, this removes the need for specific applications for these types of works. VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the standard rate of twenty per cent applies to most goods and services. While there are exceptions to the standard rate, these are strictly limited by domestic and EU law as well as by fiscal considerations. VAT is an important source of revenue which is used to fund the government’s public spending priorities including hospitals, schools and defense. Under EU law, a reduced rate of five percent could be applied to alterations or repairs of buildings, but it would not be possible to limit this to alterations and repairs of only listed buildings. Introducing a reduced rate is estimated to cost the Exchequer at least £2.5 billion a year and this would have to be balanced by increased taxes elsewhere, reductions in government spending, or borrowing. While all taxes are kept under review, the government has no plans to change the VAT treatment of renovations and repairs at this time. HM Treasury

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VAT Petition Update

Our national VAT petition is now a third of the way to the target of 10,000 signatures that will trigger a response from Government. Listed property owners right across the UK have enthusiastically taken up our call for a 5% VAT rate on repairs and approved alterations to listed buildings. A useful map (click here to view map) shows the constituencies around the UK where listed building owners have already taken action. The highest number of signatories live in North Herefordshire, Tiverton and Honiton, The Cotswolds, Cities of London and Westminster, Tonbridge and Malling and South Thanet, where Craig Mackinlay, the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties, is the MP. The Listed Property Owners’ Club organiser Martin Anslow, has urged owners who have not yet made their mark on the map by signing the petition to do so and ask friends and neighbours to show their support by signing as well. He said:  “The more names on the petition the louder our voice and the less excuse the Government has to dismiss our powerful argument that the Treasury’s decision in 2012 to impose VAT for pre-authorised alterations was a blow to owners and a blow to the UK’s heritage.” “There are 1.5 million listed property owners in the UK. This petition is an opportunity to demonstrate that they make up a powerful group of voters who can have a significant impact at the next election.” As well as working with the APPG, the Club twitter announcement of the petition with the comment “(I am) fascinated to see what happens. I have always thought no VAT on new build but VAT on looking after what we already have is perverse!” The Club will keep up the momentum on the petition and VAT campaign in the coming weeks, using the media and other influencers to raise awareness as it is important to make the strongest case as MPs return from their long summer recess in September and the Chancellor begins work on the 2018 Budget. Click here to sign the Petition and support listed building owners today. For more information on the Club’s on-going Political Campaign for Owners please click here.  

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The Listed Property Owners’ Club Launches National Petition to Press Chancellor for 5% VAT Rate

The Listed Property Owners’ Club is mobilising the UK’s listed property owners to win VAT reform from the Chancellor in the November Budget. We have launched a national petition calling for VAT to be reduced to 5% on repairs and approved alterations to listed buildings to help owners protect such an important part of the nation’s heritage. This marks a positive stage of the Club’s Political Campaign for Owners and is another demonstration of how the Club is working hard to support owners. To make a significant impact we are seeking the support of the UK’s 1.5 million listed property owners to press the case for change. If the petition achieves 10,000 signatures, the Government will have to respond. If more than 100,000 sign, the issue could be debated in Parliament. For more information and to sign the petition visit www.lpoc.co.uk/vatpetition. Backing the petition will make a major difference to all listed property owners. In 2012 the Government dealt a huge blow to listed property owners by removing the zero rate on pre-authorised alterations to their homes. We argue that reducing the current vate to 5% will amount to a modest cost to the Treasury but will reap benefits for the economy in terms of freeing up the housing market and creating construction jobs. We know there is pressure for change – just recently shadow Scottish Minister Paul Sweeney called for the restoration of VAT relief to protect listed properties after two fires in just three months destroyed three listed buildings in Glasgow. We will keep up that pressure. The petition is an opportunity to say to Ministers that the voices of 1.5 million listed property owners can no longer be ignored. It’s a chance to say to MPs that they should take our views seriously because the votes of listed property owners may make a difference at the next election. Craig Mackinlay, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties, is supporting the petition. He said: “Reducing VAT on alterations to listed properties from the standard rate of 20% to 5%, or even zero post-Brexit once the ability to set our own sales tax rules return to our Parliament, would signal a clear indication from the Government that they are listening to those who are at the front line of maintaining our nation’s historic buildings. “As 98% of listed buildings in the UK are privately owned, I cannot stress enough how much of a positive impact this reduction on VAT would provide to owners who are already struggling with complicated planning guidelines and high costs.” To support the Club’s Political Campaign for Owners you can: Become a member of the Club. The more members we have, the bigger our influence. Click here to join today. Already a member? Ask your listed property owning friends and neighbours to support the Club and become a member today. Consider moving your home insurance to the Club’s providers. They will pass a fee back to us and it is this fee that helps fund our campaign. Call 01795 844939. Sign the petition for VAT reform for repairs and approved alterations to listed buildings. Click the image below to sign the petition today.    

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Listed Property Owners Forum – Witney

Corn Exchange, Witney, OX28 6AB Saturday 2nd June 2018 10am – 2pm   Robert Courts MP and The Listed Property Owners’ Club (LPOC) are proud to host the next Listed Property Owners’ Forum. This Forum, which aims to help current and future owners of listed buildings deal with the challenges of looking after the nation’s historic properties, is hosted by the MP for Witney Robert Courts and in partnership with The Listed Property Owners’ Club; the UK’s only membership organisation for owners or prospective owners of listed buildings and regular campaigning force for changes to VAT and planning rules. Robert is one of 52 members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Listed Properties to provide a voice in Parliament and to ensure parliamentarians have proper and correct information on the issues and problems surrounding listed property ownership. This makes this forum a great opportunity to allow owners to speak directly to Robert about their experiences or to air their concerns about the complexities of looking after a listed building. By law, owners of listed buildings must ensure that all building or maintenance works carried out on their property conforms to the standards demanded by their local Conservation Officer. Due to the nature of listed buildings this often means that owners incur greatly increased costs that would not apply to non-listed homes. Owners are also automatically liable for any unauthorised work carried out by previous owners, and can even be prosecuted if they fall foul of complex planning laws. While such rules are in place to protect the properties themselves, little or no consideration is given to the financial means of owners, who often cannot afford the extra expense; a situation that was worsened by the scrapping of zero rated VAT on approved alterations in 2012. Robert says: “I am interested to hear my constituents’ views on how parliament can better serve the needs of listed property owners through actions such as simplifying the planning process and reducing the VAT rate for work on listed buildings to 5%” Founder of The Listed Property Owners’ Club, Peter Anslow says: “After years of decisions going against them, listed property owners feel increasingly unsupported in looking after their buildings. This event will give owners the opportunity to tell their local MP about the challenges they face and how the loss of zero VAT has affected them.” Also coming along to the Forum will be specially selected suppliers who have vast experience dealing with listed properties including a legal advisor, an energy efficiency specialist and a architect. We are pleased to confirm the full list of companies attending are: Adams and Remers ISO Energy Ancathus Pegasus Planning Group  Keim Paints LPOC has planned a number of free forums throughout the UK, with Witney being chosen as it homes over 3,500 listed properties. This event hopes not only to draw attention to such issues but will also give owners the opportunity to gain invaluable free advice from listed property experts on topics such as what to look for when buying a listed building, listed building consent, insurance and more. The Listed Property Owners’ Forum will be held at the Corn Exchange on Saturday 2nd June 2018 from 10am – 2pm. All owners of listed buildings and anyone who is considering purchasing are welcome and can drop in at any time during the day. Visitors are asked to confirm their attendance by emailing their name and contact details to: events@lpoc.co.uk.

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Listed Property Owners Forum – Ludlow

Ludlow Mascall Centre, Ludlow, SY8 1RZ Saturday 28th April 2018 10am – 2pm   Philip Dunne MP and The Listed Property Owners’ Club (LPOC) are proud to host the next Listed Property Owners’ Forum. This Forum, which aims to help current and future owners of listed buildings deal with the challenges of looking after the nation’s historic properties, is hosted by the MP for Ludlow Philip Dunne and in partnership with The Listed Property Owners’ Club; the UK’s only membership organisation for owners or prospective owners of listed buildings and regular campaigning force for changes to VAT and planning rules. Philip is one of 52 members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Listed Properties to provide a voice in Parliament and to ensure parliamentarians have proper and correct information on the issues and problems surrounding listed property ownership. This makes this forum a great opportunity to allow owners to speak directly to Philip about their experiences or to air their concerns about the complexities of looking after a listed building. By law, owners of listed buildings must ensure that all building or maintenance works carried out on their property conforms to the standards demanded by their local Conservation Officer. Due to the nature of listed buildings this often means that owners incur greatly increased costs that would not apply to non-listed homes. Owners are also automatically liable for any unauthorised work carried out by previous owners, and can even be prosecuted if they fall foul of complex planning laws. While such rules are in place to protect the properties themselves, little or no consideration is given to the financial means of owners, who often cannot afford the extra expense; a situation that was worsened by the scrapping of zero rated VAT on approved alterations in 2012. Philip says: “I am interested to hear my constituents’ views on how parliament can better serve the needs of listed property owners through actions such as simplifying the planning process and reducing the VAT rate for work on listed buildings to 5%” Founder of The Listed Property Owners’ Club, Peter Anslow says: “After years of decisions going against them, listed property owners feel increasingly unsupported in looking after their buildings. This event will give owners the opportunity to tell their local MP about the challenges they face and how the loss of zero VAT has affected them.” Also coming along to the Forum will be specially selected suppliers who have vast experience dealing with listed properties including a legal advisor from Adams & Remers, a surveyor from Listed Building Surveys and a paint supplier from Keim Paints. LPOC has planned a number of free forums throughout the UK, with Ludlow being chosen as it homes over 3,500 listed properties. This event hopes not only to draw attention to such issues but will also give owners the opportunity to gain invaluable free advice from listed property experts on topics such as what to look for when buying a listed building, listed building consent, insurance and more. The Listed Property Owners’ Forum will be held at the Ludlow Mascall Centre on Saturday 28th April 2018 from 10am – 2pm. All owners of listed buildings and anyone who is considering purchasing are welcome and can drop in at any time during the day. Visitors are asked to confirm their attendance by emailing their name and contact details to: events@lpoc.co.uk.

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The Listed Property Owners’ Forum – Helensburgh

Helensburgh Parish Church, Colquhoun Street, Helensburgh, G84 8UP Saturday 17th March 2018, 10am – 2pm Brendan O’Hara MP and The Listed Property Owners’ Club (LPOC) are proud to host the first Listed Property Owners’ Forum in Scotland. This Forum, which aims to help current and future owners of listed buildings deal with the challenges of looking after the nation’s historic properties, is hosted by the MP for Argyll and Bute Brendan O’Hara and in partnership with The Listed Property Owners’ Club; the UK’s only membership organisation for owners or prospective owners of listed buildings and regular campaigning force for changes to VAT and planning rules. Brendan is one of 52 members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Listed Properties to provide a voice in Parliament and to ensure parliamentarians have proper and correct information on the issues and problems surrounding listed property ownership. This makes this forum a great opportunity to allow owners to speak directly to Brendan about their experiences or to air their concerns about the complexities of looking after a listed building. By law, owners of listed buildings must ensure that all building or maintenance works carried out on their property conforms to the standards demanded by their local Conservation Officer. Due to the nature of listed buildings this often means that owners incur greatly increased costs that would not apply to non-listed homes. Owners are also automatically liable for any unauthorised work carried out by previous owners, and can even be prosecuted if they fall foul of complex planning laws. While such rules are in place to protect the properties themselves, little or no consideration is given to the financial means of owners, who often cannot afford the extra expense; a situation that was worsened by the scrapping of zero rated VAT on approved alterations in 2012. Brendan says: “I am interested to hear my constituents’ views on how parliament can better serve the needs of listed property owners through actions such as simplifying the planning process and reducing the VAT rate for work on listed buildings to 5%” Founder of The Listed Property Owners’ Club, Peter Anslow says: “After years of decisions going against them, listed property owners feel increasingly unsupported in looking after their buildings. This event will give owners the opportunity to tell their local MP about the challenges they face and how the loss of zero VAT has affected them.” LPOC has planned a number of forums throughout the UK, with the launch of the 2018 events being in Argyll and Bute; home to over 2000 listed properties. This event hopes not only to draw attention to such issues but will also give visitors the opportunity to gain invaluable free advice from listed property experts on topics such as what to look for when buying a listed building, listed building consent, insurance and more. The Listed Property Owners’ Forum will be held at the Helensburgh Parish Church, Colquhoun Street, on Saturday 17th March 2018 from 10am – 2pm. All owners of listed buildings and anyone who is considering purchasing are welcome and can drop in at any time during the day. Visitors are asked to confirm their attendance by emailing their name and contact details to: events@lpoc.scot

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LPOC Member writes to MP

An LPOC member recently wrote to their MP, Neil Parish, and they were happy for us to share the content of their letter with you. Mr Neil Parish MP House of Commons SW1A 0AA Dear Neil Parish MP, Thank you for taking the time to visit us recently; it was an extremely welcome surprise and a great opportunity to show you our home. Firstly I have to apologise for not writing sooner, we have indeed been working all hours here. Either East Devon District Council (EDDC) must have found out you were on site or the divine intervention from our most holy neighbours at the Church finally won through! Our Planning and Listed applications for the Main Farmhouse were emailed through during our meeting. The applications on the Listed Cattleshed were granted 7 days later! We are of course overjoyed to finally have them all granted (our applications relating to the Old Dairy on site were also granted at the end of October), however as you know these six applications are the result of over 9 months of at times intense, stressful and above all costly negotiations. (With 8 more applications yet to submit we are at the least nervous!) We bought the farm in October 2016 and immediately knew we would need to “hit the ground running” if we were to save the farm house and its numerous outbuildings from further deterioration. All but one of our buildings is individually listed. The farm, which has many historical family ties, had previously been in the ownership of another family for almost 100 years. During this time the family had terribly neglected the buildings which have all seen various degrees of neglect. Probably against our better judgment we followed our hearts rather than our heads in an attempt to save it from developers that were rumoured around the village to have their eyes on it. At the Farm, we endeavour to work under the guidance of both local and national historical bodies and experts in an aim to preserve and enhance our buildings and to safeguard them for future generations. It is a financially stretching yet (hopefully) rewarding journey we have decided to follow. Our priority is the structural safety and preservation of our buildings. We have a challenging and daunting mountain to climb here on the farm that will keep us busy for several years to come. We have a lot of work to undertake and hope that by making the farm once again financially stable we will be able to restore the farm to its former glory and preserve its historical significance. We have no wish to complain with regards the planning department at EDDC. We count ourselves quietly happy and relieved that we have managed to secure planning to safeguard three of our seven buildings in fewer than 12 months of residency. That is not to say that we haven’t faced numerous challenges and frustrations. We understand that EDDC are working under tight personnel and monetary budgets (I am an ex local authority employee myself). Yet however at every turn it seems policies we have to navigate favour the larger developer as opposed to the small scale preserver. We are looking forward to submitting our next batch of planning and listed building applications in due course, however from our experiences over the last year we would encourage EDDC to consider holding group face to face meetings with the listed and planning officers, applicant and design teams present to encourage constructive discussions, thoughts and options, suggest alternative designs if required, ask questions and satisfy and progress any queries either party may have quickly. These were requested by our architect (who is a listed buildings professional herself) on several occasions and yet turned down by EDDC. It may not be a way forward for all applications however from our experience it may have proved a more economic approach (both time wise and financially) both for the council and the applicant. Owners of listed buildings go above and beyond other homeowners with regards having to submit additional documentation and surveys to planning authorities. Our repairs are also often considerably more time consuming and costly to implement. In our experience we have also had to satisfy vastly costly ecological criteria before we can lift a stone or tile. Whilst I’m sure you are already aware, the Tiverton and Honiton constituency currently has 2,595 listed properties, all of which are subject to a number of regulations and demands. As an owner of a listed property, I have an obligation to maintain a national asset and do a good job in ensuring its preservation for future generations. Thousands of listed properties across the country are cherished and protected by owners who spend their own precious time and resources keeping them in good repair. Yet many owners struggle to find the resources to maintain these properties and constantly battle the challenges posed by the UK’s complex and inconsistent planning rules and regulations. A recent survey by The Listed Property Owners’ Club (LPOC) revealed 87% of owners surveyed had said they considered the cost of upkeep of their listed building to be significantly greater than that of an unlisted building. We are urging political parties to support a four point plan: Introduce a new VAT rate of 5% for all repairs and pre-authorised alterations to listed buildings. Give local councils a duty to provide professional conservation advice to the owners of listed properties; Reform planning regulation to ensure better consistency in deciding listed building consent across the country; Remove unnecessary red tape by establishing nationally set exemptions on minor works that should not require listed building consent and introducing a more routine less bureaucratic method for securing consent for minor works. In recent years however the Government has eroded the support that we owners have received, for example the scrapping of VAT relief on approved alterations in the 2012 budget. Furthermore, any available funds and grants to help the often extremely expensive repairs and alterations demanded

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New APPG Members

Another six MPs have joined the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties: Robert Courts Conservative MP for Witney with 3352 listed buildings. Geoffrey Cox QC Conservative MP for Torridge and West Devon with 3674 listed buildings. Philip Dunne Conservative MP for Ludlow with 3278 listed buildings. Brendan O’Hara SNP MP for Argyll and Bute with 1983 listed buildings. Nick Herbert Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs with 2784 listed buildings. Stephen Kerr Conservative MP for Stirling with 1475 listed building

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Is Heritage Good for Your Health?

Members of the LPOC  team attended The Heritage Alliance’s Heritage Debate ‘Is Heritage Good for Your Health’, on the evening of 2nd October in London. This was an incredibly interesting event discussing how Heritage participation can improve mental health and well being, and how the historic environment can provide an attractive backdrop to activity. A wealth of speakers shared their knowledge, research and insights on this subject matter – from Social Subscribing providing cultural experiences to improve health, restoration of historic buildings to aid the community, to Op Nightingale which is an initiative to help rehabilitate injured soldiers by getting them involved in archaeological investigations. One main area of focus was the idea of ‘well being’, the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy, and to ask how the heritage sector can do better to build bridges with the world of public health. During the event a question was posed by one of the audience to the panel, and it was one that got us thinking – ‘Whilst we’re mainly concentrating on the positive effects, has any thought or research been done on the idea of what negative effects heritage can have on health and well being?’ Whilst admittedly the focus of this event was towards the general public’s interaction with heritage on a larger scale (museums, historic houses, archaeology etc), from our perspective there are over half a million listed properties that are people’s homes, and this particular type of heritage affects those owners and residents on a daily basis. That being said, how does owning a listed property affect your well being? As a Club, we have come to realise that part of our ethos is to help and assist with the well being of listed property owners. Through access to a range of advice that can put minds at rest, assist with the processes involved, alleviate fears and create routes to solutions, and of course fighting for the rights of owners in Parliament, we have become advocates for the listed property owner and are proud to do so. We are also interested to hear your thoughts on the subject of owning a listed building and how that effects well being. Some may feel that is has a positive effect – they are proud to be a custodian of heritage, have a focus and drive to maintain something that is precious to them, have a positive and happy environment/space to enjoy and relax in, have a sense of achievement through the conservation of the property – all factors and emotions that go towards well being. Others may argue that is has a negative effect causing stress, worry and financial strain. Either way, we are intrigued to hear your thoughts and rest assured, we will continue to provide a service to aid towards the well being of listed property owners. If you would like unlimited access to a team of experts offering advice on conservation, planning, unauthorised works, insurance, legal issues and VAT, join The Listed Property Owners’ Club today. For full details on the benefits of membership and information on how to join, please click here.

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Why LPOC Campaigns For Owners

Owners will recall that prior to the 2012 budget, any pre-approved alteration to a listed building was free of VAT. The object of this concession was to protect the building from unsuitable change. Since 2012, and after the removal of this concession, the Club has monitored many thousands of applications for Listed Building Consent throughout the country and we have noticed a marked decrease in applications, particularly those involving internal (and out of sight!) alterations. Are we being cynical or are owners simply pressing ahead with unauthorised work which may be damaging to the building? When the concession was removed, politicians had been told that listed building owners were using the system to build tax free swimming pools. The Club challenged this and the story was changed to say the time used by Customs and Excise to explain to listed building owners their entitlement was disproportionate to the problem. We have always challenged this as well. In our experience the only guidance given to owners was “refer to VAT Notice 708”. The Club’s VAT advisor Dave Brown has strong views on this. When the change was first announced the Club asked English Heritage (EH) how they planned to fight this. Unfortunately their hands were tied as this was considered a political matter outside the remit of EH, however with the division of EH and the creation of Historic England we sense a change. Recently Duncan Wilson, CEO of Historic England wrote to the Times arguing that Michael Gove’s recognition that Brexit will enable the UK toproperly reward environmentally responsible land use and that future subsidies will be linked to benefits for society. Duncan went on to say that our environment includes both natural and historic features. Again this suggests that Historic England has a different brief to EH which has to be helpful to private listed building owners. Of course we want the VAT benefit to be re-instated but under European law this minimum rate had to be 5% not zero. Although after Brexit, the situation may be different. Read more on LPOC’s Campaign for Owners in The Listed Property Owners’ Manifesto. DO YOU HAVE A STORY TO SHARE THAT COULD HELP SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN? If you have experienced difficulties with Listed Building Consent, been affected by the removal of the VAT concession or have experienced difficulties surrounding owning a listed property, we would love to hear from you. We are looking for owners who are happy to share their stories to highlight the difficulties owners face. Please contact us on 01795 844939.

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Parliamentary Campaign Update

Craig Mackinlay MP, chairman of the APPG on Listed Properties, together with members of his team and other MPs met with a group of the Clubs members on the House of Commons Terrace in Westminster, just prior to the summer recess. The object of the meeting was to enable the MPs to hear first-hand the issues and frustration that owners face particularly concerning VAT and planning issues. It also helped us to network with owners and to understand the perceived role of LPOC and our campaigning. Speaking at the event Craig said “It has long been known how onerous it can be for owners of a listed property to maintain or make additions to their building. As chair of the APPG on Listed Properties, I hosted this event in order to raise awareness of this little-known difficulty that many people around the country face. After hearing various stories from owners, including my own constituent Mr Sterba, it shows just how diverse the individual issues people are facing really are. Many do not receive the support they need from Conservation Officers, and the 20% VAT for alterations impedes the desire to maintain their buildings. I want this to change”. These feelings were echoed by The Rt. Hon Sir Greg Knight MP who reflected “From attending this event and meeting custodians of some of Britain’s important buildings, it is clear they have substantial financial burdens in many cases and in parts of the country there is a need to improve relationships between some local councils, conservation officers and listed building owners in their districts” The next move for us after the recess is to re-register the APPG followed by an “evidence session”. This will involve owners formally meeting MP’s in one of the parliamentary meeting rooms to present their point of view, supported by evidence that we shall collate. If any owners are willing to take part in this please let the Club know by calling 01795 844939.

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Big Ben’s silence gives fuel to LPOC’s Campaign for Owners

When Big Ben fell silent on Monday 21st August, ready for a £29m refurbishment, it was seen as a symbolic albeit somewhat controversial moment. This was due to the campaigning of traditionalists in the weeks prior who felt in the wake of Brexit that Big Ben, such a large and iconic part of Great Britain’s identity, should not be silenced for the proposed 4 years. But for residential listed building owners, it highlighted something altogether more controversial – the time and cost needed to restore a listed building. Clive Aslet, writing for The Times summed this up when he stated: “Parliament will happily vote for money to put its own house, however belatedly, in order. Isn’t it time that it treated others struggling to maintain equally splendid buildings with a bit of consideration?” With some MPs feeling inconvenienced by a change of work place, and tax payers funding the refurbishment of the tower, listed property owners are left scratching their heads when it comes to finding the funds and manoeuvring red tape to conserve and restore their own listed buildings. Behind the scenes of our busy Club where we help and advise our members on a daily basis, we also dedicate ourselves to our Campaign for Owners. Challenges listed property owners face go back to 2012 when government removed the VAT concession on authorised alterations to listed buildings. This concession, introduced some years ago, not only assisted owners but more importantly warned conservation officers in advance of unsuitable changes. Now there are concerns that this change plus local government red tape is not only preventing many people adapting their home for modern day living, but it is also increasing the amount of unauthorised work being carried out on properties that represent a major part of the nation’s heritage. This in turn is creating a hidden threat to owners. Successful campaigning from LPOC saw the creation of The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Listed Properties in October 2016. The APPG is made up of MPs who want to press the Government for tax and planning reform and the aim is to give a voice to the thousands of homeowners who are struggling to protect a significant part of the nation’s heritage. The Listed Property Owners’ Manifesto, created by LPOC, highlights a key message that thousands of listed properties across the country are cherished and protected by owners who spend precious time and resources keeping them in good repair. Yet many of these owners struggle to find the resources to maintain these properties and constantly have to battle the challenges posed by the UK’s complex and inconsistent planning rules and regulations. We revealed that 87% of owners surveyed in the recent campaign had said they considered the cost of upkeep of their listed building to be significantly greater than that of an unlisted building and urged the political parties to support our four-point plan: Introduce a new VAT rate of 5% for all repairs and pre-authorised alterations to listed buildings; Give local councils a duty to provide professional conservation advice to the owners of listed properties; Reform planning regulation to ensure better consistency in deciding listed building consent across the country; Remove unnecessary red tape by establishing nationally set exemptions on minor works that should not require listed building consent and introducing a more routine less bureaucratic method for securing consent for minor works The Club takes calls on a daily basis from people who cannot buy or sell, or even re-finance their listed homes because of alterations made without consent even by previous owners. Owners could even face a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment or an unlimited fine and an enforcement notice with the purpose of reversing the effects of the unlawful works. LPOC founder Peter Anslow said: “The fear is that Britain’s important homes are being put unnecessarily at risk of damage from unauthorised and inappropriate work. At the same time owners themselves are often unaware of the repercussions until it is too late.” For more information on our Political Campaign or to offer your support to the campaign please call the Club on 01795 844939 or email info@lpoc.co.uk.  

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Celebrating 70 Years of Listed Buildings

2017 marks 70 years since the start of the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 which offered protective status to special and historic buildings Now known as The National Heritage List for England, it is exciting to think that all of our members precious listed homes can be found on this vast database, each with a unique story to tell. Indeed when Historic England launched ‘the List’  many of our members took part in their Enrich the List campaign, adding interesting information and photographs for future generations to access information on their historic properties. Debbie Mays, Head of Listing at Historic England said: “The diverse character of our land and its people is marked in the fabric of England’s buildings and places. For 70 years the most special historic sites have been protected through listing so they can be enjoyed by future generations. Born from the destruction of World War Two, listing has allowed us to ensure thousands of places keep their special interest and help to tell England’s extraordinary story.” Five buildings awarded listed status to mark the occasion 1. Cabmen’s Shelter, Grosvenor Gardens, London – Grade II One of the last remaining shelters originally built for the drivers of London’s horse-drawn hansom cabs is now one of the country’s protected buildings. The small green structure located in Grosvenor Gardens, Belgravia, was built in 1904 as a place of refuge for drivers to escape from London’s bitter winter weather. 2. Underhill, Holme, West Yorkshire – Grade II Sitting in the heart of the West Yorkshire countryside and with breathtaking views across the Pennines, Underhill was built in 1975 and is the dream of architect Arthur Quarmby. It is an earth-sheltered house, one of the most ancient techniques of house building with a front door opening from a Hobbit-like entrance tunnel. 3. Stockton-on-Tees Wireless Station, County Durham – Grade II Stockton-on-Tees Wireless Station is thought to be the Royal Navy’s only facility capable of gathering intelligence at the start of the First World War. Now a private home, this building has been granted Grade II list status as its one of the few surviving wireless stations still standing. 4. Pillwood House, Truro, Cornwall – Grade II* Perched on the banks of the River Fal’s estuary up a muddy track, the glass spike of Pillwood House – which won a RIBA regional award the year it was built – juts into the sky. The house was built in 1973-74, as a joint project between Su Rogers (who had been a member of groundbreaking architectural firm Team 4 with her then-husband Richard Rogers, Norman Foster and Wendy Cheesman) and John Miller (who was also known for his work on the Tate Britain, National Portrait Gallery and Whitechapel Art Gallery). 5. Funerary buildings at Willesden Jewish Cemetery (United Synagogue Cemetery), London – Grade II Known as the ‘Rolls Royce’ of London’s Jewish cemeteries, Willesden Cemetery was opened in 1873. Famous names buried on the site include Rosalind Franklin, who discovered DNA, restaurant critic and film director Michael Winner, and Marcus Samuel, a founder of Shell Oil. The Neo-Gothic buildings which have been newly listed are a rare survival of a Jewish burial complexes in England, with each building playing a specific role in Jewish burial practice. Celebrate your pride of ownership with the Listed Building Plaque Until now, no means of visibly identifying listed buildings have been available. The Listed Property Owners’ Club has created a unique solid lead plaque exclusively for owners to celebrate their justifiable pride of ownership. The Listed Building Plaque measure 10” in diameter, costs £150 each (£120 for LPOC members) but are only available to owners or occupiers of listed buildings. Plus don’t forget LPOC has been helping listed property owners for over 20 years with all aspects of buying, owning, renovating, conserving and insuring their special homes. Click here to find out why people join The Listed Property Owners’ Club and how we can help.

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Listed property owners to meet Members of Parliament at the House of Commons to discuss ownership challenges and voice concerns

The Listed Property Owners’ Club (LPOC), whose campaigning has successfully seen the creation of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Listed Properties, is providing listed property owners who are members of the Club with the opportunity to meet MPs and discuss the challenges of ownership. Hosted by Craig Mackinlay, MP for South Thanet and chair of the APPG, a special drinks reception will take place on the House of Commons Terrace on Wednesday 19th July. Why LPOC Campaigns for Owners Challenges listed property owners face go back to 2012 when government removed the VAT concession on authorised alterations to Listed Buildings. This concession, introduced some years ago, not only assisted owners but more importantly warned conservation officers in advance of unsuitable changes. Now there are concerns that this change plus local government red tape is not only preventing many people adapting their home for modern day living, but it is also increasing the amount of unauthorised work being carried out on properties that represent a major part of the nation’s heritage. This in turn is creating a hidden threat to owners. LPOC is campaigning to reduce VAT on all listed building repairs and pre-authorised alterations to 5%, reform outdated planning laws and achieve better consistency in planning decisions. In a recent survey conducted by LPOC, 91% of owners said that if VAT was reduced to 5% for repairs and alterations, they would be more likely to undertake work even if it meant formally applying for Listed Building Consent. The Club takes calls on a daily basis from people who cannot buy or sell, or even re-finance their listed homes because of alterations made without consent even by previous owners. Owners could even face a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment or an unlimited fine and an enforcement notice with the purpose of reversing the effects of the unlawful works. LPOC founder Peter Anslow said: “The fear is that Britain’s important homes are being put unnecessarily at risk of damage from unauthorised and inappropriate work.  At the same time owners themselves are often unaware of the repercussions until it is too late.” The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties is made up of MPs who want to press the Government for tax and planning reform. The APPG’s aim is to give a voice to the thousands of homeowners who are struggling to protect a significant part of the nation’s heritage. Listed Property Owners have their say Earlier this year at The Listed Property Show, LPOC invited owners to share their thoughts on owning a listed home and living with the responsibility ownership entails by participating in the Owners’ Voice survey. This survey revealed: 80% of owners surveyed said the 20% VAT rate was a disincentive to them when carrying out alterations and repairs. 59% of owners surveyed who had dealt with their local planning authority said service was either indifferent or poor. Of those that had been charged for this advice, when asked if the cost represented value for money 84% indicated indifferent or poor. 91% of owners surveyed said that if VAT was reduced to 5% for repairs and alterations, they would be more likely to undertake work even if it meant formally applying for Listed Building Consent. 87% of owners surveyed said they considered the cost of upkeep of their listed building to be significantly greater than that of an unlisted building. 68% of owners surveyed said they didn’t consider there to be any consistency between local planning authorities. Owners’ quotes: “I understand that the rules are there for a reason but if we could have had a conservation officer come round (even if only for half an hour) we may have had a better idea as to what we could and couldn’t do.” “Listed building owners buy and live in old properties because they appreciate history. However homes have to be fit for purpose and even though is it implied that we are merely custodians of these fine buildings, if we didn’t invest time and money into them, they would cease to exist.” “I love listed buildings and really enjoy the sense of being a ‘custodian’ of the legacy while you live in it. However due to unauthorised works by previous owners I have had to spend £50,000 I didn’t have… I get the sense that a lot of people just keep quiet and get on with things themselves – on the assumption that if they don’t bring themselves to the attention of the council, no one will notice. But this is eventually going to make the whole idea of listed buildings a mockery.” Click here to read the Listed Property Owners’ Manifesto and do feel free to share this with your local MP.

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 LPOC uses election campaign to spread message on listed properties

The Prime Minister’s decision to call a sudden general election caught everyone by surprise and brought a temporary halt to our campaigning inside Parliament. However, The Listed Property Owners’ Club leapt at the opportunity to draw our campaign to the attention of party leaders and election candidates. In a two-pronged approach we enlisted Club members to write to local candidates in their constituencies urging them to support action that would help protect an important part of the nation’s heritage. Members asked candidates to join the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties if they were elected on 8th June. The letter campaign was underpinned by LPOC producing for the first time The Listed Property Owners’ Manifesto, which we sent to all political parties and key journalists. This 2017 Manifesto used evidence gathered from the recent Owners’ Voice Survey to press home the case for radical reform of tax and planning laws. Its key message was that thousands of listed properties across the country were cherished and protected by owners who spend precious time and resources keeping them in good repair. Yet many of these owners struggle to find the resources to maintain these properties and constantly have to battle the challenges posed by the UK’s complex and inconsistent planning rules and regulations. We revealed that 87% of owners surveyed in the recent campaign had said they considered the cost of upkeep of their listed building to be significantly greater than that of an unlisted building and urged the political parties to support our four-point plan: Introduce a new VAT rate of 5% for all repairs and pre-authorised alterations to listed buildings; Give local councils a duty to provide professional conservation advice to the owners of listed properties; Reform planning regulation to ensure better consistency in deciding listed building consent across the country; Remove unnecessary red tape by establishing nationally set exemptions on minor works that should not require listed building consent and introducing a more routine less bureaucratic method for securing consent for minor works. Peter Anslow, founder of The Listed Property Owners’ Club, said:  “We made a powerful case for the four-point plan in our Manifesto and the importance of creating a positive framework for the nation’s listed buildings. “Owners of listed property have had a particularly bad deal in recent years and it is time to reverse the trend – this was the message we took to political campaigners.” The Club will now use the Manifesto in future engagement with parliamentarians and, in particular, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties. With the calling of a general election the APPG’s work was suspended but new officers and a new programme will be agreed in the coming weeks. LPOC will be contacting former members re-elected to Parliament as well as new MPs and encouraging them to join. Campaign News will keep you up to date on developments. Read The Listed Property Owners’ Manifesto here: DO YOU HAVE A STORY TO SHARE THAT COULD HELP SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN? If you have experienced difficulties with Listed Building Consent, been affected by the removal of the VAT concession or have experienced difficulties surrounding owning a listed property, we would love to hear from you. We are looking for owners who are happy to share their stories to highlight the difficulties owners face. Please contact us on 01795 844939.

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Updated Template Letter for MPs

We have updated the template letter for you to use when writing to your parliamentary candidate, highlighting the difficulties you face as a listed property owner and details of our campaign.   Your name Address Date Dear Parliamentary Candidate I am writing to ask you to give support to a campaign to help protect an important part of the nation’s heritage. Thousands of listed properties across the country, including many in your own constituency, are cherished and protected by owners who spend time and resources keeping them in good repair. In 2012 the Government dealt a huge blow to those owners by removing the zero rate of VAT for pre-authorised alterations to such buildings. Not only has this been a financial blow and has prevented many people adapting their properties for modern day living, it has also acted as a sharp disincentive to sympathetic conversions necessary to maintain the use of listed buildings. Removing the zero rate of VAT has made a real difference between a future for these buildings and the risk of losing them all together. The Listed Property Owners’ Club (LPOC) has created a political campaign for the reduction of VAT to 5% for repairs and alterations to listed properties, which I support. This is a sensible and practical change that could do much to help these homeowners who have important parts of our heritage under their protection. As well as a reduction in VAT we are calling for improvements to the planning processes that make it such a lottery for owners to get the help and advice they need. I would also urge you to join the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Listed Properties which has been working to secure action in this important area. If you are interested to know more about the APPG and also LPOC’s Political Campaign for Owners, you can contact LPOC by emailing kirstie@lpoc.co.uk or by calling 01795 844939. I would welcome reading your views on this subject. Yours sincerely  

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Owners’ campaign for tax and planning reform launching at Listed Property Show to protect national heritage

Listed property owners are to have a unique opportunity to shape a major campaign to change tax and planning laws at the Listed Property Show at Olympia London on 18-19 February 2017. The Listed Property Owners’ Club (LPOC) is launching ‘Owners’ Voice’ at the Show, following the successful creation of their All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties. Those attending the Show will be able to make their case directly to the secretariat of the new APPG, describing the challenges of owning a listed home and setting out the solutions for Government. Challenges owners face go back to 2012 when government removed the VAT concession on authorised alterations to Listed Buildings. This concession, introduced some years ago, not only assisted owners but more importantly it warned conservation officers in advance of unsuitable changes. Now there are concerns that this change plus local government red tape is increasing the amount of unauthorised work being carried out on properties that represent a major part of the nation’s heritage and creating a hidden threat to owners. LPOC is campaigning to reduce VAT on all listed building repairs and alterations to 5%, reform outdated planning laws and achieve better consistency in planning decisions.  The Club takes calls on a daily basis from people who cannot buy or sell, or even re-finance their listed homes because of alterations made without consent. Owners could even face a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment or an unlimited fine and an enforcement notice with the purpose of reversing the effects of the unlawful works. Until now there has been nothing to highlight these issues to Government.  However, powerful campaigning by LPOC has led to the creation of the first All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties made up of MPs who want to press the Government for tax and planning reform.  The APPG’s aim is to give a voice to the thousands of homeowners who are struggling to protect a significant part of the nation’s heritage. The ‘Owners’ Voice’ launch is the first part of LPOC’s activity for the new APPG.  Owners’ views on the top issues facing them will be gathered at the Show and presented in a report to the official parliamentary group, which currently consists of 45 Members of Parliament. LPOC Founder Peter Anslow said: “Building Consent can be a long, complicated process but the potential of having zero rated VAT made the process that much more bearable for owners. With that incentive lost, we are seeing a decline in listed building applications. “The fear is that Britain’s important homes are being put unnecessarily at risk of damage from unauthorised and inappropriate work.  At the same time owners themselves are often unaware of the repercussions until it is too late. “The Club understands these challenges and has worked hard to create a voice in Parliament for listed property owners and we are delighted the All-Party Parliamentary Group has now been established. “Under the leadership of Craig Mackinlay who is a strong champion of listed property owners, I am confident that we can advance and make a powerful case for change to the Government. “In February the 2017 Listed Property Show will be a unique opportunity for all those who live day-to-day with the high costs and challenges of maintaining a cherished home to express their views to the MPs who have signed up to support them. “Over recent years more rules and regulations have increased the burden for property owners without adding to the protection to listed properties. With our newly-registered All-Party Parliamentary Group the prospects for action are really exciting.”

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LPOC hosts APPG Launch at Parliament

LPOC’s Political Campaign for Owners took another step forward on 25th October with the official APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Group) on Listed Properties launch at Parliament. Invited by APPG chair Craig Mackinlay, MP for South Thanet, a host of MPs came along to pledge their support for listed properties and our campaign. The MPs proudly displayed the number of listed properties in each of their constituencies and many were interested in being involved in the APPG. This latest development will help to to boost the APPG and help us to take our campaign to government for reduced VAT for all work on listed buildings.

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The Listed Property Owners Forum

We are delighted to announce that the 2016 Listed Property Owners’ Forum will be hosted by The Listed Property Owners’ Club in partnership with Craig Mackinlay, Conservative MP for South Thanet and chairman of our All Party Parliamentary Group; at The Guildhall, Sandwich on Saturday 15th October. The event has been specifically designed to allow listed property owners to come along and discuss their concerns or suggestions surrounding listed property ownership with a local MP. Craig will be listening to visitors’ views on how parliament can better serve the needs of listed property owners through actions such as simplifying the planning process and reducing VAT for work on listed buildings to 5%. The LPOC team will also be on hand to explain more about our Campaign for Owners and to offer help and advice on topics such as listed building consent and specialist insurance cover. This first ever forum is a real milestone for the club, which plans to hold similar events in other areas of the UK in order to help as many owners as possible. The Listed Property Owners’ Forum takes place in The Guildhall, Sandwich on Saturday 15th October from 10am to 4pm. Entrance is free and visitors are invited to drop in at any time during the day. To confirm your attendance, please email events@lpoc.co.uk About the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties In support of our Campaign for Owners, The Listed Property Owners’ Club has campaigned for the creation of an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) which would allow us to take issues to Westminster and work with others in the heritage sector to promote positive change for listed building owners. The aims of our campaign include: reducing VAT to 5% on repairs and approved alterations to listed buildings; reducing red tape and bureaucracy in the regulatory regimes without compromising heritage protection; highlighting the inadequate level of conservation professionals in many planning departments and achieving consistency in local authority decision making. The APPG is chaired by Craig Mackinlay, Conservative MP for South Thanet.

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More MPs pledge their support for the APPG

Bill Wiggin Conservative MP for North Herefordshire is the latest MP to join the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties. There are 4150 listed buildings in his constituency, one of which belongs to Bill himself so he was happy to join the group. Karen Buck Labour MP for Westminster North has also joined the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties after a member in her constituency contacted her urging her to join. There are 726 listed buildings in her constituency.

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Chairman for the APPG agreed

We are really delighted that the MP for South Thanet, Craig Mackinlay has agreed to head the proposed All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Listed Properties. Craig has great tenacity which was shown in his fight to defeat the UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, at the recent General Election and he is promising to use this same dedicated approach for Listed Property owners. Craig already has extensive knowledge of our problems with 1500 listed buildings in his South Thanet constituency, including the town of Sandwich which has more listed buildings per head of population than any other town in the UK. We have already briefed Craig with details of our problems and once we have the full complement of 20 MPs needed to create the APPG we shall start meeting on a regular basis to ensure Westminster is aware of the issues and problems we face. Craig Mackinlay Craig was born in Chatham, educated at Rainham Mark Grammar School and then attended Birmingham University to study Zoology and Comparative Physiology. A strange degree to take some might say, but he returned to his business roots and joined a national firm of Chartered Accountants and took the appropriate professional examinations to become a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and then more examinations to become a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. There are only about 1,500 nationwide to be qualified members of both of these professional bodies. He recently took a further qualification allowing him to conduct probate work more usually associated with Solicitors. He remains in practice as a partner in a Kent firm of Chartered Accountants, with a staff team of 25. He knows what it is to run a business, and through the huge network of clients, know the difficulties and realities of business life on the ground. Community work Craig has been a magistrate in Kent for 10 years. He has been a volunteer for the Charity Tax Help for Older People (TOP) covering Kent, which provides help for pensioners, often newly bereaved. He is additionally a trustee on a number of well-known Kent charities, and a previous trustee of The Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust. He also served as a Councillor in Kent for 8 years. Interests and family Craig is married to Kati, a community pharmacist. He is a keen sailor and a regular competitor at Ramsgate week. He was a member of the Round Table organisation for 23 years and was Kent Area Chairman in 2007.

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European Court rules 5% VAT rate on installing energy saving materials illegal

The European Court of Justice has ruled that a reduced 5% VAT rate on installing energy saving materials for properties is illegal. The decision claims that the reduced rate breaks VAT Directive and should be reinstated at 20%, for both products installed and supplied in housing. The 5% rate is currently paid on a range of products including draught insulation, controls for central heating, solar panels and heat pumps. The ruling conflicts with the government’s promise not to raise VAT, and if complied with, will increase the cost of effectively insulating homes. There was no immediate response from the government on whether they will recognise this change. Critics argued that it would be unjust to increase VAT on making homes more energy efficient when VAT is charged at 5% on the consumption of energy. This is a blow to listed property owners, as it is one of the few reduced rates on VAT we could utilise. It was also especially important as listed properties often require more work and expense to become energy efficient than more modern buildings. We will take a strong stance on this and it will form part of our campaign, as we attempt to keep the new ruling from being adopted by our government

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How many listed buildings is your MP responsible for?

The below tables show a list of MP’s who currently hold a seat in Parliament, and the number of listed buildings in their constituency. Constituency Number of LB MP Party Constituency Number of LB MP Party Aldershot 121 Leo Docherty Con Loughborough 355 Nicky Morgan Con Aldridge-Brownhills 23 Wendy Morton Con Louth and Horncastle 1372 Victoria Atkins Con Altrincham and Sale West Boro 201 Graham Brady Con Ludlow 3278 Philip Dunne Con Amber Valley 251 Nigel Mills Con Luton North 7 Kelvin Hopkins Lab Arundel and South Downs 2784 Nick Herbert Con Luton South 109 Gavin Shuker Con Ashfield 103 Gloria De Piero Lab Macclesfield 943 David Rutley Con Ashford 2215 Damian Green Con Maidenhead 727 Theresa May Con Ashton-under-Lyne 101 Angela Rayner Lab Maidstone & The Weald 1543 Helen Grant Con Aylesbury 698 David Lidington Con Makerfield 55 Yvonne Fovargue Lab Banbury 1976 Victoria Prentis Con Maldon 880 John Whittingdale Con Barking 20 Margaret Hodge Lab Manchester Central 589 Lucy Powell Lab Barnsley Central 135 Dan Jarvis Lab Manchester, Gorton 73 Afzal Khan Lab Barnsley East 136 Stephanie Peacock Lab Manchester, Withington 94 Jeff Smith Lab Barrow and Furness 573 John Zak Woodcock Lab Mansfield 251 Ben Bradley Con Basildon and Billericay 92 John Baron Con Meon Valley 1068 George Hollingbery Con Basingstoke 237 Maria Miller Con Meriden 335 Caroline Spelman Con Bassetlaw  892 John Mann Lab Mid Bedfordshire 1363 Nadine Dorries Con Bath 2335 Wera Hobhouse Lib Dem Mid Derbyshire 442 Pauline Latham Con Batley and Spen 211 Tracy Brabin Lab Mid Dorset and North Poole 708 Michael Tomlinson Con Battersea 131 Marsha De Cordova Lab Mid Norfolk 1215 George Freeman Con Battle and Bexhill 1874 Huw Merriman Con Mid Sussex 723 Nicholas Soames Con Beaconsfield 1016 Dominic Grieve Con Mid Worcestershire 1583 Nigel Huddleston Con Beckenham 81 Bob Stewart Con Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland 585 Simon Clarke Con Bedford 148 Mohammad Yasin Lab Middlesbrough 76 Andy McDonald Lab Bermondsey and Old Southwark 462 Neil Coyle Lab Milton Keynes North 799 Mark Lancaster Con Berwick-upon-Tweed 3574 Anne-Marie Trevelyan Con Milton Keynes South 349 Iain Stewart Con Bethnal Green and Bow 557 Rushanara Ali Lab Mitcham and Morden 76 Siobhain McDonagh Lab Beverley and Holderness 1106 Graham Stuart Con Mole Valley 1454 Paul Beresford Con Bexleyheath and Crayford 45 David Evennett Con Morecambe and Lunesdale 687 David Morris Con Birkenhead 280 Frank Field Lab Morley and Outwood 112 Andrea Jenkyns Con Birmingham, Edgbaston 414 Preet Kaur Gill Lab New Forest East 627 Julian Lewis Con Birmingham, Erdington 27 Jack Dromey Lab New Forest West 1094 Desmond Swayne Con Birmingham, Hall Green 101 Roger Godsiff Lab Newark 1624 Robert Jenrick Con Birmingham, Hodge Hill 22 Liam Byrne Lab Newbury 1694 Richard Benyon Con Birmingham, Ladywood 569 Shabana Mahmood Lab Newcastle upon Tyne Central 478 Chi Onwurah Lab Birmingham, Northfield 46 Richard Burden Lab Newcastle upon Tyne East 257 Nick Brown Lab Birmingham, Perry Barr 100 Khalid Mahmood Lab Newcastle upon Tyne North 87 Catherine McKinnell Lab Birmingham, Selly Oak 70 Steve McCabe Lab Newcastle-under-Lyme 162 Paul Farrelly Lab Birmingham, Yardley 43 Jess Phillips Lab Newton Abbot 1208 Anne Marie Morris Con Bishop Auckland 1583 Helen Goodman Lab Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford 190 Yvette Cooper Lab Blackburn 95 Kate Hollern Lab North Cornwall 3708 Scott Mann Con Blackley and Broughton 90 Graham Stringer Lab North Devon 2817 Peter Heaton-Jones Con Blackpool North and Cleveleys 26 Paul Maynard Con North Dorset 2701 Simon Hoare Con Blackpool South 24 Gordon Marsden Lab North Durham 126 Lady Hermon Ind Blaydon 136 Liz Twist Lab North East Bedfordshire 1471 Alistair Burt Con Blyth Valley 127 Ronnie Campbell LAb North East Cambridgeshire 754 Steve Barclay Con Bognor Regis and Littlehampton 316 Nick Gibb Con North East Derbyshire 444 Lee Rowley Con Bolsover 314 Dennis Skinner Lab North East Hampshire 1498 Ranil Jayawardena Con Bolton North East 167 David Crausby Lab North East Hertfordshire 2386 Oliver Heald Con Bolton South East 102 Yasmin Qureshi Lab North East Somerset 1492 Jacob Rees-Mogg Con Bolton West 107 Chris Green Con North Herefordshire 4150 Bill Wiggin Con Bootle 113 Peter Dowd Lab North Norfolk 1749 Norman Lamb Lib Dem Boston and Skegness 699 Matt Warman Con North Shropshire 1858 Owen Paterson Con Bosworth 347 David Tredinnick Con North Somerset 789 Liam Fox Con Bournemouth East 104 Tobias Ellwood Con North Swindon 298 Justin Tomlinson Con Bournemouth West 135 Conor Burns Con North Thanet 647 Roger Gale Con Bracknell 122 Phillip Lee Con North Tyneside 80 Mary Glindon Lab Bradford East 260 Imran Hussain Lab North Warwickshire 569 Craig Tracey Con Bradford South 357 Judith Cummins Lab North West Cambridgeshire 1581 Shailesh Vara Con Bradford West 598 Naseem Shah Lab North West Durham 699 Laura Pidcock Lab Braintree 2396 James Cleverly Con North West Hampshire 1614 Kit Malthouse Con Brent Central 42 Dawn Butler Lab North West Leicestershire 666 Andrew Bridgen Con Brent North 24 Barry Gardiner Lab North West Norfolk 1088 Henry Bellingham Con Brentford and Isleworth 443 Ruth Cadbury Lab North Wiltshire 3056 James Gray Con Brentwood and Ongar 1260 Alex Burghart Con Northampton North 56 Michael Ellis Con Bridgwater and West Somerset 2193 Ian Liddell-Grainger Con Northampton South 280 Andrew Lewer Con Brigg and Goole 659 Andrew Percy Con Norwich North 83 Chloe Smith Con Brighton, Kemptown 429 Lloyd Russell-Moyle Lab Norwich South 1040 Clive Lewis Lab Brighton, Pavilion 635 Caroline Lucas Green Nottingham East 183 Christopher Leslie Lab Bristol East 137 Kerry McCarthy Lab Nottingham North 53 Alex Norris Lab Bristol North West 310 Darren Jones Lab Nottingham South 594 Lilian Greenwood Lab Bristol South 107 Karin Smyth Lab Nuneaton 126 Marcus Jones Con Bristol West 1608 Thangam Debbonaire Lab Old Bexley and Sidcup 64 James Brokenshire Con Broadland 1549 Keith Simpson Con Oldham East and Saddleworth 463 Debbie Abrahams Lab Bromley and Chislehurst 130 Robert Neill Con Oldham West and Royton 68 Jim McMahon Lab Bromsgrove 486 Sajid Javid Con Orpington 175 Jo Johnson Con Broxbourne 296 Charles Walker Con Oxford East 1009 Anneliese Dodds

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Party manifestos outline plans for heritage

The political parties have released their manifestos ahead of the general election on May 7th. While the subject of VAT and listed property ownership was absent from the two main political parties manifestos, UKIP and the Green Party outlined their plans for heritage. The Liberal Democrats focused on energy efficiency for all properties. UKIP Manifesto: From our Norman castles to Battersea Power Station, our heritage is an important part of our vibrant tourist industry, which supports three million jobs and contributes £127 billion annually to our economy. PUTTING HERITAGE AND TOURISM BACK ON THE MAP Heritage’ was a dirty word in Labour’s ‘Cool Britannia.’ Tony Blair moved the Department of National Heritage into the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and marginalised tourism by lumping it in with the responsibilities of the Minister for Sports and Equalities. The Conservatives’ bulldozer instincts kicked in when the Chancellor removed the zero rate of VAT on listed building repairs. Maintenance bills for over 400,000 of our most beautiful buildings, owned by a surprisingly diverse socioeconomic group of people, were hiked by 20 per cent. Developers putting identikit houses on greenbelt land, meanwhile, paid no VAT. UKIP will end this discrimination against our historic legacy by: – Creating a dedicated Minister of State for Heritage and Tourism, attached to the Cabinet office Ensuring tax and planning policies support historic buildings and the countryside Removing VAT completely from repairs to listed building Introducing a ‘presumption in favour of conservation ’as opposed to the current ‘presumption in favour of development’ in planning legislation. Read UKIP’s full manifesto here Green Party Manifesto: Reduce VAT on housing renovation and repair work (including insulation) to 5%, costing £1.6 billion a year. At present there is no VAT on constructing new dwellings but there is VAT at 20% on converting and renovating old buildings to be used as homes. This encourages new building at the expense of saving land and using what we have. Read the Green Party’s full manifesto here The Liberal Democrats Manifesto While listed buildings are unmentioned in the Liberal Democrat manifesto, their housing plans do include a new Green Buildings Act and a plan for every home to reach a new energy rating of Band C. Pass a new Green Buildings Act to set new energy efficiency targets, including a long-term ambition for every home to reach at least an energy rating of Band C by 2035. As listed building owners we know how challenging and expensive energy can be for older buildings, and we will seek to investigate all of the party’s plans for making energy efficiency policies viable for us. Read the Liberal Democrat full manifesto here  Plaid Cymru Manifesto To improve the Welsh housing stock, support the Welsh construction industry and reduce energy bills, we will reduce VAT to 5% on certified housing renovations. Read the Plaid Cymru full manifesto here 

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Green Party MP shows support for LPOC’s campaign

Green MP Caroline Lucas contacted us in support of our campaign for owners. The member for Brighton Pavilion said: “I very much support your aims” upon receiving a copy of the presentation we gave to Parliament in October. Ms Lucas said that although her current commitments as the sole Green MP means she is unable to pledge to join our All Party Parliamentary Group now, it is something she would re-consider after the election. We also hope to take advantage of Caroline’s offer to meet and discuss our work further after May 7th, particularly in light of the Green Party’s recent announcement to support a cut in VAT on repairs and renovations to 5%. There are 635 listed buildings in the Brighton Pavilion constituency.

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David Gauke replies to LPOC’s criticism of rationale behind scrapping VAT relief

Financial secretary to the Treasury David Gauke wrote to us in response to criticism that the government’s decision to scrap VAT relief was based on insufficient evidence. The junior minister described the rationale behind the changes as “twofold”, stating confusion for HM Revenue and Customs; and the prevention of an anomaly caused by repairs and maintenance being standard rated, while pre-approved alterations were zero rated. Mr Gauke claimed that a reduction for renovation and repair to 5% would cost the government £2 billion per annum, so therefore “has no plans to introduce support for the sector in the way you propose.” There was no mention of LPOC’s main criticism of the decision, which was the reference government made in 2012 to millionaires building swimming pools through the zero rated VAT, describing it as a “loophole.” LPOC’s research findings showed that the government’s claim was made based on a study of 105 listed building consent applications, whilst we looked into 12,049 with just 34 references to swimming pools. Less than half may have qualified for VAT relief. Nor was there mention of the current VAT regime, where new buildings are incentivised over repair, maintenance and alterations of older buildings therefore creating a perverse tax on conservation and maintenance that subsides demolition and rebuilding. Mr Gauke, who is responsible for strategic oversight of the UK tax system, said in December that no official estimate of the annual cost of a VAT reduction to 5% had been made when asked by Conservative MP Domonic Raab. He also claimed that “data is not available on the VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to protected buildings as this is not itemised separately on VAT returns.” LPOC’s VAT adviser Dave Brown questioned this in our January/February issue. He wrote: Back in 2012, when zero rating was removed, the Treasury announced that the additional revenue to be gained would be: 2012/2013:          £35m 2013/2014:          £85m 2014/2015:          £95m 2015/2016:          £110m 2016/2017:          £125m These figures were, we must assume, ‘made up’.  But they can’t be as they were “…certified by the Office of Budget Responsibility.” I dug further and discovered that they do tell us how they made up the figures, in the “policy costings document,” published alongside Budget 2012. This tells us: For alterations to listed buildings, data is taken from the Department for Communities and Local Government and local authority planning applications. The tax base affected is estimated to be about £600 million, of which about one fifth is estimated to become subject to the 5 per cent reduced rate of VAT for residential conversions; The key word is “estimated”, but to be fair, as this is a prediction it couldn’t be anything else.  But what do they base it on?  Mr Gauke tells us that there is no separation on the VAT returns, so without any sound foundation on  which to base these estimates, we return to them having ‘made it up.’ They also tell us that one fifth of the previously zero rated works would become liable to the 5% VAT rate. Once again, based on what?  I have been dealing with VAT on property alterations, conversions and refurbishments in some fine detail for the last 17 or so years. I should have a better idea than most, but if they asked me, I would have to make up a figure – sorry, I would have to estimate it.  And if I simply made a guess at the answer, it would be worthless, unless I had time or inclination to trawl through each project I had worked on, over the years.  Surely, all statistical analysis is based on a solid foundation? Or is it, as we have seen, based on a whim? In closing, I feel obliged to mention that even the Treasury admit that there might be some uncertainty in their projections: The main uncertainties in this costing relate to the exact size of the tax base and the behavioural response of consumers to the price increase. So even their shaky grasp of statistical certainty is based on uncertainty.  We will therefore be requesting the information used by government to reach the new estimate that it would cost the Treasury £2 billion per annum. You can read the full letter from David Gauke MP to Peter Anslow in our member’s magazine Listed Heritage.

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MP for Shipley Philip Davies latest to join the APPG

MP for Shipley Philip Davies is the latest to join the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties. This brings the total of MPs and Lords supporting the group to 18. We aim to reach the target number of 20 MPs and Lords needed to form an APPG in the new parliament. Those MPs and Lords already supporting us are: Philip Davies Shipley Charles Hendry Wealden Sir Hugh Robertson(standing down at election) Faversham & Mid Kent David Amess Southend West Lord Tope Sir Peter Bottomley Worthing West Andrew Rosindell Romford Tracey Crouch Chatham & Aylesford Nick do Bois Enfield North Peter Aldous Waveney Eric Ollerenshaw Lancaster & Fleetwood Lord Leigh Neil Carmichael Stroud John Penrose Weston-super Mare Sir Nick Harvey North Devon Lord Dear Lord Crathborne David Ward Bradford East We hope to secure representation of listed building owners in every main parties plans should they make it into government, and an increased awareness amongst MPs responsible for large numbers of listed properties. We have also made contact with all party candidates for those seats with high numbers of listed properties.

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Latest MP meetings

Since the event, LPOC has met with Neil Carmichael MP for Stroud and former Heritage Minister John Penrose, MP for Weston-super Mare. Both meetings were tremendously successful with Neil Carmichael agreeing to join the APPG, signing a pledge in support. John Penrose is extremely active in campaigning for listed properties and heritage. During our meeting Mr Penrose expressed his support for or work and was in agreement of our aims. We hope to work closely with Mr Penrose in the coming months.

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Main political parties declare their position on VAT

The political parties declared their position on a VAT reduction on approved alterations to listed buildings during the Heritage Alliance’s Heritage Day, which LPOC attended. Ed Vaizey said the Chancellor was “not able to secure a VAT reduction in the Autumn statement”, but insisted that the Government “remains open minded and interested about reducing VAT on repairs and alterations”. The Minister stressed the importance of the Heritage sector providing clearer evidence to the Treasury about the cost of reducing VAT. Mr Vaizey also said “VAT is a matter for the Chancellor”, and described a reduction in VAT on alterations and repairs as “a very live issue.” The Minister also acknowledged the importance of preserving traditional skills used on listed buildings. He said: “We still need to retain those skills in these areas.” William Cash, UKIP Heritage Spokesman, used the Heritage Day to announce his parties support for a VAT reduction. Mr Cash said: “UKIP is the first party to pledge to abolish VAT on listed building repairs.” UKIP formally announced their support days later following receiving a copy of Peter’s presentation. Baroness Bonham Carter, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Culture, said that the Liberal Democrats were open to discussion on a VAT reduction on alterations and repairs. The Baroness also acknowledged the large part listed building custodians play in preserving heritage and the complex processes enforced upon them. She said: “It is right that local authorities guard our heritage, but must treat those who do with real respect.”

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LPOC’s letter to the Chancellor ahead of Autumn Statement

Dear Mr Osborne, I write to you as the Director & Founder of the Listed Property Owners Club (LPOC) to feed in some of our priorities ahead of the forthcoming Autumn Statement. Over the past two years Listed Property Owners have had to deal with rising costs in order to maintain their property to required legal standards. This has been due in part to the raising of VAT on approved alternations to buildings from 0% to 20% at the 2012 budget. While this did remove an anomaly whereby alterations were zero-rated but repair and maintenance were standard-rated it has also imposed a large cost burden for listed property owners and reduced the number of listed building consent applications. We have noted a significant reduction in the number of listed building consent applications for approved work in 73 councils across England for from 14,605 in 2011 to 10,325 in 2013; and believe this trend is likely to be replicated across the country. The rationale given by this Government to scrap zero rated VAT on alterations was that it would stop wealthy owners building on their properties VAT free. On the 14th April 2012 Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban argued that the policy would ‘close a loophole that allowed millionaires to build tax free swimming pools’. After an FOI request it was found that this assertion was based on a study of just 105 applications for listed building consent. LPOC which receives and has access to a large majority of listed building consent applications studied 12,049 of them prior to the 2012 budget. We found that there were only 34 references made to swimming pools, of which less than half may have qualified for VAT relief. I want to put on the record that the large majority of listed property owners are of modest means and aren’t wealthy people. 50% of owners in the lowest socio-economic groups C1, C2, D and E; and would certainly not be able to afford a swimming pool regardless of tax relief. The feedback we have had from owners on the impact of this policy change is that some are now unable to afford to make alterations to their buildings and are being forced move out of their properties which places our heritage at risk. While some of these properties are sold others lie in state of disrepair, sometimes for several years. There are now 1,115 listed buildings at risk on the English heritage at risk register and many more which are unrecorded. These buildings recorded a ‘conservation deficit’ (funding gap between the cost of repairs and end value of building) of £443 million in 2014. Secondly it is the opinion of LPOC that owners are undertaking unauthorised work to avoid paying VAT on alterations. This represents a significant risk as unscrupulous builders may not have the necessary heritage expertise or experience to work on listed buildings. Furthermore as you will appreciate the Treasury would forgo any VAT receipts if alterations are carried out outside of the consent regime. Thirdly the structure of the policy means that substantial reconstructions of listed buildings if they are being rebuilt ‘from a shell’, retain VAT rate relief.  Although the precise meaning of ‘shell’ appears not to have yet been defined in the courts, there is a significant risk of deliberate and unauthorised alteration of listed buildings by removal of historic fabric to reduce substantial buildings to a shell purely for tax purposes. Considering the impact of these changes I would like to ask you to consider how, in your final Autumn Statement of this Parliament, you might assist listed property owners in order to preserve our proud listed building heritage. LPOC understands the UK has been through the worst recession in modern times and budgets are tightening at unprecedented levels. Furthermore we are acutely aware of the tough decisions that the Government has had to take in this Parliament in order to preserve our long term economic future. We do feel though the VAT change in 2012 affected over one million people who own listed properties, there is a case for Treasury to provide financial incentives to listed property owners as they currently receive no such assistance. Thus LPOC calls on the Government to reconsider its decision to remove VAT relief on alterations and to consider a reduction of VAT on approved listed building alterations to 5%. This position is supported by the wider heritage sector and campaigns such as Cut the VAT campaign, Heritage Alliance and Institute of Historic Building Conservation. The reduction on dwellings in private ownership is permitted under EU rules excluding materials which account for a significant part of the value of the service supplied which is permitted under [European Union Directive 2009/47/EC amendment] Annex III of the VAT Directive 2006/112/EC. In 2016-2017 the Treasury’s calculated this policy would bring in revenue of £125 million, but a reduction to a VAT rate of 5% on approved alterations to listed buildings in private dwellings would bring in significantly more than this figure over the long term. A reduction to 5% would increase the number of listed building consent applications, as well creating jobs and work for the construction industry who work on listed buildings. It would also boost the heritage sector of the tourism industry which now worth £26.4billion to the UK economy according to recent research by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Comparisons with other European nations Despite under this Government the UK having one of the lowest corporate tax rates in Europe, we have one of the highest VAT rates charged on renovation works in historic homes across Europe. UK: 20% Belgium: 6% France: 7% Germany: 19% Greece: 18% Ireland: 12.5% Italy: 10% Netherlands: 6% Portugal: 6% Spain: 8% Switzerland: 7.5% (European Historic Houses, Activity Report 2012–2013) A cut in VAT on housing renovation across all housing would bring substantial benefits over the life-time of the next parliament (2015-20), by providing a huge stimulus of more than £15 billion to the economy (Experian, 2014)

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View LPOC’s Parliamentary Presentation

LPOC Founder, Peter Anslow, made a slideshow presentation to an audience of MPs, parliamentary researchers and Peers, highlighting a number of issues that custodians of listed property face as part of our campaign for owners. He addressed the common misperception that listed buildings owners are affluent despite 50% of owners being in the lowest socio-economic groups C1, C2, D and E. Furthermore he showed that the cost of owning a listed property have become so exorbitant for some they have had to move out which puts our listed property heritage at risk. This has been largely due to the rise in VAT on alterations to listed buildings to 20% which was enacted at the 2012 budget.

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LPOC’s Inaugural Parliamentary Reception a tremendous success

LPOC’s Parliamentary Reception to raise the issues of listed building ownership hailed a tremendous success, with minister for Culture, Media and Sport Ed Vaizey MP attending to how his support. Many important Westminster figures gathered to listen to LPOC founder Peter Anslow’s presentation on listed property ownership as part of our lobbying campaign, with a  number signing to join an All Party Political Group after the election next year. Mr Vaizey MP arrived to meet LPOC on Tuesday 21st October and made a closing statement following Peter’s presentation. Showing his appreciation, the minster expressed  thanks to LPOC and listed property owners for their important role in preserving heritage, also acknowledging the difficult processes they face. Mr Vaizey assured he would  do his best to help owners of listed properties in the Autumn statement.  LPOC asked Parliament for:  A reduction in VAT on approved listed building alterations, repairs and maintenance to 5%  More detailed and clearer guidance for owners on issues such as double glazing  Better representation in Parliament The event, hosted by Eric Ollerenshaw MP for Lancaster & Fleetwood, was a great opportunity to bring key issues surrounding ownership to the attention of Parliament. The  points raised received great understanding and sympathy from those attending with many agreeing the need for change. Peter Anslow said in his speech: “Over 1 million people call listed properties their home, yet the issue on the fringes of political debate. For the sake of  owners livelihood and the large cultural contribution they make this must change. “We hope you can see why it is so crucial for listed property owners to have a voice in Westminster and we hope you will support an APPG in their name.” LPOC is now positive of setting up an APPG and will build on the support gained at the event to gather further backing in the run up to the general election, along with setting our own manifesto.

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The Listed Property Owners’ Club take their campaign for owners to Westminster

The Listed Property Owners’ Club (LPOC) have designed a strategy to draw attention to the issues surrounding listed property ownership. Following years of disappointing decisions by government that have eroded help for owners of listed properties, LPOC Founder Peter Anslow has decided to lobby parliament to raise awareness and improve support. Zero-rated VAT on approved listed building consent works was lost in the 2012 budget, while owners also face a barrage of conflicting information, regulations and demands from local conservation offices that makes maintaining their homes to the legally required standard extremely difficult and expensive. With 80% of people who own a listed property falling into socio-economic groups B-D and 50% of owners in groups C-E, the affordability of maintaining heritage buildings is now unrealistic for many. LPOC has begun a number of activities to lobby the government to reduce VAT for all work on listed buildings to 5%. One of the first actions was to write to the MPs in the top 50 marginal seats with the largest number of listed buildings in their constituency. For many of the MPs approached, the number of listed building owners in their constituency equates to enough votes to either gain or lose them their seats. The first meetings were with MPs Glenda Jackson (Hampstead and Kilburn), Peter Aldous (Waveney), John Stevenson (Carlisle), Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) and Karl McCartney (Lincoln). LPOC are also shortly due to meet with Nick De Bois (Enfield), Neil Carmichael (Stroud), and Tracy Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford). The aim is to create an All Party Political Group, which would see a selection of MPs and Lords meet regularly to discuss listed properties, a great way of having a “voice” in Westminster. The feedback from the initial meetings with MPs has been extremely positive and LPOC used the opportunities to raise a number of other issues that concern members. LPOC will continue to lobby parliament to raise awareness of the complexities of being a listed building owner, and to push for a VAT reduction on all listed building works to 5%.

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Government must slash refurb VAT to boost economy by £15 billion

A VAT reduction on housing renovation and repair could boost the UK economy by more than £15 billion from 2015 to 2020 according to a new independent research report by Experian. This reduction could also create more than 95,000 jobs and save 240,000 tonnes of CO2 from thousands of homes. The report is backed by more than 60 charities, trade associations, business groups and financial institutions that are united in calling on all three main political parties to commit to this VAT reduction in their 2015 General Election manifestos. Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), said: “A VAT reduction on housing renovation and repair work will empower home owners to contribute to growth, jobs and greener homes without placing a burden on the Treasury. There is no other proposal that will help the UK achieve so many of its economic, environmental and social aims with so little cost to the public purse. This research shows that the wider benefits of a VAT reduction on housing renovation and repair would stimulate more than £15 billion of wider economic activity, which completely overshadows any direct losses to Treasury coffers due to a drop in the percentage charged for VAT. Berry added: “It is a myth that EU law prevents the UK government from reducing VAT on housing renovation and repair. This research report clearly shows that almost half of EU member states are currently enjoying the economic, environmental and social benefits that this VAT reduction can bring. Why should the UK not follow suit?” Nigel Rees, Chief Executive of the Glass and Glazing Federation, said: “We are impressed with this research report and urge the government to now take the necessary action. As the report shows, reducing VAT from 20% to 5% on housing renovation and repair has significant long terms gains, not only for economic growth and job creation, but also for carbon reduction, as many contemporary home improvements will include the installation of energy efficient products.” Ray Horwood, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Roofing Contractors, said: “There are a range of complementary reasons for this sensible reduction in VAT on housing renovation and repair that play to government objectives and overall consumer expectations. The strong leadership message this sends to all political parties would, in addition, be a boost and clear message of support to the responsible and qualified SME firms that will undertake this work.” Mike Brown, Chair of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation, said: “The care and maintenance of our heritage buildings is often crafts-based and, as such, labour intensive, so a reduction in VAT will help support those skills and thousands of jobs across the sector. The case for the reduction in VAT is particularly important in making the difference between a historic building being saved or being unviable. Brown added: “On top of that, more affordable day to day care and maintenance would help save countless older buildings from the destructive and costly cycle of decay and restoration, allowing diminishing resource to be directed towards delivering better informed energy conservation measures, compatible with the fabric of the building.” Cut the VAT Campaign The Cut the VAT Campaign is a coalition of more than 60 charities, trade associations, business groups and financial institutions that are united in their desire to see the UK government reduce VAT on housing renovation and repair from 20% to 5%. For further information visit  www.cutthevat.co.uk.  

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Changes to LBC

Some of these changes have already been brought into practice; the first of the new more detailed listing descriptions have been issued, certificates of immunity from listing can now be applied for at any time, and the need for separate conservation area consent became a relic of the past (being brought within planning permission) at the beginning of October, 2013. The changes that are coming into force on 6 April 2014 are arguably of far greater significance for those with an interest in listed buildings. They will offer owners and occupiers of these buildings, or developers taking on listed buildings as part of development proposals, the opportunity to be more forward-thinking and to take greater control over planning the future of their assets. At the same time, they should allow for greater clarity over the works that require listed building consent (LBC), a more proportionate approach to obtaining consent for works to listed buildings, and help local planning authorities (LPAs) to deliver an improved service. With the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announcing a consultation on 16 December on the key details of procedures for the next round of Government heritage planning reform, here is Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners take on the effect of its three new features.  1. HERITAGE PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS The statutory footing for Heritage Partnership Agreements (HPAs) – voluntary agreements between the owner of a listed building and the local authority (and any other relevant interest) – will allow consent to be granted outside the normal LBC process for specified works for the alteration and extension of a building (excluding demolition). This type of HPA will be known as a ‘Listed Building HPA’, with new rules governing preparation that closely resemble those for applying for LBC. HPAs can also set out the works that would or would not affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest – the latter being those works that would not then require LBC. Going beyond this, HPAs may also provide an all-encompassing management plan for a listed building, with agreed provisions relating to longer term maintenance and preservation works, arrangements for public access (or access restrictions), and plans for associated facilities or services. This type of HPA would not be governed by specific rules for preparation. In practice, HPAs have the potential to provide a clearer framework for planning and carrying out works to a listed building over the long term, by combining a management plan with what could essentially operate as an on-going LBC for specified works (based on an assessment of what is of architectural or historic significance). These Agreements could therefore be a powerful tool in the management of larger and more complex listed buildings and campuses that are in modern commercial use, such as institutions (hospitals, schools etc.), shopping centres or large office buildings. When combined with a revised statutory listing, these mechanisms could create a  framework for owners to both carry out “predictable and repetitive” works, and to be able to adapt their buildings quickly in response to commercial needs – and without unnecessary recourse to the LPA. This clearly has time and resource benefits for all interested parties. 2. LISTED BUILDING CONSENT ORDERS The Act and the proposed Regulations introduce new powers for LPAs to put in place local ‘Listed Building Consent Orders’ (LBCOs), granting LBC automatically for certain categories of work or buildings, without the need for separate LBC. The consultation also sets out the proposed process for National LBCOs. The intention is to reduce the number of LBC applications that are required, especially where works will have no, or very limited impact on a listed building or buildings. Whilst the scope of any national LBCO in future is expected to cover groups of nationally distributed listed buildings, local LBCOs have greater potential to exempt certain works within a defined area or a defined group of buildings – i.e. where the special interest of that group of buildings is well-understood – from the requirement for LBC. Such works could include, for example, internal works for the maintenance, upkeep or refurbishment of a group of properties where their interest principally relates to the external character and appearance. Local LBCOs are designed in a similar way to local development orders that grant general planning permission in defined areas, adapted to suit the differing requirements of the LBC regime. Overall, LBCOs could ease the process for guardians of listed buildings in ensuring the upkeep and adaptation of their assets. However, this requires action on the part of LPAs to relinquish some of the controls afforded to them by the current heritage consent regime and so it will be interesting to see the extent of uptake of these new measures. 3. CERTIFICATES OF LAWFULNESS OF PROPOSED WORKS Based on certificates of lawfulness in the planning system, the introduction of a certificate of lawfulness of proposed works to listed buildings will provide a mechanism for LPAs to confirm formally that LBC is not required where proposed works would not impact on a building’s special interest. Lasting for ten years on issue, the new certificate offers a simpler and faster process for seeking formal confirmation of whether or not LBC is required (excluding demolition) within a 6 week determination period. This avoids the submission of unnecessary LBC applications and, more importantly, the risk of committing a criminal offence by carrying out works which are unlawful by means of a formal procedure. MOVING FORWARD Consultation on the details of the above reforms ends on 27 January, 2014. If you would like additional information about the heritage reforms, how to influence the detail of proposed procedures and their implementation, and how the measures affect your potential development plans or existing heritage assets, please refer to www.nlpplanning.com

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New! For the first time ever, a Welsh plaque has been created for listed properties

With their continuous countryside, rolling hills and picturesque backdrops, it is no surprise that Wales proudly boasts over 30,000 listed properties. Beautiful cottages are tucked away in the Welsh valleys, town houses sit amongst the bustling towns and farmhouses are sitting comfortably in thriving villages. And now, in perfect recognition of these incredible pieces of history, The Listed Property Owners Club is proud to bring you a plaque specifically for the Welsh listed properties which will continue to play a part of Wales’ history. The Listed Property Owners Club previously created a distinguished plaque for listed buildings in England; designed to symbolise the integrity of properties for listed property occupiers. Due to a number of requests from their Welsh members, a Welsh plaque has now been made for the very first time, and will be a proud addition to any Welsh listed property to celebrate it standing the test of time. “We have had many requests from our Welsh members regarding a plaque for their listed properties. We are really happy to be able to supply them with one now. The plaque symbolises pride, history and integrity” Peter Anslow, Director of The Listed Property Owners Club. The Listed Property Owners Club is Britain’s only advice service dedicated to helping owners of listed buildings. It’s a membership organisation with a particularly personal service – no call centre or scripted answers – just a small friendly team who deliver the sort of service, helpful advice, and sometimes that little bit of reassurance, that listed building owners need. Not only does The Listed Property Owners Club produce a plaque for their members, but they also have an interesting and informative magazine called Listed Heritage, an annual show that is held at Olympia, London in February which is a brilliant port of call for any listed property owner, and other essential advice services which include insurance, VAT, planning and legal if needed. If you are not currently a member of The Listed Property Owners Club, don’t worry, it’s easy to join. Just contact them today for more details. The plaque measures 10” in diameter and costs £85. Plaques can be ordered via The Listed Property Owners Club on 01795 844939. The plaque is available to members and non-members of the club.    

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Green Deal – what you need to know!

Definitions: Green Deal assessors – they will visit your property, tell you what improvements you can make and estimate how much you could save on your energy bills. Green Deal providers – they will help you decide if a Green Deal Plan is right for you, provide finance and arrange for installation of improvements. The providers range from local and national energy companies to DIY organisations.   How it works: The Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) Green Deal is the new government initiative which enables homeowner’s and businesses to take out a loan of up to £10,000 to employ more green technologies into their properties. The idea is to install new green technology such as insulation, heating, draught-proofing, renewable energy sources and double glazing without having to pay all of the cost upfront. Instead, the cost is added to homeowner’s energy bills and then paid back over a period of up to 25 years; like a loan. Before a homeowner can apply for a loan, an assessment will need to be carried out on the property by a Green Deal assessor – you can ask a Green Deal provider to find an assessor for you. Alternatively you can find a list of assessors (and providers) online. Please visit www.gov.uk. You may have to pay for an assessment, however check with your assessor or provider before any appointment is made. An assessment will calculate your current energy performance and list what improvements can be made to help you save on your energy bills. The ‘golden rule’ of the Green Deal is: the expected financial savings must be equal to or greater than the costs attached to the energy bill. You will then choose a Green Deal provider to carry out the work that the assessment has concluded. You can get quotes from as many providers as you like. You will discuss with them the work you wish to carry out and whether the Green Deal is right for you. The Green Deal providers will supply you with the loan in order to carry out the work. If you chose to go ahead with the proposed improvements, you must sign your Green Deal Plan, this is your contract between you and your chosen provider, and then the work can commence (the contract will include the cost of repayments which will also include the interest rate). Unlike other home improvements initiatives, the Green Deal is not dependent on people’s income and the loans are available to everyone. If you move into a property with a Green Deal in place, a copy of the Energy Performance Certificate must be represented by the owner or landlord. The certificate will explain what improvements have been made and how much you will need to repay. But remember, you will save on your energy bills. If you are a landlord, you must get the tenants permission before signing up to the Green Deal, and vice versa. It is worth noting that there is a Cashback scheme. You may be eligible to claim your money back from the government that you have spent on making energy saving improvements under the Green Deal. However this scheme will only run for a limited time, and is only available to house holders (homeowner’s, tenants etc) in England and Wales (there is a different scheme for Scotland). Landlords are eligible if they pay for insulation. To apply for the cashback scheme, please visit the Green Deal cashback website: gdcashback.decc.gov.uk or ring 0300 1231234 for more information.

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VAT Update – July 2012

VAT Update As you are probably aware the Finance Bill 2012 was approved by MP’s on 3rd July 2012 and VAT on approved alterations will now be removed from the 1st October this year,  however there were three major alterations as a result of our efforts together with those of other organisations; i.e.: 1. Providing owners had applied for Listed Building Consent before 21st March this year zero rating will still apply for approved alterations (originally work had to have been started or a written contract in place before 21st March 2. Owners now have until 1st October 2015 to complete the work instead of 1st October this year. 3. The government have increased their grant scheme for repairs and alterations to places of worship by £30m stating it will provide 100% compensation to listed places of worship. Ultimately we have to say our campaign was lost, but it is only a battle not the war and we have further options that we are following however before doing so another urgent issue has come to light which we shall need to fight on owners behalf. Apparently the European Commission have told the UK Government that the reduced rate of VAT (5%) on the installation of energy saving materials contravenes the VAT Directive and must be amended within two months to avoid the possibility of proceedings against the UK in the European Court of Justice. Yet another VAT increase for us homeowners!!  This is very early days and we have only just heard this news, but we’ll come back to you as soon as we get more detailed information. As the main part of our forward plans we have commissioned legal research into European / Human rights law to explore the possibility of financial help for owners of Listed Buildings. This will be a long and expensive battle but with your support we believe it can be won. If you have any friends or neighbours who are not members of the Listed Property Owners Club, do persuade them to join via www.lpoc.co.uk.  These extra fees will then help provide funds to fight the cause. Initially we want to hear from any owners who feel there has been an infringement of their human rights due to owning a listed building. There will be plenty of owners refused double glazing for example and this could be termed as an infringement of their rights but we need more. If you have a story to tell can you let us know. Peter Anslow

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Open Letter to Rt Hon George Osborne MP Chancellor of the Exchequer HM Treasury

Rt Hon George Osborne MP Chancellor of the Exchequer HM Treasury 1 Horse Guards Road London, SW1A 2HQ 14 June 2012 Dear Chancellor, Despite recent u-turns on a VAT hike for pasties and caravans, the Treasury is still planning a 20% tax rise that will damage the nation’s finest and most loved buildings. Worse still, this tax rise is based on completely insufficient evidence. When the Treasury announced plans to remove the current VAT relief on approved alterations to listed buildings in the Budget it stated that the majority of the work covered by the relief was not necessary for heritage purposes. A Freedom of Information request has subsequently revealed that this was based on a sample of just 105 cases despite the fact there are almost 30,000 Listed Building Consent applications during the course of a year. Since the Budget, ministers have repeatedly told MPs and the public that this VAT increase was about stopping millionaires installing swimming pools tax free. When we looked at a sample of 12,049 recent applications for listed building consent from across the UK, we found only 34 applications for swimming pools. According to the clear guidance from HMRC less than half of these had any chance of qualifying for the VAT relief. 50% of people who live in listed buildings are in socio-economic groups C1, C2, D and E. So why does the Treasury continue to feed MPs with the swimming pool line and encourage them to send it on to angry constituents who are rightly concerned about the future of the buildings they cherish, care for and rely on? The decision to provide additional compensation to listed places of worship demonstrates the Government’s admission that the VAT increase will put our historic buildings at risk, but offers nothing to help community centres, town halls, village halls or privately owned listed buildings. We are already seeing evidence of projects that have been cancelled or put on hold as charities worry about how to raise an additional 20% and projects become unaffordable. This is having a negative impact on the construction industry at a time when weak demand is holding back wider economic recovery. As Chancellor, we want you to recognise the risks are simply too high to carry on as planned and therefore we call on you to review the proposed implementation of VAT on alterations to listed buildings before it is introduced – before it is too late. Yours sincerely,

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VAT Update

VAT Update Thank you to all our members who have written to both us and their MP’s about the VAT changes, we are encouraged by the number of responses we’ve received. As you know we’ve joined forces with over 20 similar organisations who attended a meeting with David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, on 17th May who seemed to be in listening mode on the whole, and once again said he had ‘some sympathy’ about extending transitional relief but evidence would be needed to convince HMRC.  We shall continue working on this with every effort. You may also have seen the letter from our collective organisations published in the Daily Telegraph following our meeting: ——– Sir, By removing the zero rate of VAT on alterations to listed buildings, the Government is making it harder to protect our treasured heritage. The careful stewardship and updating of historic buildings is not an easy task. Alterations to listed buildings require specialist craft skills and building materials, and the type of building works allowed are carefully controlled by Listed Building Consent.  Despite what government ministers have implied, the 20% tax hike will not simply apply to new swimming pools for grand houses. Owners of listed buildings span the social and economic divide. According to English Heritage, 47% of people who live in listed buildings are the professionals and senior managers in social classes A and B, but 44% are in classes C1, C2 and D. Far from being a tax break for wealthy mansion owners, the VAT relief on alterations to listed buildings is almost the only remaining incentive available to those who are willing to care properly for our historic built environment. Since the last Spending Review the Government has cut heritage sector funding by more than £650 million per year and responsibility for heritage conservation now falls almost entirely on the private and charitable sectors. We can only assume the Government has missed the obvious link between this targeted VAT relief and its own ambition to create the ‘Big Society’. Unless the Government steps away from this planned tax increase, it will be responsible for very real damage to the UK’s heritage and a further brake on the economic recovery. ——— As I said we are continuing our efforts with this issue but it would be helpful if members maintain pressure on their MP’s and get as many other owners to sign the e-petition by 26th June 2012: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/32056 which currently numbers 11,936 signatures. Going forward we have a second meeting next week with the other 20 similar organisations including Federation of Master Builders, Historic Houses Association, Heritage Alliance etc. at which we shall agree a joint letter to David Gauke to repeat our opposition as well as offering some more detailed suggestions and arguments for improving the transitional arrangements.  Utopia would be for the complete reversal of the ruling but failing this we shall be aiming for proposed changes/improvements to include: · A change in the qualification for zero rate during the transitional period from having a contract in place on 21 March 2012 to having demonstrated substantial fee expenditure / applied for LBC by that date. · An extension in the closing date for work to have been completed, from March 2013 to March 2015. We’d welcome any other suggestions/thoughts – please email them to: info@lpoc.co.uk

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VAT Shock

I’m sure you will already know that there was a nasty little surprise hidden away in the Budget 2012 documents about the removal of the zero rate of VAT on approved alterations to listed buildings. If you haven’t seen the details they are available in the consultation document on ‘addressing borderline anomalies’ in the VAT system: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2012/vat-con-4801.pdf, and also in the Budget’s policy costing document (pages 37-38): http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/budget2012_policy_costings.pdf. To fight this unfair move, we have joined forces with 20 other similar organisations including the Federation of Master Builders, SPAB, Georgian Society etc. Unfortunately Government has only given us until the 4th May to respond to these plans and therefore time is critical. May I ask you to do two things if you agree that the VAT law should remain unchanged? First could you look at the e-petition at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/32056 and register your view. Additionally can you ask your friends and neighbours to register as well? Secondly can you write to your MP objecting to the change? If you are unsure of your MP’s name it is published on http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/ you can also find a draft of a suitable letter here: http://www.cutthevat.co.uk/cut-the-vat/listed-buildings/ During the past week we have spoken to many members and it has been suggested that we use the situation to seek change of the VAT rules to zero rate repairs and maintenance but unfortunately this is not possible under European law. There is a full European campaign to have all work on listed buildings rated at 5% but this is a separate issue and we shall revert to this at a later date.    

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VAT on Alterations to Listed Buildings

VAT on Alterations to Listed Buildings On 21st March 2012, in the budget, the government announced its intention to remove the zero rate of VAT for approved alterations to listed buildings. This means that from 1st October 2012 the standard rate of VAT will apply to the alteration of a listed building. The Listed Property Owners Club together with other organisations supporting the “Cut the VAT Campaign” feel the decision to add 20% VAT to approved alterations of a listed building will have serious negative consequences. You can help! If you agree with this point of view, contact your MP to ask them to urge the government to think again. The website has a link to a “contact your MP” page created on www.cutthevat.co.uk/cut-the-vat/listed-buildings Additionally we seek case studies of owners that this will be immediately effected by this change. For example you may have already briefed an architect to alter or extend your home, you may have even obtained Listed Building Consent, but work has either yet to start or even be partially completed. We are particularly keen to learn how owners will react to this further 20% increase. Will you try to find the extra money, reduce the specification or even cancel the project in total? Your help would be greatly appreciated. Peter Anslow

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VAT savings to be withdrawn on Listed Buildings

Today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer made an astonishing, and unexpected, announcement that will affect a significant number of owners of listed properties in the UK. In short, the VAT relief that currently applies to alterations to listed buildings is being withdrawn with effect from 1 October 2012. The Chancellor described the existing relief as an ‘anomaly’, which “gives a perverse incentive for change as opposed to repair”. He also considers that the majority of the work covered by the relief consists of “extension work which is not necessary for heritage”. Admittedly, extensions currently qualify for VAT relief at present, but it does not give a true picture of the type of work that owners carry out, and which frequently qualify for relief. Dave Brown, the LPOC’s VAT adviser commented “The majority of projects that I get involved with are simply restoration jobs – and with VAT at 20% being payable on these works in future, home owners are likely to ‘make do and mend’ – or else purchase non-listed buildings next time. The end result, unfortunately, is that many historic buildings will simply fall into a state of disrepair. Listed property owners have a hard enough time looking after the often fragile state of their homes that any disincentive introduced will, in the long-term, damage the heritage of the United Kingdom.” A consultation exercise has been introduced, and we invite all owners to contribute to it. David Roberts, HMRC, VAT Projects Team, 3C/10, 100 Parliament Street, London, SW1A 2BQ david.roberts4@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk Alternatively, as this measure deserves the widest possible reaction, we urge you to contact your MP as soon as possible. Please also contact LPOC with your comments on info@lpoc.co.uk or LPOC, Lower Dane, Hartlip, Kent, ME9 7TE We will be publishing an article in the next issue of Listed Heritage magazine and keeping any progress or news updated.

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Councils propose to charge for Listed Building Consent – feedback

In issue 74 we included the above article, which has received the following feedback from our readers: —- As a Conservation Officer in the current economic climate I would wish to support such a proposal. The provision of Local Authority conservation expertise is not a statutory government requirement and the charging of fees for LBC would strenthen the role of Conservation Officers, effectively paying for some of their work. Our group of Conservation Officers across North Yorkshire feel very vulnerable to cuts in this economic downturn and this proposal could prevent the loss of any further Conservation Officers which are a very valuable source of information and assistance to members of the public, particularly listed building owners. Without such expertise the historic environment, which includes not only buildings, but other structures/monuments, archaeology and landscapes will be seriously under threat from misguided damage, repair and alteration. CB North Yorkshire —- I read “your” article on the proposal to charge for LBC in addition on the planning application fees that was not mentioned in the article. I am disappointed that you decided to include the one sided article in full in the newsletter though I note that you said that you would be putting the clubs views in the next newsletter. People who look after listed buildings on behalf of the nation shouldn’t be asked to pay even more. It would be better to not require LBC for changes to items not referred to in the buildings listing – especially in the interior of grade II listed buildings. RA Member —- I am a member of the Listed Property Owners Club, having bought a Grade II listed building in a London Borough, in June 2010. I read with interest your December Listed Property News email and read the full story concerning possible future charges for Listed Buildings Consent on the website. If adding a charge for the service means the council is able to staff its department adequately in order to stick to its own time targets then I am all in favour of it. We registered our Listed Buildings Consent application with our Council at the end of July. It took them until early September to even register the application, but then informed us that we would have their answer within the statutory two-month turnaround period. After the site visit we made all the amendments they had asked for on our plans (we are turning the building back into a family home from two flats) and they informed us we would have their answer by the end of October. Only recently (14 December) did their website finally show that our consent has been approved, and we are still waiting for the paperwork. We are currently renting while we refurbish the property as we have two small children and are unable to live in the building as it is. The additional two-and-a-half months we have had to wait over the official two-month turnaround of applications has cost us over £3,000 in rent. Even with a significant charge of hundreds of pounds we would have saved money if it had meant the application could be processed on time. We felt helpless waiting for our application to stand in line behind dozens of tree-pruning applications with four tiers of management needing to rubber-stamp the conservation officer’s initial approval of our drawings. If charging is introduced, hopefully it will be accompanied by a more professional attitude that sees deadlines adhered to. CA London Please let us know your thoughts on this by e-mailing info@lpoc.co.uk

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Councils propose to charge for Listed Building Consent

UK Heritage at risk as councils subsidise planning fess: Leading local authorities with the largest number of listed buildings across the UK have joined forces to urge the Government to free them from fixed planning fees which cost taxpayers millions and in the current financial climate are unsustainable, putting the nation’s historic architecture at risk. City of Westminster reports as follows: Due to outdated rules taxpayers effectively subsidise some of the wealthiest developers in the UK as councils cannot recover their costs from handling complex planning applications. The worst affected councils, are home to some of the country’s most historic buildings, including the UNESCO world heritage site of the Palace of Westminster in London, the birthplace of William Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon, and northern Europe’s largest Gothic cathedral York – which has applied for world heritage site recognition. Council leaders have now called on the Communities and Local Government Minister of State, Greg Clark MP, to allow them to charge for listed building consents. They have warned the Government that unless they’re able to set fees to recover their costs then there would have to be cuts to the important historic building maintenance service. Westminster City Council alone spends £5m a year of taxpayers’ money subsidising half of its 10,500 planning related applications which it is not allowed to charge for. Around 20 per cent of all planning applications relate to Listed Building Consent. Other applications which do not incur a fee, a further 30% of the total in Westminster, include conservation area consents and tree preservation orders. Without the ability to charge, local taxpayers in areas with large number of listed properties will continue to pick up the bill – impacting on services already under pressure following the Comprehensive Spending Review, and putting at risk the nation’s heritage as planning departments make further cuts. In a letter sent to Minister Greg Clark, which has also been signed by eight councils including Westminster, Stratford-upon-Avon, York, Kensington and Chelsea, Birmingham, Camden, Wiltshire, and Newcastle councils, they warn: “Listed building, conservation area and tree applications require specialist staff. With local authorities being required to make significant savings over coming months, it is important to ensure this specialism is retained if we are to avoid compromising on our heritage.” Cllr Robert Davis, Westminster City Council’s Deputy Leader, who has led the campaign, said:”We believe that our campaign is in keeping with the government’s commitment to freeing local authorities of regulation and devolving power to a local level. “This is essential to ensure we and many other councils across the UK are able to retain the specialist skills required to handle complex developments, which often run into tens of millions of pounds or involve some of the country’s most sensitive sites.”We’re not going cap in hand to the Government pleading for money, we are acutely aware of the financial situation. It’s only fair that the developers who also benefit from this expertise and staff time at least cover the costs.” Under the Government’s plans to reform the planning application fee system, reform proposals look set to continue to exclude the charging fees for listed building and conservation area consents – the very areas which often require the most expertise and take the most time to handle. The campaign has also won the support of the leading figures in the property industry, with developers also stating they are willing to pay the extra money to ensure their developments are not jeopardised by a skills shortage. Robert Noel, Chairman of the Westminster Property Association, whose members number some of the largest developers in the UK including Land Securities, British Land, Great Portland Estates, Capital & Counties, Derwent London, Heron, Grosvenor, the Crown Estate and Shaftesbury, said: “Effective and efficient planning policy and development management is vital to London’s sustainability as the global exemplar. Landowners, developers and homeowners, including those with listed buildings, who wish to carry out developments or alterations to their buildings should pay for the cost of running these departments. In return, local authorities should be under a clear duty to run efficient and properly resourced departments.” The club’s view: This story has been rumbling on for a week or two now and has prompted a few letters in the Times. It is driven mainly by Westminster Council who think that developers should pay for meetings with Council officials regarding listed buildings in the same way that they do for all other development enquiries. They say it could save the rate payer money by covering the Council’s costs. Most Councils across the country have been charging for pre application meetings on non listed buildings for some time now. Most however exclude householder enquiries from their charges. Many developers are happy to pay a fee because it guarantees them a level of service which may not be guaranteed in other circumstances. My understanding is that the legislation which allows Councils to charge for their planning advice does not extend to listed buildings so new primary legislation would be required in order to implement any such change. Given the big players who appear to be pressing for change this is not out of the question but it would take a fair amount of time. There are many pro’s and cons which I could go into if you want to make this into an article but on balance it has to be a bad thing for listed building owners. Club members will of course continue to get free advice from the LPOC! We also requested the opinion of a conservation officer who said the following: This is certainly a ‘hot topic’ as I am also having to address the issue here at my own authority and I know others are doing the same. I am personally very strongly against the idea of across the board charging for LBC or other conservation related applications. I think there is enough of a burden on owners already with higher costs of repair and upkeep, and charging for applications (and possible pre-application

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