Committee publication · Correspondence · 20 January 2026

Letter from Ben Cowell OBE, Director General, Historic Houses, regarding Listed Building Consent Orders, 9 January 2026

From: Culture, Media and Sport Committee

Summary

Ben Cowell OBE, Director General of Historic Houses, writes to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee chair urging reform of Listed Building Consent Orders (LBCOs). He argues that amending the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to enable LBCOs through negative rather than affirmative parliamentary procedure would streamline heritage regulation. He proposes a national LBCO permitting secondary glazing in grade II buildings as a pilot, with local authorities able to exempt specific buildings, reducing consent burdens while protecting higher-grade properties.

Key findings

Progressive local authorities (notably Kensington and Chelsea) have successfully used LBCOs to give listed property owners flexibility on alterations like windows and solar panels without damaging heritage value.
No national LBCO has been enacted despite being available for over a decade, primarily because affirmative parliamentary procedure required competes with primary legislation for Commons time.
Current guidance (Historic England's HEAN 18) on secondary glazing in listed buildings is equivocal, leaving owners uncertain whether consent is required and forcing unnecessary applications to local authorities.
Cowell proposes amending the 2013 Act to enable negative resolution procedure for LBCOs, with draft wording already prepared by the heritage sector and ready to implement.
A model LBCO for secondary glazing in grade II buildings only, with opt-out powers for local authorities on specific properties, would provide certainty to owners and reduce planning authority workload while protecting grade II* and above buildings.

Tone

Procedural

Topics

heritage-conservationplanning-regulationlisted-buildingsenergy-efficiencyregulatory-reform

Key actors

Ben Cowell OBE, Historic Houses, Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Emma Squire, Ian Morrison, Historic England, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Notable line

“… a change to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to make these statutory instruments possible through negative resolution would be a huge step forwards”

Key Quotes

“One or two progressive local authorities have used the Listed Building Consent Order (LBCO) approach to make things easier for the custodians of listed buildings in their areas.”
— Ben Cowell OBE · citing examples of successful local LBCO implementation

“It is frustrating that no LBCO has yet been enacted on a national level, despite this option having been on the statute book now for well over a decade.”
— Ben Cowell OBE · explaining the absence of national LBCOs

“In 2025, we (as a sector) had drafted the wording which would be needed to effect this change: it is ready and waiting to happen.”
— Ben Cowell OBE · indicating sector readiness to implement parliamentary procedure reform

“How much better it would be therefore if there was a simple, one-line national LBCO in operation along the lines "Permission is granted for any secondary glazing installation in any grade II listed building in England".”
— Ben Cowell OBE · proposing a concrete model for secondary glazing consent

“In effect, the use of national LBCOs in this way would introduce a system akin to permitted development for grade II listed buildings.”
— Ben Cowell OBE · describing the strategic outcome of the proposed reform

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗