As you will know, the Government has launched its consultation including the removal of the Gardens Trust as a statutory consultee at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforms-to-the-statutory-consultee-system/reforms-to-the-statutory-consultee-system Please consider responding to the consultation – your expertise will be useful, and it is also important that we show the Government how many people care about this issue. The consultation will run until 13th January 2026. The Gardens Trust response has been put together by a small expert group and I hope you will take the time to read it at https://thegardenstrust.org/support-us/consultation/. Our key points include: Emphasising that the statutory consultation requirement is an important provision within the limited protections that Registered parks and gardens have. Removing that is directly damaging, by reducing specialist input to the consideration of planning proposals and indirectly damaging, by signalling that parks and gardens are being ‘downgraded’ as heritage assets. Grave concern for the future of Grade II Registered parks and gardens (64.7% of all 1700 Registered parks and gardens) Contesting the proposal to notify rather than consult the Gardens Trust. This misguided and clumsy attempt to align Registered parks and gardens with listed buildings instead places them with lower protection because listed buildings are subject to greater protection, including: Statutory duties for local planning authorities to have special regard to the desirability of preserving the listed building or its setting in the consideration of applications for both listed building consent and planning permission A dedicated consent regime: listed building consent is required for works which would affect the character of a listed building Identification of failure to obtain listed building consent where needed as a criminal offence. Contesting the proposal to notify the Gardens Trust only on applications within the Registered boundary, thus removing protection for the setting of parks and gardens, which can be key to the significance of sites. Local planning authorities (LPAs) do not have the expertise to handle park and garden casework without guaranteed specialist input. The cost of all local planning authorities having to deliver the service currently provided by the Gardens Trust themselves is estimated at £3,692,846 per annum. (In 2024/25, the Gardens Trust received a grant of £43,963 from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to deliver its statutory consultee role.) The disparity in the protection of Registered parks and gardens compared to listed buildings (both of which heritage assets are statutory designations, and of ‘special interest’) could be addressed in part by the commencement of section. 102 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. This would introduce a statutory duty to have special regard to the desirability of preserving or enhancing registered parks or gardens or their setting. This is noted as a possibility in the consultation document and is strongly sought by the Gardens Trust. Please feel free to use the GT response as a basis for your own, but be aware that one that is clearly different will be more powerful than one copied so we have produced a document of key points to help draft your response, if you wish, and you will find fuller details within our own response. You will see that the consultation includes both a simple question around whether you support or oppose the proposal and even a simple ‘vote’ here with minimal other detail would be helpful. I would be grateful if you could save and send us a copy of your response, to enquiries@thegardenstrust.org, in order to help us hold the Government to account in its final decision. You can also help by: Sharing the consultation and our response with others. You could do this by forwarding this email, and/or by sharing our social media posts (we are @thegardenstrust on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok). Write to your MP, highlighting our response, giving your thoughts, and asking that they proactively ensure that the Government pays due regard to the consultation evidence and responses in making its decision. Advice and tools for writing to your MP are at https://thegardenstrust.org/what-we-do/statutory-consultee/ Donating to the Fighting Fund, in order to help with the challenges ahead – https://thegardenstrust.org/support-us/donate-online/ Please do get in touch if you have any questions or offers of help, but forgive us if our tiny team is slow to respond at this time. Your support is very much appreciated. With very many thanks, Linden Groves Director, the Gardens Trust |
