Westminster's heritage assets

Westminster’s exceptional heritage dates from all eras of the city’s development and reflects Westminster’s differing roles at the heart of national life and government, as a business and commercial centre, and as home to diverse residential communities.

Alongside more recent development, these tell the story of how our city has developed and provide the rich texture that makes Westminster such an attractive place to live, work, visit, study and do business in.

The National Planning Policy Framework uses the term ‘designated heritage assets’ to refer to buildings, monuments and spaces which are selected for their heritage value and protected under a range of legislation or criteria, including listing, scheduling and inscription. Westminster's designated heritage assets include:

• Listed buildings
• Conservation areas
• Scheduled Ancient Monuments
• Westminster World Heritage Site
• Registered parks and gardens

Other buildings, structures, statues, monuments and open spaces which are not formally designated may also be of local heritage significance and a consideration in planning decision making.  

Heritage policy

Our strategy for the conservation and enhancement of Westminster’s unique Historic Environment is set out in our City Plan in particular Policy 39 Westminster's Heritage.

• See national policy advice in Planning Practice Guidance: conserving and enhancing the historic environment.
• View the Conservation Area audits, maps and other information to find out about the significance of our conservation areas and search for locally significant buildings known as unlisted buildings of merit.
• Find out about important views in the London View Management Framework and in our Metropolitan Views SPD.

Document

Metropolitan Views PDF, 26.5 MB, 74 pages

Researching heritage assets

The links below provide further information and resources for researching Westminster’s heritage and may help applicants preparing a heritage statement to support a planning application:

• Greater London Historic Environment Record (GLHER)
• Westminster Archives
• The Historic England Archive
• London Picture Archive
• Layers of London (Maps)
• Survey of London