Conservation and heritage advice

Cheltenham’s historic environment is very valuable and benefits from many listed buildings, conservation areas with associated character area management plans and appraisals. Development of a listed building, development within the setting of a listed building or in the conservation area need to preserve and enhance the heritage assets and the environment. It is therefore important that proposals are carefully planned and thought out before applications are made.

Conservation and heritage surgeries

Our conservation and heritage surgery is currently unavailable. This service is currently under review. If you require conservation advice, please submit an application for pre-application advice (see below).

Conservation and heritage pre-applications

We offer the following services for pre-application conservation / listed building advice:

  • written response
  • meeting and written response
  • site visit and written response

Please note: meetings will be held virtually (either by telephone or via video call) and any meeting or site visit will last no more than 30 minutes.

To use the service, you'll need to complete a pre-application form, provide the required information, pay the relevant fee, and to submit to us for processing.  A pre-application submission will only be valid once we've received all relevant information and payment. Officers will then strive to provide a written response with 15 working days of a valid submission.

If you need specialist heritage and conservation advice for other development that needs planning permission or advertisement consent, our conservation officers can provide feedback on your proposal, and will ensure you get a comprehensive response to your pre-application submission. Please note you will need to pay an additional fee if you have asked for conservation comments in connection with other development.

The relevant fees for the different levels of service can be found in our fee schedule.

How to request the service

For more information on how to book an appointment, how to make payment and how to submit the necessary information, visit our page about submitting a request for pre-application advice.

Further information

Further information, advice and guidance on heritage matters can also be found on our conservation web pages.