The following is to keep you up to date on changes to our role in the planning process.
Dear County Gardens Trusts Chairs, Main Contacts, Planning Volunteers
You may see in the media that the Government is today announcing that the Gardens Trust’s role as a statutory consultee in the English planning system is being removed. Thanks to our collective efforts over the past year, some protection for historic parks and gardens will still be provided by our being notified of planning applications within parks and gardens but it is of deep concern that this will not include applications affected the setting of these special places.
You can read a full statement on our website at https://thegardenstrust.org/removal-of-statutory-consultee-role/. The Government announcement will be published later today athttps://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforms-to-the-statutory-consultee-system
We understand the intention is for legislative change to take place over the autumn and be in place by end-2026 in order to achieve the notification requirement.
This is of course a deeply unsettling and disappointing development for us all. Over the coming days, weeks and months we will be discussing how to make the new system work operationally with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government; the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Historic England. As you will appreciate, this will be an extremely complex piece of work but we will keep you updated as much as possible. Please rest assured that we have absolutely no intention to stop fighting to protect historic parks and gardens, and that County Gardens Trusts will continue to be key to this.
The past year has been an incredibly difficult one, and more challenges lie ahead. Today’s news is disappointing, but much has been achieved in the past year, not least of which is the unprecedented profile and support that the Gardens Trust movement now has, and the unity and determination with which we go forward.
We simply cannot thank you enough for all that you do, and all the support that County Gardens Trusts have shown over the past year. We could not be a stronger team to take next steps together.
We realise that you will have lots of questions but at this stage we simply don’t have the answers so will be working hard to get these. We will be back in touch as soon as there is more to share.
In the meantime, a key calendar date is our conference New Town Landscapes on 23-24th September, which is an opportunity to showcase our ability to support and inform positive new development. Do please join us and show your support, via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-historic-landscapes-assembly-2026-tickets-1991306267651?aff=oddtdtcreator
Do please feel free to share this with your members. We will let you know if there is more they can do, but for now, as ever, are still seeking donations to help with this situation, via https://thegardenstrust.org/support-us/donate-online/
With very many thanks,
Linden
Linden Groves
Director, the Gardens Trust