We have issued a detailed response to the Government’s consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system, warning that proposals to remove our statutory role would significantly weaken protections for England’s historic parks and gardens. The consultation, launched by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, runs until 13 January 2026.
In our response we argue that abolishing the requirement for Local Planning Authorities to consult on planning applications affecting sites on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest would be “directly damaging” to some of England’s most important landscapes. Registered parks and gardens receive only limited protection under current planning law, and the statutory consultation mechanism is a critical safeguard.
We have particular concern for Grade II sites, which make up almost 65% of the Register and for which we are currently the only statutory consultee. Removing our involvement would leave many of these landscapes, including some of the most accessible to the public, vulnerable to poorly informed development decisions. Our response also stresses that Local Planning Authorities do not possess the necessary specialist expertise to assess the landscape impacts of proposed developments in the absence of the Trust’s advice.
John Watkins, Chair of the Gardens Trust, said: “We will robustly contest the proposal to remove our statutory consultee role and strongly disagree that it would improve the planning system. Instead, precious parks and gardens, which have grown and developed over centuries, would be lost to communities both now and in the future. We are passionate about the role that the UK’s world-famous historic parks and gardens can play in supporting positive economic growth and healthy cohesive societies, and eager to continue to protect them.”
Our response also challenges the proposal to “notify” rather than “consult” the Trust, something which would effectively downgrade designed landscapes relative to listed buildings, which benefit from far stronger statutory protections. Removing our consultation on development affecting the setting of registered parks and gardens, a key part of their significance, would further erode safeguards.
Sir Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project and Vice-President of the Gardens Trust, also expressed deep concern. “I am both disturbed and extremely concerned by the Government’s proposal to remove the Gardens Trust as a statutory consultee,” he said. “Without the specialist advice of the Gardens Trust and its members, hard-pressed planners would be left to make important development decisions without being fully-informed. Before you know it, iconic views that we have come to love could have inappropriate buildings in them, wildlife could be deprived of the homes they have enjoyed for hundreds of years, and people could be deprived of the green spaces that they have grown up in.”
“We therefore suggest that our continued contribution is needed in the national interest, not as a policeman acting as a brake on progress, but as a guide to support and inform it.”
We are urging supporters, heritage organisations and the wider public to respond to the consultation and demonstrate the strength of opposition to the proposals.
Full details, guidance on how to respond and links to the consultation are available here.
