The Gardens Trust is a statutory consultee in the English planning system. This means that local authorities have to consult us on any planning applications that affect gardens and landscapes listed on Historic England’s Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest.
In March 2025 the government announced that it was considering removing our role as statutory consultee, a move which will put parks and gardens at greater risk of damage and total destruction.
The Gardens Trust, formerly the Garden History Society, has been a statutory consultee since 1995 and responds to applications affecting sites on the Register at all Grades – Grade I, II* and II. Grade II sites make up c65% of Registered sites.
The government has said that there are problems around statutory consultees such as:
- failing to engage proactively;
- taking too long to provide their advice;
- re-opening issues that have already been dealt with in local plans;
- submitting automatic holding objections which are then withdrawn at a late stage; and
- submitting advice that seeks gold-plated outcomes, going beyond what is necessary to make development acceptable in planning terms.
The Gardens Trust does not recognize the Government’s description of statutory consultees in relation to our work – we respond to consultations in a timely manner, offering constructive pragmatic advice to local planning authorities, with objections in only a tiny minority of cases.
Read more about our response to the governments announcement:
- Our response to the government’s intention to consult on removing it as a statutory consultee – The Gardens Trust
- Historic gardens are at risk
You can also read our latest press releases via our Media Centre.
We need your help
There are different ways you can help us from raising awareness to writing a letter of support to donating.
- Personal letters can have a big impact. Consider writing a letter to your local MP in support of our role.
- Organisations can help by writing letters in support of our work to protect parks and gardens.
- Consider donating to help with legal costs, advocacy, PR campaigns and staff time and resources which will help us fight these proposals.
- Respond to the government’s public consultation when it is launched in the coming months.
- Or support us for free by signing up to our monthly ebulletin or following us on social media @thegardenstrust. By doing do you’ll be the first to hear when the public consultation goes live.
Thank you for your support.
