Registered Historic Landscape
Mapped Welsh countryside of outstanding or special interest
A Registered Historic Landscape is an area of countryside, parkland, coastline or river valley of outstanding or special historic interest. Cadw compiles the Register of Landscapes of Historic Interest in Wales. The register is non-statutory, so it is a planning consideration rather than a consent regime. Wales alone keeps such a register; the other UK nations have no counterpart.
What This Means
Nothing extra is required of you to own or occupy a home here. Redecorating, repairs and normal garden upkeep sit outside the register entirely. It carries weight only when you apply for planning permission, and only for what the wider landscape can see. Extensions, new outbuildings, visible exterior changes and reshaping of the grounds are judged with the landscape's historic character in mind. You may be asked to explain the effect on that landscape in your application. This does not normally affect mortgage approval, buildings insurance or resale.
Practical Advice
- Have your conveyancer confirm whether this plot lies inside the registered landscape or merely near it.
- Ask your conveyancer to flag any listing, conservation area or Article 4 direction that overlaps the plot.
- Ask the local planning authority's conservation officer for pre-application advice before designing any visible external work.
- Check the Cadw historic assets map for the registered landscape's boundary at this address.
Key Points
- Wales has 58 registered landscapes, among them the Gwent Levels and the Blaenavon industrial landscape.
- Developments of more than local importance can need a formal ASIDOHL assessment of their landscape effect; a house extension never does.
Additional Information
Most real restrictions on a home here come from designations that overlap the register. A listed building, a conservation area, an Article 4 direction or a tree preservation order each brings consents that the register itself does not.