Listed building consent drawings for Salford — measured as existing, proposed in the same detail, and supported by a heritage statement that answers Salford City Council's conservation officer on the terms the 1990 Act actually sets.
Salford City Council granted 90% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 3 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Large parts of Worsley, Boothstown and the north-west sit in Green Belt, where extensions face the openness test rather than ordinary householder policy, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901), Edwardian (1901–1910), interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
The permitted-development ceilings are fixed: 40m³ of new roof volume for a terraced loft and 50m³ for a semi or detached house under Class B, plus a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house under Class A. Salford carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Ellesmere Park, The Cliff and Worsley Village remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Salford is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Eccles (Victorian suburb wrapping the affluent Ellesmere Park conservation area), Worsley (the historic Worsley Village conservation area on the Bridgewater Canal), Swinton (interwar and postwar semi-detached estates), Monton (Victorian villas around the Monton Green conservation area), Ordsall (Victorian terraces and redeveloped streets near the Quays) and Higher Broughton (Victorian villas and cobbled streets in The Cliff conservation area) — these are the Salford pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Ellesmere Park, The Cliff, Worsley Village, Monton Green, The Crescent and Roe Green. Salford City Council weighs each proposal against the Salford Local Plan: Development Management Policies and Designations (adopted 2023) and the Places for Everyone joint Greater Manchester plan, where flood risk along the River Irwell and Salford's brooks pulls sequential and mitigation questions into riverside schemes. Converted period houses and canal-side apartments are common around Broughton and the Quays, and flats carry no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is gabled, slate pitched roofs on the terraces and hipped roofs on the interwar semis, over Victorian and Edwardian brick terraces around Ordsall, Pendleton and Weaste, grand Victorian and Edwardian villas in Ellesmere Park and The Cliff, interwar and postwar semi-detached houses across Swinton and Walkden and new-build apartments at Salford Quays and along the Irwell.
Listing protects the whole building, not the front elevation. Removing a partition, replacing a staircase balustrade, changing a floor finish, or lining a wall with insulation are all alterations to special interest, and all can require consent. That surprises owners far more often than the external rules do — and it is why the first deliverable on a listed project is an accurate record of what is there, not a proposal for what replaces it.
Salford sits within an area of Victorian and Edwardian brick terraces around Ordsall, Pendleton and Weaste, grand Victorian and Edwardian villas in Ellesmere Park and The Cliff, interwar and postwar semi-detached houses across Swinton and Walkden and new-build apartments at Salford Quays and along the Irwell, and its designated heritage includes Ellesmere Park, The Cliff, Worsley Village, Monton Green, The Crescent and Roe Green. Conservation-area designation and listing are different things and frequently overlap: a listed house inside a conservation area needs consent for internal work under the listing, and is judged on its contribution to the wider area under the designation. We establish both before proposing anything.
Section 16(2) of the 1990 Act requires Salford City Council to have special regard to the desirability of preserving the building, its setting and any features of special architectural or historic interest. In practice that means the drawings must show what is being lost as clearly as what is being gained, and the case for the intervention must be made on heritage terms rather than on convenience.
Consent from Salford City Council is required for works affecting special interest. That commonly includes:
We survey the building as existing at a level of detail that lets a conservation officer see the fabric, then draw the proposal in the same detail alongside a heritage statement — so the decision is made on evidence rather than on assumption.
Below is Salford City Council's real decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Salford grants a high share of householder applications, with Green Belt openness to the west and conservation-area character in the Victorian suburbs the main constraints. Listed applications are decided on the quality of the record and the justification, which is where most refusals actually originate.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, England, 1 April 2025 - 31 March 2026). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
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Across Eccles, Worsley and Swinton, the schemes that get consent tend to be reversible, legible and honest: new work that reads as new rather than as imitation, services routed in existing chases rather than cut into original fabric, and interventions concentrated in later or lower-significance parts of the building. Rear additions in a contemporary idiom are often accepted where a pastiche extension is refused.
Large parts of Worsley, Boothstown and the north-west sit in Green Belt, where extensions face the openness test rather than ordinary householder policy. Where planning permission is needed as well — for an extension, say — the two applications run in parallel and are usually determined together. We prepare them as a single coordinated set so the heritage case and the planning case do not contradict each other, which is a surprisingly common reason for a refusal on an otherwise sound scheme.
We prepare listed building consent packs across Salford. A few of the areas where heritage work comes up most often:
Listed building consent drawings for Eccles — Victorian suburb wrapping the affluent Ellesmere Park conservation area — surveyed as existing and drawn to the detail Salford City Council's conservation officer needs.
Listed building consent drawings for Worsley — the historic Worsley Village conservation area on the Bridgewater Canal — surveyed as existing and drawn to the detail Salford City Council's conservation officer needs.
Listed building consent drawings for Swinton — interwar and postwar semi-detached estates — surveyed as existing and drawn to the detail Salford City Council's conservation officer needs.
Listed building consent drawings for Monton — Victorian villas around the Monton Green conservation area — surveyed as existing and drawn to the detail Salford City Council's conservation officer needs.
Listed building consent drawings for Ordsall — Victorian terraces and redeveloped streets near the Quays — surveyed as existing and drawn to the detail Salford City Council's conservation officer needs.
Listed building consent drawings for Higher Broughton — Victorian villas and cobbled streets in The Cliff conservation area — surveyed as existing and drawn to the detail Salford City Council's conservation officer needs.
They are separate consents with different tests, and many projects need both.
| Consent | What it covers | Fee | Consequence of proceeding without it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listed building consent | Works affecting special interest, internal and external | None | Criminal offence under section 9 of the 1990 Act |
| Planning permission | Development — extensions, outbuildings, use changes | Payable | Enforcement action; may become immune after 10 years |
| Conservation area consent context | Demolition and character in a designated area | Varies | Enforcement; prosecution for unauthorised demolition |
| Building regulations | Structure, fire, insulation, ventilation | Payable | Enforcement notice; problems on sale |
Sources: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, sections 7, 9 and 16(2); Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
A process built around what a conservation officer actually assesses.
Send us the address and the listing entry. We confirm grade, what the listing covers, whether curtilage structures are caught, and how Salford City Council has treated comparable schemes.
We survey as existing in real detail — plans, elevations, sections and the features that carry the significance — because a proposal cannot be assessed against a record that does not exist.
We draw the proposal in matching detail and write the heritage statement that identifies significance, impact and justification in the terms section 16(2) requires.
We submit to Salford City Council, engage with the conservation officer, and revise the drawings free until the decision is issued.
Frequently, yes. Listing covers the whole building, so removing a partition, altering a staircase, replacing joinery or re-plastering historic surfaces can all require consent from Salford City Council. There is no internal exemption and no size threshold. The safe route is to establish what is significant before work is designed, which is what the measured survey is for.
Carrying out unauthorised works to a listed building is a criminal offence under section 9 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, and it does not become lawful with the passage of time the way some planning breaches do. Salford City Council can require reinstatement. Where work has already happened, an application for retrospective consent is usually the right first step, and we can advise on it.
No. Listed building consent applications carry no application fee, which sometimes leads owners to assume the process is lighter than a planning application. It is not — the evidence expected is greater, because the decision rests on the effect on special interest rather than on amenity, and an under-documented submission is the most common cause of delay. This applies to your Salford address specifically. Salford City Council is the decision-maker.
If the work is also development — an extension, an outbuilding, a change of use — then yes, and the two applications run in parallel to Salford City Council. Internal alterations usually need only listed building consent. Where both are required we prepare them as one coordinated set, because inconsistencies between the two submissions are a recurring reason for delay.
Sometimes, but rarely with modern units. Historic windows are often the single most significant surviving feature, and replacement is judged on the condition of the existing joinery and the accuracy of what replaces it — glazing bar profile, glass type, opening method and reveal depth all matter. Repair and secondary glazing are usually the route that gains consent, particularly inside designated areas such as Ellesmere Park and The Cliff. This applies to your Salford address specifically. Salford City Council is the decision-maker.
The statutory target is eight weeks from validation for most applications, and thirteen for larger schemes. In practice the timetable is set by how complete the submission is: a conservation officer who has to ask what the existing fabric looks like will take longer than one who can see it. We submit a record that answers those questions upfront. This applies to your Salford address specifically. Salford City Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Salford listed project individually, because the survey effort depends entirely on the building's complexity and how much of the fabric the work touches, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers survey, drawings and heritage statement, with free revisions until Salford City Council decides. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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