A taste of things to come

[gwyl]

180. In determining applications, local planning authorities should require an applicant to describe the significance of any heritage assets affected, including any contribution made by their setting.

The level of detail should be proportionate to the assets? importance and no more than is sufficient to understand the potential impact of the proposal on their significance.

As a minimum the relevant historic environment record should have been consulted and the heritage assets assessed using appropriate expertise where necessary.

Where an application site includes or has the potential to include heritage assets with archaeological interest, local planning authorities should require developers to submit an appropriate desk-based assessment and, where necessary, a field evaluation.

it all seems to be much as Unit wants in NPPF; and the great thing is, i feel, that it places an onus on employing 'appropriate expertise' be it for DBAs or fieldwork, or by implication any other form of intervention/advice and that the applicant ought to provide the necessary information as some form of a heritage impact statement - flagging this up on application forms would seem to be a bit of a given, so, yes, why isn't it?