Heritage Coast and Planning in England

 

A Heritage Coast is a nationally recognised stretch of largely undeveloped coastline managed for its special character, natural beauty, wildlife, heritage and public enjoyment. England has 32 Heritage Coasts.

The slightly unusual point is that Heritage Coasts are defined rather than designated. There is no statutory designation process equivalent to a National Park or National Landscape. Their planning importance instead comes from national planning policy, local development plans and, in many places, overlapping statutory landscape or nature designations.

The August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework now contains a dedicated national decision-making policy, N5, on maintaining the character of the coast.

 

What is a Heritage Coast?

 

Heritage Coasts were established to conserve the best stretches of undeveloped coast in England. A Heritage Coast is defined by agreement between the relevant maritime local authorities and Natural England.

Natural England describes their purposes as conserving, protecting and enhancing the natural beauty of the coastline, its terrestrial and marine wildlife and its heritage features; helping the public enjoy and understand the coast; supporting appropriate environmental management of inshore waters; and taking account of agriculture, forestry, fishing and the needs of small coastal communities.

They are therefore broader than a view from a single viewpoint. The planning interest can include landscape character, tranquillity, habitats, historic features, access, settlement pattern and the undeveloped quality of the coast.

 

Heritage Coast is defined, not statutorily designated

 

This is one of those planning distinctions that matters. A Heritage Coast does not have the same statutory designation machinery as a National Landscape or National Park.

That does not make it a decorative line on a map. The NPPF gives Heritage Coast specific national policy protection, and local plans can contain policies reflecting the area’s special character. Development may also engage separate statutory duties where the Heritage Coast overlaps a National Landscape, National Park, SSSI, habitats site or heritage designation.

Always identify which constraints overlap. The Heritage Coast label may be only one part of the planning picture.

 

What does NPPF 2026 policy N5 say?

 

Policy N5 is headed Maintaining the character of the coast. It says development proposals should maintain the character of undeveloped coastal areas, including land designated for landscape, habitat or heritage value, while improving public access where appropriate. Development should not hinder completion and maintenance of the King Charles III England Coast Path.

For Heritage Coast which does not already fall within a Protected Landscape, proposals should be consistent with the special character of the area and the importance of its conservation.

The policy goes further for major development: major development within areas defined as Heritage Coast should not be supported unless it is compatible with the special character of the area.

Where a Heritage Coast lies inside a Protected Landscape, the separate NPPF policy for those landscapes is also critical and normally provides the stronger statutory-policy framework.

 

Does Heritage Coast mean no development?

 

No. The policy is not a complete prohibition on development. A modest building serving a coastal community is plainly different from a large scheme which urbanises an undeveloped headland.

The central planning question is whether the proposal maintains the character of the coast and, for Heritage Coast, whether it is consistent with the area’s special character and conservation. Scale, siting, design, visibility, lighting, access, landscape change and cumulative development can all matter.

Major development faces a much more difficult policy test. Compatibility with the special character of the Heritage Coast is not something that can usually be demonstrated by screening alone if the development fundamentally changes the character that the area is intended to conserve.

 

What is the special character of a Heritage Coast?

 

There is no single national checklist which gives every Heritage Coast the same character. The relevant local plan, landscape character evidence, protected-landscape management plan where applicable, Heritage Coast management material and site-specific assessment should identify the qualities that matter.

Depending on the place, those qualities might include:

• open and undeveloped coastal skylines
• cliffs, dunes, estuaries, heathland or grazing landscapes
• historic settlement patterns and traditional buildings
• views along and towards the coast
• tranquillity, remoteness and dark skies
• important habitats and species
• geological and geomorphological features
• public access and the experience of the coast path

The right evidence should be proportionate to the proposal. Larger or visually prominent schemes may require a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment.

 

Heritage Coast and National Landscapes or National Parks

 

Most Heritage Coast is also within a National Landscape or National Park. Where that happens, do not treat the Heritage Coast policy in isolation.

Protected Landscapes have their own statutory purposes and duties as well as NPPF policy N4. A proposal may therefore need to satisfy both the development plan and the national policy relating to the Protected Landscape, with the Heritage Coast helping to identify the coastal character and conservation interest of the place.

For land outside those statutory landscapes, Heritage Coast policy has particular importance because N5 supplies a national decision-making test specifically for the defined coastal area.

 

Development outside the Heritage Coast boundary

 

A scheme does not become irrelevant merely because the red line sits just beyond the mapped Heritage Coast. Planning decisions can consider effects on landscape character and views beyond a site’s boundary, particularly where a large, tall, illuminated or otherwise prominent development would change the experience of an undeveloped coast.

The precise weight will depend on the development plan, the landscape evidence and the actual effect. Avoid inventing a statutory “buffer zone” where none exists; assess the real relationship between the proposal and the coast.

 

Coastal change and flood risk

 

Landscape protection is only one part of coastal planning. NPPF policy N5 cross-refers to policy F9 where a proposal is within a Coastal Change Management Area.

Coastal development can also raise erosion, flooding, shoreline-management and access issues. Our flood zones guide explains the separate planning framework for flood risk, although coastal erosion and change require their own site-specific assessment.

 

What should an applicant check?

 

• confirm whether the site is within or affects a Heritage Coast
• identify any overlapping National Landscape, National Park, SSSI, habitats site or heritage designation
• read the current local-plan policy and policies map
• identify the special landscape and coastal characteristics that the policy is protecting
• check effects on public access and the England Coast Path
• consider views, lighting, tranquillity and cumulative change as well as the building footprint
• check whether the site is within a Coastal Change Management Area
• provide proportionate landscape and ecological evidence before the design is fixed

 

Official guidance and data

 

Natural England – Heritage coasts: definition, purpose and role

Planning Data – Heritage Coast dataset

Planning Practice Guidance – Natural environment

Conservation, Heritage & Protected Sites

 

Heritage Coast Page Created: 27th August 2026