Who is responsible for designation?
Table of contents
Who is responsible for designation?
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These national designations are:
Scheduled monuments
Listed buildings
Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes
Inventory of historic battlefields
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
We use the word ‘designate’ when talking about all designations. If we are talking about listed buildings or scheduled monuments specifically, we will normally say ‘list’ or ‘schedule’. For gardens and designed landscapes and battlefields, we often say ‘include on the Inventory’.
Local authorities are responsible for designating areas of special architectural or historic interest as conservation areas. By law, Historic Environment Scotland may also designate conservation areas, but we would only consider doing so in the most exceptional circumstances. Our website has further information about designating a conservation area.
Designation of World Heritage Sites is by UNESCO, who inscribe them on the World Heritage list. Nominations are put forward through the UK Government. On behalf of Scottish Ministers we advise parties preparing their nominations, once those parties have secured their site a place on the UK Tentative List.
