Statutory Roles

Legislation

The Historic Monuments Council was first established in 1971 under the provisions of the Historic Monuments (Northern Ireland) Act 1971. Its current authority is derived from the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (the Order). Its roots rest in the Ancient Monuments Advisory Council 1926-1970.

Council's role as a statutory advisor can be summarised as follows:

• To advise on adding to or removing any monument in or from the schedule.
• To advise the DoE in the exercise of its powers under the Order and to exercise other functions conferred under Part II relating to scheduled monuments and scheduled monument consent. This also includes such matters relating to the preservation and conservation of monuments in state care, industrial heritage, defence heritage and maritime heritage.
• To advise on the disposal of any land acquired under Article 13,14, or 18 (a monument or land in the vicinity thereof).
• To advise on the making of regulations providing for application for Scheduled Monument Consent.

Policies and Development Plans (known as Area Plans)

In addition to the provisions of this legislation Council is also consulted on Planning Policy Statements (PPS) and Development Plans. It is also consulted on development control applications from time-to-time. Some of our responses to these areas of planning can be found on our consultation page. The main PPS affecting Council is PPS6 - Planning, Archaeology and the Built Heritage.

Full text of the PPSs and Development Plans can be found on the Planning Service website