In England a Certificate of Immunity from Listing, generally known as a Certificate of Immunity (COI), is a document which guarantees that a building will not be statutorily listed (added to the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

(NHLE)) or be served with a Building Preservation Notice (BPN) by the local planning authority for the succeeding five years. Such a certificate may be sought by developers of a building or site in order to establish certainty that the project is viable. The certificate is defined by Section 6 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. In England the decision to award immunity follows an assessment by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked ...

and is made by the

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department f ...

. If the application for immunity is refused then the building would normally be statutorily listed. Certificates do not prevent the creation or extension of a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

to include the building. Consent would still be needed before demolition of a certified building in this case.

References

Department of Media and Culture
Town and country planning in the United Kingdom United Kingdom planning policy {{UK-planning-stub