Updating the Historic Environment Policy for Scotland 2026 - Public Consultation

Overview

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is seeking your input on the updated Historic Environment Policy for Scotland (HEPS).

HEPS is a national policy which provides direction for decision making that affects the historic environment. It was originally published in 2019 and based on longstanding conservation principles and understanding of cultural significance. We are updating HEPS to ensure it is fit for purpose to enable good decision making and considers social, economic, legal and climate changes.

We recommend you download a copy of the draft policy to review ahead of completing this survey. Download the draft policy.

What's changed?

We want to hear your thoughts and ideas about the proposed updates to this policy.

This draft has been shaped by the Talking About Heritage project completed earlier this year. This public engagement project invited people across Scotland to share what heritage means to them and how it should be looked after. 

We have also incorporated feedback shared with us via a pre-drafting consultation. This included a stakeholder survey on the current policy document and potential areas for improvement.

The key updates include:

• Making the role of HEPS in decision making clearer, including clarifying its relationship with the National Planning Framework 4, and other policies and guidance.
• Improving the clarity and accessibility of the document through simplifying language and structure
• Embedding considerations for the climate and nature crises and centring access and people’s interactions with the historic environment throughout the document

How else can I get involved?

You can provide feedback by completing this short online survey. If you prefer, you can download the full set of consultation questions in advance. If you would like a copy of the draft policy and associated consultation questions in a different format, please let us know.

We are also hosting two online workshops in November. Each workshop will include a presentation about how we approached updating HEPS, an opportunity to provide feedback on the draft document, and a discussion on considerations for policy implementation. You can sign up for the workshops here.