Commentary on Sections Part 3 — Buildings of special architectural or historic interest Chapter 5 — Acquisition and preservation of buildings of special interest Section 144 — Urgent works to preserve listed building
540.Section 144(1) to (4) enables local authorities and the Welsh Ministers to carry out works that they consider urgently necessary for the preservation of listed buildings. These may include works to a building that is in residential use as long as it does not interfere unreasonably with that use. Such urgent works might include:
541.Urgent works are often intended to be short-term and designed to allow time to develop and agree long-term conservation plans for a building.
542.Subsections (5) and (6) provide that, prior to any urgent works being carried out, at least 7 days’ written notice must be given to every owner of the listed building and to every occupier (if any part of the building is in residential use). This notice must include a description of the proposed works.
543.Subsection (7) establishes that the powers in this section may not be used to carry out urgent works on: an building which is also a scheduled monument, an exempt religious building (defined in section 156) or a listed building on Crown land (defined in section 207).