Nineteenth century terraced houses are a distinctive national building type, and are often interspersed with factories, mills, shops, pubs, schools and other public buildings that were built around the same time.
The majority do not receive any form of statutory protection, but their presence nevertheless helps create distinctive identity and character.
Across such areas of terraced housing, pockets of low demand housing are still prevalent in parts of the Midlands and north of England. Where this is the case, significant numbers of houses are empty and even boarded up.
This can create blight, attract anti-social behaviour and leads to significant challenges in successfully regenerating such areas.
Where the local housing market has failed in this way, local planning authorities should assess the historical and architectural significance of the housing stock, and apply this assessment in decisions over future strategy.
Where the housing stock is proven to be distinctive, retains its coherence and is valued by the local community, regeneration efforts can often be helped by an approach where existing houses are repaired and refurbished as far as possible, in order to retain an area's character and distinctiveness.