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Heritage crime

Heritage crime is “any offence which harms the value of England’s heritage assets and their setting to this and future generations”.

Heritage assets include:

  • Listed buildings
  • Scheduled monuments
  • World Heritage sites
  • Protected marine wreck sites
  • Conservation areas
  • Registered parks and gardens
  • Registered battlefields
  • Protected military remains of aircraft and vessels of historic value
  • Undesignated but acknowledged heritage buildings and sites

Suffolk County Council is a signatory to a Memorandum of Understanding on the Prevention, Investigation, Enforcement and Prosecution on Heritage Crime (MOU).

This is an agreement signed jointly by the Police, the Crown Prosecution Service, Historic England, and a number of local partners including local authorities, as part of an initiative to tackle heritage crime.

SCC is also a member of ARCH (Alliance to Reduce Crimes against Heritage), a national network designed to reduce the impact of crime on the enjoyment of our heritage assets.  

Report a heritage crime

If you witness or suspect incidents of heritage crime they should be reported to your local police force. Heritage crimes can be anything from unlawful metal detecting through to theft from or damage to heritage assets.

In case of emergency, for example if a heritage crime is in progress, you should call 999.

In the case of non-emergencies, for example if property has been damaged or stolen, or unlawful metal detecting has taken place, you should call the national non-emergency number 101.

Within the Ipswich Borough Council area you can report a heritage crime online through the Ipswich Borough website. 

Contact details

Further details about heritage crime initiatives and how to report a heritage crime can be found on the Historic England website.

If you require further help or advice relating to heritage crime issues in Suffolk you can contact the archaeological service.

We're based at:

Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service,
Bury Resource Centre,
Hollow Road,
Bury St Edmunds,
IP32 7AY