Probably not the way you are imagining it. Bath has more listed buildings than most English counties manage between them. It has seven conservation areas and nine scheduled monuments. The whole city is a World Heritage Site, which is flattering until you want a rear extension with a flat roof. People do alter homes here constantly, and every one of them goes through a process first.
There are 2,537 listed buildings in the area. Of those, 105 are grade one, 133 are grade two star, and 2,299 are grade two. Listing applies to the whole building inside and out, not just the pretty front elevation, and it usually extends to anything attached to it and often to structures within the curtilage. Practically, that means listed building consent is required for anything affecting character: windows, internal walls, staircases, fireplaces, roof coverings, rooflights, external paint in some cases, and any extension at all. Doing the work without consent is a criminal offence rather than a paperwork problem, which is a distinction people discover at the worst possible moment.
Seven conservation areas sit within the area: Bath itself, plus Bathampton, Batheaston, Charlcombe, Englishcombe, Monkton Combe and Southstoke. Conservation area status brings its own consent requirements on demolition and on works to trees, and it narrows what permitted development allows even on unlisted houses. Cladding, some roof alterations, satellite dishes and certain outbuildings that would be automatic elsewhere need an application here.
There are also 9 scheduled monuments in the area. That is the strictest protection tier in the system, and it matters mainly if your land sits on or beside one, in which case consent comes from central government rather than the council.
None of this stops people building. Across the window from April 2024 to June 2026 the area saw 6,859 planning applications, with 2,973 of those in the last twelve months. Bath is not a city where nobody extends. It is a city where everybody applies.
There is a ground dimension too. Around 14% of postcodes are affected by recorded mine workings, and 109 postcodes sit directly over one. Bath's stone was quarried locally and some of it was mined rather than dug from open pits, particularly on the southern slopes. In practice that means a mining search during conveyancing and possibly a specialist ground report, and it can shape what a lender or insurer wants to see before committing. It is a due-diligence step, not a verdict on any individual building.
Two listed buildings in the area currently sit on Historic England's Heritage at Risk register. That is a small number and it describes buildings in poor condition, which can attract grant support alongside considerably more scrutiny. It is a fact about those specific structures rather than a concern for anyone buying an ordinary house nearby.
The practical position is this. If the house is unlisted and outside a conservation area, normal permitted development rights broadly apply and a modest extension is a manageable project. If it is listed, assume nothing is permitted development and budget for a conservation architect, a heritage statement and a longer timetable. If it is unlisted but inside a conservation area, you are somewhere between the two and the detail decides it. Check the listing and the conservation area boundary before you offer, not after.
Freedom to alter a home is the single worst thing about owning property in Bath. The city is beautiful precisely because somebody has been saying no for two hundred years, and that somebody now works for the council and will be reviewing your window schedule.