Independent heritage expertise
Heritage Innovation is establishing an expert witness practice, with a particular focus on planning appeals where cultural heritage is a material consideration. Dr Paul Belford is currently completing specialist expert witness training and will be available to accept instructions in the coming months.
Preliminary enquiries from solicitors, planning barristers and other legal professionals are welcome now. If you are considering an instruction, please get in touch to discuss whether Dr Belford's expertise is appropriate for your case.
Full professional biography, qualifications and publications are available
on the Dr Paul Belford FSA MCIfA profile page.
Effective expert witness evidence in heritage-related planning proceedings requires more than technical knowledge. It requires independence, analytical rigour, clear and accessible communication, and a thorough understanding of the policy and regulatory frameworks within which heritage decisions are made.
Dr Belford brings all of these qualities, developed across more than 30 years of professional practice at the highest levels of the heritage sector.
Areas of expertise directly relevant to planning appeals and heritage proceedings include:
An expert witness's primary duty is to the court or tribunal, not to the instructing party. That principle of independence is central to the way Heritage Innovation operates across all of its work — not merely as a procedural requirement, but as a professional conviction.
Dr Belford's published work on ethics and professional standards in heritage practice, including his co-authored book Ethics in Archaeological Practice (Routledge), reflects a career-long commitment to independent and transparent professional conduct.
Fees are not conditional on the outcome of any case.
Dr Paul Belford has more than 30 years of professional experience in archaeology and cultural heritage management. He began his
career managing commercial development-led archaeology in complex urban and industrial contexts, before taking senior leadership
roles in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors.
From 2000 to 2010 he led the archaeology and monuments team at Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, managing heritage assets across a UNESCO World Heritage Site and building a substantial commercial project portfolio. He subsequently served as CEO of Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust, one of Wales's four regional archaeology trusts, where he oversaw delivery of heritage services to commercial developers, local authorities and national government. He founded Heritage Innovation in 2023 and maintains a parallel academic practice, including as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Birmingham and visiting roles at the Universities of York, Chester and Bristol.
Dr Belford has served at board level for more than 20 years, including as Chair of the Black Country Living Museum, Chair of the
Historic Environment Partnership in Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, and as a Board Director of the Chartered Institute for
Archaeologists. He is a member of the National Trust's Historic Environment Advisory Group, which provides strategic advice to the
Trust's Trustees and senior management on heritage policy.
Heritage Innovation Limited
34-35 Butcher Row • Shrewsbury • SY1 1UW • United Kingdom
Company 14145049
Copyright © 2026 Heritage Innovation