Not so much English Heritage as the self-appointed 'conservationists' who's sole purpose in life appears to be to look for applications and then quite literally arrive outside and try to look for themselves what is proposed. Have chased quite a few of these idiots off of my neighbour's land where he is applying to make an old uninhabitable listed building habitable again.
I think most are in practice actually. Otherwise the job would be impossble. It just that if he/she isn't one has quite a battle ahead arguing about what can and cannot be altered.