The government has recently awarded funding to 23 local authorities to create, improve or expand their local heritage list. These lists recognise heritage sites of local significance and give them some protection. Historic England requires councils to involve the local community in identifying sites to include. So this is an unmissable chance to nominate important landscapes which you think should be recognised and protected.
Local heritage lists
Around half of all local planning authorities have produced lists of heritage assets, which are non-designated but locally important historic buildings and sites. Not all of these lists are adopted as part of the Local Plan, but inclusion on the list is a material consideration when the local planning authority (LPA) is deciding on a planning application. This is because inclusion of a heritage asset on the local heritage list means that its conservation is an objective of National Planning Policy.
Campaign funding
The Government has awarded funding of £1.5m for this local heritage list campaign to 23 local authorities so that they can create, improve or expand their local list. Historic England says that councils must involve the local community in identifying sites to include on the list. So this campaign, which finishes at the end of the year, is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to tell your local council about the unregistered historic parks, gardens or other designed landscapes which you think should be recognised as significant heritage assets and included on the list.
If you live in one of the areas listed below, then why not team up with your local Gardens Trust (find your CGT here) and submit your suggestions to your local council. The successful areas are:
- The Black Country
- Buckinghamshire
- Cambridgeshire
- Cheshire
- Cornwall
- Cotswolds (Cotswold, Forest of Dean, West Oxfordshire)
- County Durham
- Cumbria
- Dorset
- Gloucestershire (Gloucester, Tewkesbury)
- Greater Manchester
- Hampshire
- Lancashire
- Lincolnshire
- Merseyside (Knowsley, Sefton and Wirral)
- Milton Keynes
- Peterborough
- Surrey
- Somerset
- South Yorkshire
- Tyne and Wear
- West Yorkshire
More details and guidance can be found on the government website here.
