A joint bid by Dorset Council and BCP Council for funds to create a list of local heritage assets has been successful. A total of £70,000 has been secured from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
The money will fund a project to create a Local Heritage List for each council. The lists will be compiled using information gathered from Dorset residents and local partners through a digital form. The information will be available online and used in planning decisions affecting identified assets across the county.
The scheme will start with a public survey to collect communities’ views on the campaign and their local heritage. This information will be used, alongside Historic England guidance, to help shape the criteria for inclusion on the Local Heritage Lists and nominate buildings, monuments, sites, places, areas and landscapes.
An extensive and wide-ranging Community Engagement Strategy will involve local people, of all ages and backgrounds, to understand what they value about their local heritage and why, and what threats it faces.
The campaign will leave in place a process for keeping the Lists updated with new nominations according to a clear set of criteria or to reflect other changes to the identified assets.
The Local Heritage Lists will be easily accessible through a public free-to-use interactive mapping platform, which will be updated as changes and additions are made. The lists will also be made accessible through the authority websites as an illustrated document and added to the Dorset Historic Environment Record.
Cllr David Walsh, Dorset Council’s Portfolio holder for Planning, said:
“This is great news. It is very important that we help to promote and protect local heritage and forge stronger connections between people and their local areas, at a time when we are reconnecting with what surrounds us and valuing it more than ever.”
Councillor Philip Broadhead, BCP Council Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Economy and Strategic Planning and Deputy Leader of the Council said:
“We are really pleased to be working together with our colleagues at Dorset Council on this great project, which will engage our local communities in highlighting what local heritage they value near them.
“It’s really timely to be recognising what we have on our doorsteps, after a year of restrictions meaning many of us have stayed local.
Dorset’s economy relies on our historic towns, seaside resorts, villages and landscapes to draw hundreds of thousands of tourists every year – it’s part of what makes our area so special.”
The project is due to start later this year.
Will this have any teeth? St Martin’s in Gillingham was marked as a local heritage asset in the Neighbourhood Plan, and then sold by the council without proper consultation, demolished, and the site has been left to fester ever since. it would be reassuring to feel that those involved in that decision would be excluded from being able to influence further such decisions in Gillingham, but the same names seem still to be involved
I would like to nominate the Original 12th century Chapelhay Steps in Weymouth.
They were the main thoroughfare from Weymouth town up to the Chapelhay area for centuries where the main parish church was situated and also, a pivotal point in the Battle of Weymouth on the 27th February 1645, in which 500 people were killed. They were to be protected as a means of escape by the outnumbered Parliamentarians commanded by Colonel William Sydenham who went on to be Cromwell’s right hand man.
The steps were lost in undergrowth for years and are now under great threat from tree growth which is growing up through them.
They stand on private ground, but the owner is very happy to have my small group in to maintain them, as we do.
They are a big chunk of wonderful stonework from the same century as Richard the Lionheart and seriously need saving and listing.
I would like to nominate the Original 12th century Chapelhay Steps in Weymouth.
They were the main thoroughfare from Weymouth town up to the Chapelhay area for centuries where the main parish church was situated and also, a pivotal point in the Battle of Weymouth on the 27th February 1645, in which 500 people were killed. They were to be protected as a means of escape by the outnumbered Parliamentarians commanded by Colonel William Sydenham who went on to be Cromwell’s right hand man.
The steps were lost in undergrowth for years and are now under great threat from tree growth which is growing up through them.
They stand on private ground, but the owner is very happy to have my small group in to maintain them, as we do.
They are a big chunk of wonderful stonework from the same century as Richard the Lionheart and seriously need saving and listing.
Hi Mark – I have passed your comment onto the team. The project hasn’t started yet, but they will keep your comment until it does. Fiona
Forgive the cynicism, but what will compiling a list achieve? What will £70.000 buy? How long will that last; will it be renewed each year to keep the list updated? This amount will pay two peoples salaries maybe for one year to do what? There is already a list – a very long one – of properties in Dorset that are “listed” by English Heritage, that are derelict as no one bothers to pursue owners for even basic repairs. Perhaps the public should be asked to choose one building, then spend the £70.000 on taking the owners to court.
I agree with the comments about the listed buildings but would like to say that one of the reasons these buildings are not looked after is because owners hands are tied to enable them to make them usable for the 21st century – I am particularly referring to housing.
Well meant but ill judged. Will only add to the cost of managing the County’s heritage assets and there is no evidence that locally listing buildings has any effect on future development.