England’s ‘local heritage list’ campaign: call for expressions of interest – £700K, closing 13/11

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) has launched a call for expressions of interest for local heritage lists: with £700,000 of funding to councils in 10 English county areas to develop new or updated local lists and the closing date is 13 November.

image: for illustration purposes only – Joanna Theobald

The campaign will encourage communities to nominate historic buildings and other heritage assets…

…Robert Jenrick MP said: ‘This will empower local people to protect thousands of historic buildings…

MHCLG writes:

This campaign encourages communities to nominate those locally important historic buildings which they value most for inclusion in their local authority’s local list.

In October 2019, the government announced the most ambitious local heritage campaign for decades. The campaign will encourage communities to nominate historic buildings and other heritage assets which they value most for inclusion in their council’s local list, helping to protect them through the planning system.

To support the campaign, the government is providing £700,000 of funding to councils in 10 English county areas to develop new or updated local lists.

The government is inviting expressions of interest from local authorities keen to take part in the campaign and work up projects.

Charles O’Brien, a leading architectural historian, commissioner at Historic England and editor of the Pevsner Architectural Guides, working closely with Historic England, will make recommendations to the government on the areas to receive a share of the funding and work with those selected to support the creation of new and updated local lists.

The funding is intended to support projects which involve a county-wide approach to developing local lists. We will, however, consider other proposals, for example, from civic/heritage groups and local historic building societies, provided there is a lead authority working in partnership with other groups.

Authorities should submit their expression of interest to localheritage@communities.gov.uk by 23:59 on Friday 13 November 2020.

Expressions of interest will be considered by the independent adviser alongside advice from Historic England on areas of particular need. An announcement on the successful schemes is expected later in November.

Communities Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

“This will empower local people to protect thousands of historic buildings and preserve them for generations.

“Getting more buildings listed isn’t just about keeping a building intact – it keeps a community’s identity thriving.”