Over 2,000 nominations received for Buckinghamshire’s Local Heritage List
More than 2,000 sites and assets have been nominated by local people for inclusion on Buckinghamshire’s Local Heritage List.
Using funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Buckinghamshire Council is working to improve the quality and extent of its Local Heritage List.
The Local Heritage List seeks to identify locally significant assets and celebrate their contribution to local identity and character. These assets can include historic buildings, archaeological sites, landscape features, historic parks and gardens and more. To date, over 2,000 assets have been nominated for Buckinghamshire’s Local Heritage List, including clock towers, road signs, post boxes, bridges and lamp posts, as well as the usual historic buildings, heritage assets and archaeological sites.
The Local Heritage List Project Team is now seeking volunteers to help identify and assess assets important and local to them. If you have an interest in heritage, particularly that of Buckinghamshire, and some spare time on your hands, this could be something for you!
Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration, Gareth Williams, said: “Buckinghamshire is a county that is rich with history and has many heritage assets that contribute to the local character and identity of the county and would benefit from being ‘listed’. I am pleased that so many nominations have been made and am looking forward to see which of them are selected for the final list.
“The value of maintaining a Local Heritage List has already been proven in Buckinghamshire, as we have seen planning decisions made by the Council to protect those buildings on the list being supported by independent planning inspectors.”
Gareth continued: “Volunteering with our Local Heritage team to help us compile this list is a unique opportunity to help preserve and protect some of the most important and iconic assets around the county. If you have some spare time and would like to get involved, I encourage you to sign up.”
Martin Maund, Chairman of Taplow Neighbourhood Plan Working Party who is one of the current project volunteers explained why he enjoys being involved. He said: “The Local Heritage List is such an important project as so much of our deeply valued heritage has been lost over the years. There is still so much at risk and we have to try and preserve it for the future; for our children and their children’s children. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.
“The website is straightforward to follow and is quite intuitive when making nominations with an online guide on how to use it available, and helpful questions to consider when completing Assessment Criteria sections.
“I can only commend the Heritage Team for the way they’ve set things up and the detail they’ve gone to with the system in such a short space of time. We have found dealing with them a pleasure and would like to thank the entire Heritage team for the sterling work they are doing, which they are obviously very passionate about!”
For more information on the Local Heritage List or to register your interest in volunteering visit: Home – Buckinghamshire’s Local Heritage List (local-heritage-list.org.uk) or email localheritagelist@buckinghamshire.gov.uk