Do you know a building or green space that makes a positive contribution to the character of the borough?
Swale Borough Council is asking people to nominate local buildings, structures and green spaces to be added to a new local heritage list.
This will help promote the borough’s local heritage assets and highlight their importance to the local community.
If a building, structure or green space is designated as being of local interest, it will be given the status of heritage asset. This makes its conservation a material consideration in any planning applications.
Cllr Mike Baldock, deputy leader of the council and heritage champion, said:
“There’s a rich and diverse range of heritage assets across the borough, much of which most of us are unaware of, and which may be known to just a few people.
“But these assets are important to those local groups and communities that are aware of them, and we want to formally recognise their importance to the borough.
“They might not reach the nationally set benchmark for grade I or II listing, but they do have special interest or value to the local area.
“Being on the list will not only be taken into account when considering planning applications but will also - for the first time - create an accurate record of our local heritage assets.”
To decide if an asset can be added to the local heritage list, it will be assessed to make sure it meets specific criteria on age and integrity, historic and architectural interest, with a particular local emphasis.
All candidate buildings would need to be considered against these criteria which would be consistently applied across the borough.
The listing criteria document for the local heritage list is available at: www.swale.gov.uk/local-heritage-list
Nominations can be made at: https://swale-consult.objective.co.uk/kse and the deadline for nomination is Monday 26th June 2023.
Swale Borough Council
