A new app has been launched to enable the public to pinpoint those places they would like to see safeguarded. Photos and location details can be uploaded from phones, laptops and tablets, and it is hoped the app will encourage young people to take part while out and about by nominating anything from a park to a pub, garden, house or historic street sign. You can find the app at: Cumbria Local List (allerdale.gov.uk).   

Cumbria secured £70,000 from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for its county-wide Local Heritage Listing campaign. The Government’s £1.5 million campaign is designed to help protect the “commonplace or everyday” heritage assets valued by people locally but with no existing protection under planning law. Cumbria’s campaign roll-out is being led by conservation and planning specialists at SLDC and the partner organisations. Nominations will be considered in spring 2022.   

Councillor Marion Fitzgerald, Executive member and portfolio holder for Policy, Governance and People Resources, said: “A non-designated heritage asset can be anything from a piece of street furniture to a house designed by a local architect or lived in by someone noteworthy; an old pub or barn; a park or garden; a statue or carving; or a site with importance for agriculture, commerce or industry – anywhere or anything that you think deserves to be protected.   

"This is a very exciting project and I'd like to thank colleagues in South Lakeland District Council for leading on the project. Cumbria has many sites of interest that are already registered such as listed buildings, however, this is an opportunity for local people to suggest other places and features that they think are worthy of recognition.   

“As well as residents, we are hoping that civic societies, town and parish councils and local history groups will share their considerable local knowledge with us by taking part now that the app has gone live.”   

Historic England’s Advice Note on Local Heritage Listing states that, once finalised, Local Heritage Lists are to be linked to the mapping systems used by planning authorities such Allerdale to ensure that “planning applications affecting locally listed assets can take full account of the significance the community attaches to those assets”.   

To take part, go to: https://www.allerdale.gov.uk/en/planning-building-control/planning-policy/conservation-natural-historic-environment/cumbria-local-list/