Salford Archaeology to recognise local uniqueness with ‘Local Listing’

The Greater Manchester Local Heritage Listing Project is a Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) initiative that is being facilitated by GMAAS and will see the University’s experts work with district authorities in the Greater Manchester area to recognise unique places of interest. The project will primarily focus on the areas of Bolton, Oldham and Trafford with GMAAS work with local communities to identify and help protect the architecture that makes a place special through its unique historic character.

Local Lists are the domain of local planning authorities, yet only around 50 per cent of authorities in England have such lists and where they do, they are often out of date and incomplete. Buildings, monuments, structures and even street furniture that have historic associations and are valued by local communities can be nominated as ‘heritage assets’ using the dedicated online platform.

Ian Miller, Heritage Management Director said: “This is the most ambitious local heritage campaign for decades and is intended to encourage communities to nominate historic buildings and help explore more about what people value, regardless of whether they are experts in architectural history. The sites we are looking to have nominated for Local Listing are any considered by local communities to be of importance but do not currently benefit from any form of designation.”

The process of listing England’s most special and distinctive historic buildings and structures, both nationally and locally, began after the Second World War and has ensured that some sites have been protected. The national listing process provides statutory protection to around 500,000 buildings across England. However, the  process was never completed and many buildings that are important locally have gone unrecognised and are not protected from development.

Making a nomination is easy and everyone is welcome to participate, no previous experience in heritage is required.

For more details, follow the link to the GMAAS website