Creating a new heritage network

Nottingham Heritage

Placing heritage at the heart of the city

Awarded

2016
Category

Making towns work for everyone
Outcome

Winner

Proof of concept

Nottingham’s Heritage Strategy plan

This award was given for the development of Nottingham’s Heritage Strategy plan which focused on heritage-led regeneration, placing heritage at the heart of the city.

The strategy was created in consultation with community groups and organisations across the city. The ambition was to establish a vibrant, valued and widely-known heritage which delivers long term benefits to the economy, environment and people of Nottingham. The City Council’s commitment to the city’s historic environment, and the central role of heritage regeneration was demonstrated by the adoption of heritage into the portfolio for Jobs, Growth and Transport, establishing heritage as a driver for regeneration in the city.

A new Heritage Strategy Officer post was created to work with local communities to address heritage at risk in their areas.
The strategy also established a public awards scheme to review progress and celebrate success more openly.

Shifting perceptions of the area

How/why did the project benefit the public?

The strategy championed the role of local communities and organisations across the city, and provided a framework for all to come together and share skills, resources and knowledge.

A new network, the ‘Heritage Partnership’ was formed to connect organisations across the city, stimulating partnership working, whilst developing capacity, growth and opportunities.

The strategy prompted praise from local and national heritage organisations (e.g. Council for British Archaeology, Historic England) and inspired communities in a neighbouring region to petition their local authority to undertake a similar heritage strategy.

Key facts

230+

Comments collated in consultation

100+

Stakeholders attended launch

Year lifespan of strategy

What were local planners looking to achieve on the project?

To broaden the understanding of the city’s historic environment
To understand the needs, challenges and opportunities faced by all groups with a stake in the city’s heritage
To care for and improve the city’s historic environment and use it to attract investment
To integrate the city’s heritage in strategic planning
To develop mechanisms and guidance to manage the city’s heritage
To improve physical connections with the city’s heritage
To establish improved intellectual connections with the city’s heritage
To broaden the appeal of heritage, and diversify how it is experienced
To promote the city’s heritage as a core part of its cultural offer as a destination city

Nottingham Heritage Strategy (Copyright Martine Hamilton Knight)

Castle and refurbished railway station (Copyright Martine Hamilton Knight)

Justifying the need

How were local planners essential to the project’s success?

Planners were at the heart of establishing a truly collaborative approach to securing a sustainable future for Nottingham’s heritage. The strategy was commissioned and driven forwards by planners and it was their leadership that ensured the strategy aligned with the city’s agenda of growth.

Planners were also instrumental in enabling a close integration with existing strategic frameworks, imparting specialist input regarding the nature and condition of the city’s heritage and bringing partners together to develop and drive the strategy forward.