About the Colchester Borough Local List and other heritage designations

The Colchester Borough Local List seeks to safeguard selected non-designated heritage assets that, although not suitable for designation nationally are valued by the local community and make a significant contribution to the heritage of Colchester and the surrounding villages. This is in accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF 2019), the National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG 2019) and Historic England Advice Note 7 (2016) Local Heritage Listing and the Colchester Local Plan (Policy DM14 of the Adopted Local Plan 2001-2021).  

The Local List for Colchester town was first adopted by Colchester Borough Council in 2011, following an identification and selection process by Colchester Historic Buildings Forum.  In 2012, the Local List for Wivenhoe, prepared by the Wivenhoe Townscape Forum, was adopted by the Council.  Since then, there have been regular reviews of the Local List by the Council, resulting in additions, amendments and deletions, and the List has been extended to cover the rest of the Borough. 

The Local List (715 heritage assets in total) currently covers urban Colchester (623 heritage assets) and also Wivenhoe (76 heritage assets).  There are also locally listed assets in Boxted (2 heritage assets), Langham (1 heritage asset), Rowhedge (1 heritage asset), Tiptree (1 heritage asset) and Wakes Colne (1 heritage asset), although these parishes (and others not listed) have not yet been the subject of detailed survey.  These are recorded in the Colchester Historic Environment Record, which can be viewed using the Colchester Heritage Explorer website.

The Selection Criteria (adopted in 2019) for the Borough are available here.  These allow the full range of heritage assets to be incorporated into the local list, based on the NPPF definition of heritage assets:

A building, monument, site, place, area or landscape identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, because of its heritage interest. It includes designated heritage assets and assets identified by the local planning authority (including local listing).

Heritage assets that are recorded on the Local List are classed as non-designated heritage assets.   New non-designated heritage assets may be identified by the local planning authority as part of the decision-making process on a planning application and/or nominated by local community groups or members of the public.  The Council is also working with communities to extend the Local List beyond Colchester and Wivenhoe to cover the whole Borough.

If you wish to nominate a heritage asset for inclusion on the Local List, please contact the Council for further advice.  Please provide as much information as possible about each nomination, including an accurate location (a labelled map), a list where multiple assets are nominated, a description with date of construction and manufacturer (if known) and photographs of each individual asset. All new candidates will be assessed by officers with expertise in the historic environment, and where necessary supported by external expertise, before a recommendation based on sound evidence is made to the Council. 

Searching the Local List

Guidance section on searching the Local List using the Colchester Heritage Explorer.

The Local List can be accessed in two ways:

Using the advanced search and typing a search in the box (this could include key words of the address or title of the asset, e.g. tram shed).  Please remember to make sure the ‘Local List and national designations’ is ticked.

Using the interactive map.  Please remember to make sure the Local List layer is ticked (other datasets can be interrogated in a similar way, if they are ticked).  Click on a triangle or polygon on the map and it will display the record (this is a dynamic link to the Historic Environment Record).  On the sources section of the record, there is a hyperlink to any other reports or photographs relating to the record. These can be clicked on to enlarge/open.  Please note that the map can be also searched by address or grid reference.

View the map of Local List sites here.