If you have a favourite local building that you feel deserves recognition, you are being asked to identify it – and it could affect planning considerations in the future.

Residents across Dorset will now be able to nominate locally important buildings, structures, designed landscapes, sites and places to be considered on new Local Heritage Lists.

Dorset’s economy relies on the historic towns, seaside resorts, villages, and landscapes to draw hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.

This is a joint project between Dorset Council and BCP Council using a grant of £70,000, from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The Local Heritage Lists will provide a free publicly accessible record of non-designated heritage assets, whose conservation will then be a material consideration in planning decisions.

Land Use Consultants (LUC), working on behalf of the councils, will consider the public nominations using a set of criteria to create a baseline Local Heritage List for each authority. These will be regularly updated with new additions in the future, with the records of all assets being added to Dorset’s Historic Environment Record.

Cllr David Walsh, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for Planning, said: “It is very important that we help to promote and protect local heritage and forge stronger connections between people and their local areas.

“And no one knows the area better than local people, so it is vital that everyone is able to add to our Local Heritage List.”

Cllr Beverley Dunlop, portfolio holder for Culture and Vibrant Places said: “This is a significant project that looks at identifying and preserving our local heritage by asking the very people who know our towns and villages the best to get involved and nominate sites for consideration.

“I encourage everyone to nominate the local heritage they love and wish to be preserved in their local areas.”

Find out more information about submitting a nomination, the assessment criteria and examples visit:

For BCP Council area: www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/localheritagelist

For Dorset Council area: www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/locallist

The nominations will be open for eight weeks.