Debut strategy for heritage in the borough

A BROAD plan to preserve and protect heritage assets in the borough has been put to paper for the very first time.

Hinckley and Bosworth councillors welcomed the new Heritage Strategy at a recent meeting, following its journey through draft processes and public consultation.

The blueprint, and an accompanying action plan, will guide civic work to emphasise and enhance the diverse history of the area over the next five years.

With the strategy in place the council is in a stronger position to apply for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to deliver a Townscape Heritage scheme for Hinckley town centre.

A report to full council said: “The borough has a unique and distinctive heritage which is required to be preserved and enhanced for present and future generations by statute and national policy.

“The historic environment is a valuable asset which contributes to broader council ambitions for people, places and prosperity. Specifically it contributes to economic development, urban and rural regeneration, tourism, leisure and recreation, community development, good urban design and town planning, provision of formal and informal education, development of skills and achieving sustainable development. The strategy aims to help define, reinforce and bring these diverse aspects together.”

Currently the borough has 340 statutory listed buildings while a list of local heritage assets is being compiled by the authority.

There are 28 conservation areas including the length of the Ashby Canal, centres of the hosiery and boot and shoe industries and historic town and village centres.

There are 22 scheduled monu- ments including medieval moats, Neolithic bowl barrows and Saxon burial mounds.

And of course there is one registered battlefield at Bosworth where the killing of King Richard III by Henry Tudor ended the Plantagenet age and heralded in a new dynasty.

In Hinckley a former framework knitters cottage houses Hinckley and District Museum which opened in 1995 and has ambitions to expand and ultimately house the town’s restored Hansom Cab.

The strategy has four key aims - increase understanding and awareness of heritage with improved accessibility, implement positive action to manage and enhance heritage, ensure a partnership approach to care for our heritage and encourage the promotion and enjoyment of heritage.

Documents can be read and downloaded from the council website.