“Local heritage, whether protected in law or not,” according to the Durham County Council Non-Designated Assets Supplementary Development Draft Plan 2024, “plays an important role in creating and being part of our collective sense of place, it is the make up of our towns, their history and evolution that contributes to how we recognise and identify the local character and distinctiveness of the places we call home”.
Our local communities, writes Sue Reece, have a long tradition of recognising the value and sense of place and preserving our shared memories for future generations. The Miners of Chilton Colliery established a fund in 1920 to create a place to provide “social, wellbeing, recreation and conditions of living, of workers in or about coal mines”.
The colliery has long since closed but the legacy remains in the Miners Welfare Recreation Ground.
The war memorial stands as a proud reminder of the men and women of Chilton who gave their lives to protect ours.
There are many other buildings, monuments, sites, and places in and around Chilton that are rooted in our community identity, and we would want to protect for future generations.
As part of the Neighbourhood Plan, these assets can be identified as having a “heritage significance” that would merit consideration in future planning decisions whereby, unless there are demonstrable public benefits that outweigh the harm, they would not allow total or substantial demolition, inappropriate alteration or development that would negatively impact on the setting of the asset.
To help us identify what is important to Chilton, we are launching a competition, for residents of all ages, to photograph, draw, collage or sculpt the buildings, spaces and places that are important to them and that they would want to protect for the future.
To find out more about the competition, how you can help identify our non-designated heritage assets within the Neighbourhood Plan and create a safer community, check out the Chilton Town Council Facebook page and website.
Residents can also feed in their views in the following ways:
Fill in a survey – all respondents will be entered into a prize draw for high street vouchers – The Residents, Young People (12+) and Children’s surveys are available from Chilton Town Council Hutton House, Chilton Academy Reception or downloadable from chiltondurham-tc.gov.uk.
The residents survey can also be accessed at www.surveymonkey.com/r/NPlan1, contact Sue Reece or Anne Hall, by emailing NeighbourhoodPlan[@]chiltondurham-tc[.]gov[.]uk, or call 01388 721788.
Ferryhill & Chilton's local community newspaper.
