Moulding the Heritage Strategy

‘What does Heritage mean to you’ and ‘What do you value from the past’?

Two of the main questions Cheshire West and Chester Council has been asking over the past year, through a series of pop-up events, interviews and conversations both online and in person with a wide range of people in the borough.

The results from over 3,000 interactions have been brought together into the draft ‘From Our Past, Towards Our Future – A Heritage Strategy for Cheshire West and Chester.’ Consultation has now started on the draft strategy to ensure it reflects what is important to the community. 

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council says in an introductory video for the Participate Now consultation website:

“What is Heritage? It could be Northwich Library, it could be Chester Town Hall, or it could be my favourite walk in Neston’s Stanney Fields park.

“Our Heritage Strategy is your Heritage Strategy it’s what makes the places that we live so important. Over the past year we’ve spoken with many people to create this list of things, places and activities that are important to us.

“Have we got it right? Have we captured everything that means Heritage to everyone? Please have a look at what others have said, do you agree, have we missed something? Please help to create your Heritage Strategy.”

The purpose of the strategy is to provide an understanding of shared heritage throughout the borough. The strategy is driven by the aspirations of local people to ensure the borough’s heritage is conserved, celebrated, and promoted now and for the future.

‘What does Heritage mean to you’? It can mean different things to different people. During the events and conversations many elements have been identified: “Street pattern, historic buildings”, “Inspiring museums for whole borough”, “Anderton Boat Lift”, “Delamere Forest”, “Looking after people locally”, “Geology and landscape”.

“What do you value from your past?”  People responded to that question with experiences, and opinions, everything from special places to family traditions, treasured memories to favourite food.  All the views and information gathered has been used to inform the aims of the strategy.

To have your say and help to mould the Heritage Strategy visit:

https://participatenow.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/

In 2021 the borough welcomed over 24 million visitors (Culture and tourism | Cheshire West and Chester Council), with over 60 per cent of all visitor days to the Borough driven by heritage.

According to Visit Britain’s Annual Survey of Visits to indoor visitor attractions some of the most popular destinations were heritage and culture focused. These include Grosvenor Museum, the National Waterways Museum, Beeston Castle, and Chester Cathedral. Chester City Walls and the unique Chester Rows are also key attractions for visitors.

Heritage-led tourism generates £1.34 bn of economic value to Cheshire West and Chester’s local economy per annum and supports 15,562 jobs. The economic value of heritage is modelled to be worth between 2.07 billion – 2.76 billion by the end of the decade