Councillors to decide if medieval moat, quirky café bar and beloved cinema get recognition – and protections – due to their cultural value.
This Thursday, August 13, Birmingham City Council’s planning committee is to consider adding five cultural heritage sites to the 441 locally listed heritage assets – buildings, structures and features – in Birmingham.
This Birmingham list runs alongside the National Heritage List for England (NHLE), a national designation system run by DCMS with advice from Historic England. The local scheme formally recognises buildings and places of particular importance to Birmingham’s history, character and identity but that do not meet the criteria of the national scheme.
While being included on the local heritage list does not provide the same statutory protections as under NHLE – for example, it does not prevent alteration, redevelopment or demolition – the site’ s heritage significance becomes a material consideration in planning decisions.
The sites being recommended this week for inclusion, subject to the committee’s final decision, are: the quirky Cherry Reds Cafe & Bar on John Bright Street; the Electric cinema building on Station Street, which closed in 2024; the distinctive Gazette Buildings on Corporation Street; the medieval moat, Yardley Ridge and Furrow Earthworks at Old Yardley Park’ and the Old Windmill Pub on Dudley Road.
Individuals, community groups and amenity societies such as ‘Friends of’ groups are welcome to nominate further sites for the local heritage site via the council website.
Council officers also make recommendations. All nominations are then assessed by the council’s conservation team, in consultation with nominators and other interested parties. Their findings are then reviewed by conservation officers and the Birmingham conservation and heritage panel before a final report is considered by the planning committee.
The council has published a full report on the five new nominations as well as details of all 441 sites currently on the local list.
Cllr Deborah Harries, Cabinet Member for Culture at Birmingham City Council, says: ‘It’s great to see such a variety of sites being recommended for Birmingham’s Local Heritage List, which reflect the city’s architectural, cultural, social and industrial history. I’m especially pleased to see The Electric Cinema included as, until it closed in 2024, it was the oldest working cinema in the UK so played a vital role in our city’s cultural heritage.
‘This further underlines the council’s commitment to recognising the significance of our city’s heritage which is valued by our residents and communities.’
Photo: Bust of a woman on the Gazette Buildings in Birmingham, via Elliott Brown / Unsplash
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