A NEW app will allow members of the public to pinpoint parts of their region - from parks and buildings to pubs and gardens - that they would like to be protected.

Councils across the county have welcomed the news that the local heritage project has received government funding.

Eden, Carlisle and Copeland Councils are all welcoming a new app that will help to protect local heritage sites.

People will be able to pinpoint places in their area that they would like to see protected and upload photos using a phone or laptop.

Carlisle City Councillor Paul Nedved, portfolio holder for economy, enterprise and housing said: "The funding is great news for Carlisle and Cumbria. It’s another welcome funding boost for our region.

"Carlisle’s planning policies recognise that heritage assets are more than just the statutory listed buildings and national heritage designations and that local heritage has an important role in explaining our cultural identity and shaping where we live and work."

Samuel Woodford, conservation and design officer at Copeland Borough Council, said: "Local listing allows people to put forward suggestions for important unrecognised heritage.

"Knowledge is needed on the ground to identify such assets and places so they can be given a measure of recognition."

Anything can be nominated through the app that you would like to see safeguarded.

Parks, buildings, pubs, gardens or historic street signs or all things that can be voted on.

Cumbria has secured £70,000 from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities for its county-wide local heritage listing campaign.

The Government’s £1.5 million campaign is designed to help protect the 'commonplace or everyday' heritage assets valued by people locally but with no existing protection under planning law.

These nominations will be considered by a panel made up of council and voluntary heritage group representatives from across Cumbria, and a local list will be created.

Decisions will be made by the group in Spring 2022.

Cumbria is one of 22 areas to secure funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for its Local Heritage Listing campaign.

Historic England’s Advice Note on Local Heritage Listing states that, once finalised, Local Heritage Lists are to be linked to the mapping systems used by planning authorities such to ensure that “planning applications affecting locally listed assets can take full account of the significance the community attaches to those assets”.