Swindon’s rich heritage has long been a priority for the Council, so I was absolutely delighted to lend my support to Swindon Civic Voice’s bid to put the town’s Railway Village on the map.

The Railway Village was among 249 conservation areas that were nominated as the nation’s favourite in a competition organised by the national Civic Voice charity.

Those 249 entries were whittled down to a final list of 18 and, over the last couple of weeks, people have been voting for their number one.

At the time of writing this column the Railway Village was topping the polls so I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that we were successful.

If you voted, I would just like to say a big thank you. For some, such an award may seem insignificant, but awareness campaigns such as this can really bring to the fore the significant history associated with particular areas of towns and cities and the important role they played in the past and continue to do so today.

It is why we have submitted a bid to Historic England for permission to establish a Heritage Action Zone at the Railway Village.

Heritage Action Zones have proved successful elsewhere in the country and are an opportunity for councils to work with local groups in partnership to manage heritage assets so they can help to deliver economic growth.

We will find out next month whether our bid has been successful, but if it is, it means we will be able to access expertise and funding from Historic England to make the most of our history. Our ambition is to enhance some of our heritage assets within the proposed Heritage Action Zone such as the GWR Park and Health Hydro and to breathe new life into other facilities in the area.

All are key parts of our railway heritage and we want to promote them so we can attract tourists to the area and show them off to people who do not know about the important part our town played in the growth of the Great Western Railway.

The Heritage Action Zone would also include the area encompassing the Mechanics’ Institute, the Outlet Centre and the Carriage Works which has already benefitted from millions of pounds of Council investment to bring it back to life for the businesses of tomorrow.

What is pleasing is that Swindon’s heritage community has come together to get behind the Heritage Action Zone bid, much like the conservation area competition, and partnership working such as this is something we are keen to build on in the future.

Let us hope our Heritage Action Zone bid is successful and, when it is announced, we can say that it also features England’s favourite conservation area.