I've been planning to do this job for two years now - the first year of
that was before we even lived in the house

I'm going to tank our damp but not wet cellar using a membrane. I've
been told that you leave the top on the membrane open at joist level to
allow the wall to breath, so I assume that I will need to add plenty of
ventilation at joist level (just above ground level in effect) to allow
the damp to get away, but is there a better way to do it than adding a
few air bricks round the house? Currently there are only three points
the cellar can breath, and one of those is the coal chute so is not
properly open because it has a cover on it.

BTW, I'm not talking about the ventilation for the rooms that the cellar
will have after tanking - I was planning on using a humidistat
controlled fan to vent those to keep any damp down.

The house is a 1902 9" solid brick wall built one.

Cheers.