Department for Culture Media and Sport
world heritage
The UK currently has 28 World Heritage Sites:
- Durham Cathedral and Castle (inscribed 1986)
- Castle and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd (1986)
- Studley Royal Park including the ruins of Fountains Abbey (1986)
- St Kilda (1986 extended in 2004 and 2005) (natural and cultural)
- Giant's Causeway and Causeway coast (1986) (natural site)
- Ironbridge Gorge (1986)
- Stonehenge, Avebury and associated sites (1986)
- Blenheim Palace and Park (1987)
- Palace of Westminster, St Margaret's Church and Westminster Abbey (1987)
- City of Bath (1987)
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire: Hadrian’s Wall (1987, extended in 2005)
- The Tower of London (1988)
- Canterbury Cathedral (with St Augustine's Abbey and St Martin's Church) (1988)
- Henderson Island, South Pacific Ocean (1988) (natural site)
- Edinburgh Old and New Towns (1995)
- Gough island Wildlife Reserve, South Atlantic Ocean (1995, extended 2004) (natural site)
- Maritime Greenwich (1997)
- Heart of Neolithic Orkney (1999)
- Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications Bermuda (2000)
- Blaenavon Industrial Landscape (2000)
- Dorset and East Devon Coast (2001) (natural site)
- Derwent Valley Mills (2001)
- New Lanark (2001)
- Saltaire (2001)
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2003)
- Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City (2004)
- Cornwall and East Devon Mining Landscape (2006)
- The Antonine Wall (2008)
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Current Nomination
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct nomination was submitted to UNESCO in January 2008 for consideration by the World Heritage Committee in June/July 2009.
Future Nominations
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct will be submitted in January 2008 for consideration by the Committee in 2009
Darwin at Downe, to be re-submitted in January 2009 for consideration in June 2010; and
The Twin Monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow will be submitted in January 2009 for consideration in 2010.
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The World Heritage Convention
The 1972 UNESCO World Heritage (WH) Convention was ratified by the UK in 1984. The Convention provides for the identification, protection, conservation and presentation of cultural and natural sites of “outstanding universal value”.
The Convention is administered by a Committee of 21 state party members, who are elected for a four year term. Among the Committee’s responsibilities is the decision on inscribing state party nominations to the World Heritage List. As of June 2006 830 properties have been accorded World Heritage status.
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The Nomination Process
Individual Governments are responsible for nominating sites in their country - drawn from a Tentative List of Future Nominations. The UK’s Tentative List was drawn up in 1999 and contained 25 sites. As at June 2006, 8 of these sites had won inscription. A Review of the UK’s Tentative List will be completed in 2008.
To inform the Review the UK Government will commission an assessment of the costs and benefits of World Heritage Site status, the balance currently achieved between them, and the implications for the future management, promotion and funding of such sites. It will then produce practical guidance for potential sites on what is involved.
After a nomination is presented there is an 18 month period of evaluation by one of UNESCO’s expert advisers (IUCN for natural nominations and ICOMOS for cultural), before a final decision is made by the World Heritage Committee at its annual meeting.
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UK Government’s Responsibility for World Heritage
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for the UK’s general compliance with the WH Convention and for nominating sites. The devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are responsible for choosing sites to forward as nominations to DCMS. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is responsible for forwarding nominations in the UK’s territories and the Home Office for Crown Dependencies.
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World Heritage Policy Review
DCMS is currently leading a policy review to ensure that outstanding heritage sites in the UK, its Dependencies and Territories are appropriately identified, protected and promoted. As part of this review it has commissioned Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP (PwC) to undertake a comprehensive study into the costs and benefits associated with World Heritage Site status in the UK. The study has involved a literature review followed by a series of case study assessments and wider surveying at some of the existing UK sites. In parallel we have been looking at wider issues relating to the identification, protection and promotion of World Heritage Sites, assisted by a new Advisory Group representing the interests of local authorities and various heritage bodies. We plan to engage the public more widely in a consultation this year on our future approach to World Heritage. Should we decide following this consultation to draw up a new Tentative List, we would expect to invite applications from potential sites in Spring 2008.
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