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World Heritage UK Special Interest Group annual report to LGA Board 2024

Contact information

SIG name: World Heritage UK (WHUK)
Lead member: Paul Simons, Chair of Board of Trustees
Lead officer: Alex McCoskrie, General Manager

Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
Address: World Heritage UK c/o The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, Coach Road, Coalbrookdale, Telford, Shropshire, TF8 7DQ
Telephone: 07585 971 749
Website: www.worldheritageuk.org

Membership

Please see Annex 1 for a list of all UK World Heritage Sites and the local authorities within which they are located.

Aims

World Heritage UK (WHUK) is the only organisation exclusively focused on World Heritage (WH) in the UK, and the only one led by the World Heritage Sites (WHS) themselves, our members. Founded in 2015 as a development of the Local Authority World Heritage Forum, this approach reflects a community-driven approach that has proven effective at many WHS and which is favoured by UNESCO.

Our Vision is that WH and WHSs in the UK are better known and understood, have a coherent approach to their management and protection, and supported through sustainable funding, in order that their Outstanding Universal Values can provide inspiration, learning and enjoyment for all and contribute to the UK’s standing in the world.

Our Mission is to raise the profile and secure the future of the UK collection of WHSs by advocating for support, resources and recognition, facilitating learning and networking, and promoting WH and the Sites and their values.

Since WHUK was established in 2015 we have worked to deliver three strategic aims centred on advocacy, sector development and engagement. We have developed those aims in response to the changing circumstances in which WHUK operates as follows:

Strategic aim 1

Advocacy - to undertake effective advocacy at all levels for the joint benefit of the UK’s WHSs and for the World Heritage Convention

Strategic aim 2

Sector development - to facilitate and build learning and networking for and between organisations and individuals within the WH sector, for the benefit of the UK’s collection of WHSs, their communities, and the UK as a whole

Strategic aim 3

Engagement and communications - to build awareness and knowledge of, and engagement with, the UK’s collection of WHSs and their values, with local communities and stakeholders, and key domestic and international partners

Our hharitable aims are to celebrate and protect our natural and cultural World Heritage; for everyone to enjoy our nation’s heritage – by visiting and exploring, volunteering and championing, learning, understanding and valuing, and getting involved.

Priorities

How WHUK supports LGA’s themes and priorities:

Themes

A sustainable financial future – WHUK promotes WH and WHSs with key national and local decision makers, funding bodies and politicians, to advocate for better understanding and valuing of, and investment in WHSs

Stronger local economies, thriving local democracy – WHUK works to support World Heritage Sites (WHSs) to ensure that they contribute to their local economies, through income from visitors, using WH status to drawn down additional external funding (eg NLHF, Levelling Up etc) and attracting investment; WHUK supports WHSs to manage their sites through partnerships, often involving stakeholders from a variety of sectors, including local government

Putting people first – WHSs are required by UNESCO to engage their communities. WHUK works with sites to build awareness and knowledge of World Heritage and the site locally, and build interaction and engagement by local communities with WH and their local WHS

Championing climate change and local environments – WHUK works with and supports WHSs and their partners, to mitigate for the consequences of climate change, adapt for climate change, and support nature recovery and biodiversity.

Key activities / outcomes of work undertaken

World Heritage UK (WHUK)’s April 2023 – March 2024 highlights:

  • New Chair Paul Simons starts
  • WHUK President Chris Blandford receives an OBE for services to World Heritage
  • Our spring 2023 workshop in the Lake District focuses on ‘Nature Recovery & World Heritage’ and is well attended and well received; includes speakers from Natural England, Lake District National Park Authority, North Devon Biosphere and more
  • Our 2023 annual conference in Stirling, explored Equality, Diversity & Inclusion – again with a good turn out and some challenging conversations, included speakers from Scottish Government, West Dunbartonshire Council, Historic Royal Palaces and more
  • WHUK started monthly World Heritage webinars, providing World Heritage Sites (WHSs) and World Heritage Tentative List candidates a platform to showcase their sites; now up to 100+ attendees either live or catching up on YouTube; has included speakers from Councils at Wirral, Fife, Derbyshire and City of York
  • WHUK jointly hosted 2 webinars on Heritage Impact Assessments with ICOMOS-UK; one targeted World Heritage professionals and local government planners, the second was for the private sector (eg developers, consultants, architects etc)
  • WHUK undertook a scoping study with Historic England’s support, on community engagement with 8 pilot WHSs; the study identified further research is required and as such WHUK will be hosting a 12-month project to expand community engagement research across all the UK’s mainland and oversea territories WHSs
  • WHUK supported Heritage Alliance through participation on their specialist working groups – Spatial Planning Advisory Group and the International Advisory Group
  • WHUK, as a member of the Historic Environment Forum (HEF), worked with other senior heritage leaders, to foster research, conservation and presentation of, and political engagement with all aspects of the heritage environment
  • WHUK, as a member of DCMS’ World Heritage Advisory Group (WHAG), advises and steers the State Party in all aspects of delivery of the WH Convention. WHAG comprises leaders and decision makers from NDPBs (heritage and environment) and central governmental departments
  • WHUK hosted the WHS Chairs meeting, with updates from NDPBs and discussions on resource and engagement levels at WHSs. WHS Chairs includes representatives from councils including Telford & Wrekin, Wiltshire, Bath & NE Somerset, North Lanarkshire, Westminster City, Canterbury City, City of Edinburgh, Royal Greenwich, Bradford, Cornwall and Wrexham County Borough.

Annex 1

World Heritage: UK.

LGA Special Interest Group

Local authorities with UK World Heritage sites within their boundaries

UK & NI World Heritage Sites and their local authorities: 

Cultural Sites (28)

  1. Blaenavon Industrial Landscape (2000) Torfaen County Borough. 
  2. Blenheim Palace (1987) West Oxfordshire District Council.
  3. Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey, and St Martin's Church (1988) Canterbury City Council.
  4. Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd (1986) Gwynedd County Council, Conwy County Borough, Isle of Anglesey County Council.     
  5. City of Bath (1987) Bath & North East Somerset Council. 
  6. Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape (2006) Cornwall County Council, West Devon District Council. 
  7. Derwent Valley Mills (2001) Derbyshire County Council, Derby City Council.
  8. Durham Castle and Cathedral (1986) Durham County Council.
  9. Frontiers of the Roman Empire (1987, 2005, 2008) 8 LA’s in England & Scotland. 
  10. Gorham's Cave Complex (2016) Government of Gibraltar. 
  11. Heart of Neolithic Orkney (1999) Orkney Council. 
  12. Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications, Bermuda (2000) Corporation of St George (Bermuda).
  13. Ironbridge Gorge (1986) Telford & Wrekin Council.
  14. Jodrell Bank Observatory (2019) Cheshire East Council.
  15. Maritime Greenwich (1997) London Borough of Grennwich.
  16. New Lanark (2001) South Lanarkshire Council.
  17. Old and New Towns of Edinburgh (1995) Edinburgh City Council. 
  18. Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey including Saint Margaret’s Church (1987) Westminster City Council. 
  19. Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal (2009) Wrexham Borough Council. 
  20. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2003) London Borough of Richmond on Thames.
  21. Saltaire (2001) City of Bradford. 
  22. Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites (1986) Wiltshire Council. 
  23. Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey (1986) North Yorkshire Council.
  24. The English Lake District (2017) Cumbria Council, Westmorland & Furness Council.
  25. The Forth Bridge (2015) Fife Council & Edinburgh City Council.
  26. The Great Spa Towns of Europe (2021) Bath & North East Somerset. 
  27. The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales (2021) Gwynedd County Council. 
  28. Tower of London (1988) London Brough of Tower Hamlets. 

Natural (4)

29. Dorset and East Devon Coast (Jurassic Coast) (2001) Dorset Council, East Devon District Council.

30. Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast (1986) County Antrim. 

31. Gough and Inaccessible Islands (1995, 2004) British Overseas Territory.

32. Henderson Island (1988) British Overseas Territory. 

Mixed (1)

33. St Kilda (1986, 2004, 2005) Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Outer Hebrides. 

UK Tentative List (2023)

  1. Flow Country 2012. Caithness & Sutherland. 
  2. Moravian Church Settlements 2022. County Antrim. 
  3. City of York: historic urban core 2023. City of York Council. 
  4. Birkenhead Park, the pioneering People’s Park 2023. Wirral Council. 
  5. East Atlantic Flyway: England East Coast Wetlands 2023. TBC the Humber, the Wash, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and the Thames.   
  6. Little Cayman Marine Parks and Protected Areas 2023. British Overseas Territory.
  7. Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: The Zenith of Iron Age Shetland 2023. Shetland Council. 

NB. Names in italics refer to overseas territories.