Transcript Bournemouth University AHE Buildings and Landscapes

Management of World Heritage Sites
in the United Kingdom
Christopher Young
Head of International Advice
National Advice Team
English Heritage
World Heritage
• World Heritage Sites (WHS) are places of
Outstanding Universal Value (OUV),
authenticity and integrity. OUV is defined by
the World Heritage Committee as “ so
exceptional as to transcend national
boundaries and of importance for present and
future generations of all humanity”.
World Heritage Sites
in the UK
• There are 28 World
Heritage Sites in the UK
World Heritage Sites
in the UK
• World Heritage Sites
can be cultural, natural
or mixed
World Heritage in UK
• WHS range from the iconic (usually the early
inscriptions with little involvement of anyone else at
the time) to the innovative (not nearly so eyecatching but involving everyone in the nomination
process)
• WHS are often seen as primarily tourist attractions
or as drivers of economic regeneration
• Recent research by Price Waterhouse Coopers and
by the Lake District candidate WHS has looked at
benefits and challenges of WHS status
• WHS involve people
World Heritage
• Blaenavon to Durham
World Heritage
• Whatever their focus, universal recognition can help
develop social cohesion and community pride
• Obligations as well as benefits to WHS status
• UK government commitment to the identification,
protection, conservation, presentation and
transmission of WHS to future generations
• Done by actions of national government and
agencies, regional and local government, owners and
local communities
• Does this in context of overall approach to
conservation
Conservation and
Change
• Bulk of historic environment is not owned/ managed
directly for conservation
• Change is inevitable
• If we do nothing, sites will decay
• Change necessary for places to continue their use or
find a new one
• Change necessary to adopt historic environment to
needs of modern society
• Change must be managed
• Management must be sustainable
World Heritage
• To be inscribed on the World Heritage List a
proposed site must
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have OUV, authenticity and integrity
Fulfil the criteria set out by UNESCO
Be unique
Be protected by national legislation
Have an effective management system in place
Statement of Outstanding
Universal Value
At time of inscription,
World Heritage
Committee adopts a
Statement of
Outstanding Universal
Value as baseline for
future management
Summarises in one or two
pages why a place is on
World Heritage List
• Summary of factual
information
• Summary of qualities
(values, attributes)
• Criteria (values and
attributes which manifest
them
• Integrity (all sites)
• Authenticity (criteria i – vi)
• Protection, & management
& protection requirements
What is a Management
System?
UNESCO Operational Guidelines:
• The purpose of management is to ensure the effective
protection of the nominated property for present and future
generations
• Effective management involves a cycle of long-term and dayto-day actions to protect, conserve and present the
nominated property
• The system will depend on the type, characteristics and needs
of the property and its cultural and legal context.
• A system could include traditional practices, existing urban or
regional planning instruments and other planning and control
mechanisms, both formal and informal
What should a Management
System Include?
Operational Guidelines say that common elements of
a management system could include:
– Thorough shared understanding of the property
by all stakeholders
– Cycle of planning, implementation, monitoring,
evaluation and feedback
– Involvement of partners and stakeholders
– Capacity building
– An accountable transparent description of how
the system works
UK management system
• Designation (cultural or natural) of specific assets within
World Heritage Sites
• World Heritage Sites are a key material consideration
• Planning authorities should include policies in their local plan
to protect the Outstanding Universal Value of World Heritage
Sites
• Each World Heritage Site should have an agreed Management
Plan
• Local authority commitment to the protection, promotion
and management of World Heritage Sites in their area
• A stakeholder steering group and support from the key
partners, including major owners, managers and communities.
• Effective coordination, normally by a dedicated Coordinator
Management Plans
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Sites have multiple values
Many are in multiple ownership
Several have continuing uses (eg worship)
All have multiple stakeholders
The Plan has to reconcile and balance their interests
and manage change
• Plan must balance conservation, access, local
community interest and sustainable economic use
• Plans must be capable of being implemented
Coverage of Management
Plans
• Appraise the significance and importance of the site based on
agreed definition of OUV
• Ensure the physical conservation of the site to the highest
standards including assessment of risks eg flooding, climate
change
• Protect the site and its setting from damaging development
• Ensure that management and use are sustainable and in line
with OUV
• Provide policies for promotion, interpretation and education
• Provide clear policies for tourism as it affects the site
• Plans should be in a form which stakeholders can use
To achieve a successful outcome, it is necessary
to know
• what is there,
• what is important and why,
• what makes those values vulnerable,
• what policies need to be in place to
protect them.
Develop the Plan
logically
• Description of the Site, covering all its aspects, including
uses, and not confined just to those which give its World
Heritage values
• Identification of the Site’s values through analysis of the
description. All values should be identified and if necessary
prioritised.
• Identification of ways in which the values of the Site
are vulnerable, and also of ways in which they can be
enhanced and used sustainably
• Development of policies to counter the vulnerabilities and
to enhance the character of the Site and its sustainable use.
• Identification of the ways in which the Plan will be
implemented, and of arrangements to monitor and review
its effectiveness
Three stages of Planning
• The preparation of the Plan through
involvement of all stakeholders; discussion and
participation to produce the draft Plan. Public
consultation is the last step of this stage
• Publication of the agreed Plan and its
adoption by all the key stakeholders;
• Implementation: agreed means for implementation
is essential
– Effective Steering Group
– Plan must have a champion = Coordinator
– Coordinator must work through others.
– Coordinator must review and monitor the Plan
World Heritage
• The overall aim should be to have a document that is
logically set out, to the point and easy to use
• There should always be a section on monitoring and
implementation with an action plan (identifying
priorities, target dates, who is responsible and
funding)
• It should set out up front the function of the
Management Plan and how it has been developed
• If it is a review of an earlier Management Plan then
there should be a section assessing the previous plan
World Heritage
current policy context
This includes
• Planning policy framework
• Relationship to other
statutory and management
plans
• Planning, historic
environment and other
designations
• Relationship with regional
and local planning
organisations and others
Management Context
• It is useful to set out the management context
early in the plan
– Governance arrangements
• Organisations
• Funding
• structure
– Ownership and Site management arrangements
– Role of statutory organisations and others
World Heritage Values
• WHS Management Plans should contain
– Statement of Significance/Outstanding Universal
Value
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includes assessment of authenticity and integrity
Criteria site inscribed under
Attributes (tangible/physical manifestation of OUV)
Management and protection
– Clear mapping of boundaries and any buffer zone
– Both Statement and boundaries should have been
agreed by World Heritage Committee
Types of Value
• It is helpful to identify (as appropriate)
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cultural and heritage values
Landscape and other values
Educational and research values
Social, artistic, spiritual values
Scientific and technological values
Tourism and economic values
Community values
• Not all part of OUV but need to be taken into
account
World Heritage
Key Management Issues
• Summary of key issues
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Planning and policy
Conservation of the WHS
Infrastructure, development or other issues
Risk assessment and mitigation
Visitor, tourism and education and other uses
Research
Other
Monitoring arrangements
OUV as the basis of
management
• OUV is now recognised within the planning system (each
English WHS has a statement of significance or OUV agreed
by its SG. Pre 1997 statements have been approved by the
World Heritage Committee and post 1997 ones are awaiting
approval). More work needs to be done to make sure that all
sites have Statements of OUV ready for submission to
UNESCO in February 2011
• Plans should identify key views and how these are to be
protected
• Plan reviews should examine boundaries, any buffer zones and
to see if these need to be revised (if so proposals need to be
submitted to UNESCO by the UK Government) as well as
looking at protection of the setting and the site itself
World Heritage
conservation of the WHS
• This should set out
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Condition of the key elements of the WHS
Setting
Management practices
Landscape and biodiversity challenges
Key issues eg B@R, restoration v recreation,
regeneration, change of use, micro regeneration
– Priorities for further work
World Heritage
Risk Assessment and Mitigation
• Management Plans should identify key risks
and mitigation strategies. These are likely to
be
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Climate change related eg coastal erosion
Flood
Fire
Earthquake/subsidence
Business continuity
Other (eg terrorism, hurricanes, pandemics etc)
World Heritage
Risk assessment and mitigation
• Mitigation includes
– Sound emergency plans for key sites
– Liaison arrangements with Emergency planners,
resilience fora and the emergency services
– A good network
Sustainable Uses of
World Heritage Sites
• It is important that WHSs are not seen as
immaculate ivory towers divorced from their
communities
– Many have uses (eg worship) relating to OUV
– Many WHS are part of thriving communities which
bring challenges and opportunities in equal
measure
– All have uses relating to local community (eg
farming)
– Need to engage and include local community/ies
World Heritage
Visitor, tourism and education
• This section should address
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Sustainable tourism
Public Access and carrying capacity
Transport
Visitor management
Visitor facilities
Signage and branding/marketing
Outreach and education (ideally a range of
activities for all ages
World Heritage
Aims and Policies
• Clear definition of vision, aims and policies is
essential
• Vision and aims are long term
• Policies should be c5 years
• Clear description of how the Plan will be
implemented is also essential (governance and
coordination)
• Annual action plans are essential
World Heritage Plans
Monitoring and review
This should identify monitoring
arrangements
– Monitoring indicators
– Timetable
– Review timetable