What are World Heritage Sites?

Every year, new sites obtain the sought-after World Heritage status World Heritage Sites are places of outstanding universal value to all humanity and are of great importance for the conservation of mankind's cultural and natural heritage. They need to be preserved for future generations, as part of a common universal heritage.

The World Heritage Convention was established in 1972 by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation). By signing up to the Convention, national governments commit themselves to identify, protect, conserve, present and transmit their World Heritage Sites to future generations. The World Heritage List set up by the Convention includes natural sites, cultural sites and mixed sites.

In 2009, there were 878 World Heritage Sites, including 27 in the UK and overseas territories. Examples around the world include the Pyramids, the Machu Picchu, the Victoria Falls, the Great Barrier Reef, the historic centre of Florence, and the Frontiers of the Roman Empire including Hadrian’s Wall.

For a trip around the World Heritage Sites across the globe, visit the UNESCO World Heritage Centre website.

Nomination Process

To get World Heritage status, sites have to be nominated by their government to the World Heritage Committee, an intergovernmental body set up by UNESCO. The Committee meets once a year and decides on new inscriptions following an assessment by specialist international bodies: ICOMOS for cultural sites and IUCN for natural sites.

World Heritage in the UK and Its Overseas Territories

(Updated February 2009)

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal in Yorkshire features the ruins of a Cistercian abbey set in a beautiful 18th century designed landscape. © National Trust England

Durham Cathedral and Castle (1986)
Ironbridge Gorge (1986)
Studley Royal, including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey (1986)
Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites (1986)
Blenheim Palace (1987)
City of Bath (1987)
Palace of Westminster, Abbey of Westminster and St. Margaret's Church (1987)
Tower of London (1988)
Canterbury Cathedral, St. Augustine's Abbey and St. Martin's Church (1988)
Maritime Greenwich (1997)
Derwent Valley Mills (2001)
Dorset and East Devon Coast (2001)
Saltaire (2001)
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2003)
Liverpool – Maritime, Mercantile City (2004)
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape (2006)

England and Scotland

Frontiers of the Roman Empire - includes Hadrian's Wall (1987), the German Limes (2005) and the Antonine Wall (2008)

Scotland

St. Kilda (1986, 2004, 2005)
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh (1995)
The Heart of Neolithic Orkney (1999)
New Lanark (2001)

Northern Ireland

Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast (1986)

Wales

The Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd (1986)
Blaenavon Industrial Landscape (2000)

Overseas

Henderson Island (1988)
Gough and Inaccessible Islands (1995, 2004)
Historic Town of St. George and Related Fortifications, Bermuda (2000)

For further information you can view an Interactive Map of World Heritage Sites in the UK or find out more about the 4 World Heritage Sites sites in the South West of England at the World Heritage South West England website.

What are the implications of being a World Heritage Site?

International Recognition and Accountability

World Heritage status brings enormous prestige to a site. It may help to promote the site internationally and attract new visitors, if appropriate. It also encourages the highest quality standards for welcoming visitors and managing and protecting the site. It also means international accountability, and if a site is threatened, it can be added by the World Heritage Committee to the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger.

Improved Protection and Management of the Site

The protection of a World Heritage Site is the responsibility of national governments, working with the local authorities and stakeholders. In the UK, Management Plans are considered a key tool to ensure that World Heritage Sites and their Outstanding Universal Value are protected and managed. They identify management issues and short to long-term objectives. They establish a framework for decision making. On an international level, governments must report to UNESCO every six years on the state of conservation of World Heritage Sites in their territory.

Planning Implications

In the UK, World Heritage status does not imply any additional statutory controls. However, in England, local authorities are obliged by Planning Policy Guidance Note 15 (PPG15) to develop planning policies to protect World Heritage Sites, and to consider the importance of a World Heritage Site as a 'key material consideration' when making planning decisions. PPG15 also recommends the development of management plans for World Heritage Sites. The implementation of these plans relies on the effective co-operation of stakeholders.

At Stonehenge, the World Heritage Site Management Plan was adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance by Salisbury District Council in 2000, and there is a specific policy for the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in the Local Plan.

Stonehenge World Heritage Site Policy
(extract from the Salisbury District Local Plan, June 2003)

CN24 - Development that would adversely affect the archaeological landscape of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site, or the fabric or setting of its monuments, will not be permitted.

New Partnerships and Projects

The process of developing a Management Plan involves bringing together all key stakeholders to agree a common vision for the future of the Site. As a result, working links are reinforced and new projects emerge. At Stonehenge, over 70 organisations and individuals were involved in the preparation of the new Management Plan during 2008, which also included a three-month public consultation.

World Heritage status may also make it easier to negotiate additional funding, protection or expertise. For instance, at Stonehenge and Avebury, a special Defra grant scheme was put in place in 2002 encouraging farmers to convert arable land to grassland for the benefit of the prehistoric monuments, the setting of Stonehenge and biodiversity. A special rate, 50% higher than the norm, was negotiated for the World Heritage Site. It was made possible thanks to an exemplary partnership between English Heritage, the National Trust and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), led by the two World Heritage Site Coordinators for Stonehenge and Avebury