Agenda item

6.1       Janet Hopton spoke about progress in the campaign for York to bid for World Heritage Site status.

6.2             A steering group was formed two years ago to examine the possibility of bidding for World Heritage Status. In April 2007 they asked the council to support the bid. This coincided with a government review of world heritage status, and the council wanted more consultation. The response was more than 80% in favour of the bid.

6.3       The steering group wanted to raise awareness of the bid, so there are leaflets available for this. In 2008 the steering group talked to groups across the city, including ward committees, and the response was very supportive. There have been supportive letters from some of the major actors in the city – the university, the Minster, MPs.

6.3             The government review arrived in December and the steering group has decided to take the report to the Council Executive in March.

6.4             The findings of the review show that there is now a focus on natural rather than cultural sites for World Heritage Status, and that they are looking for sites in the developing world rather than Western Europe, both of which make it difficult for York. Their response is that World Heritage Status should be something of outstanding universal value and shouldn’t be subject to quantification. It would have been easier for York to make a bid twenty years ago. There were concerns then that it would prohibit development, but evidence from Edinburgh suggests that it has improved the design of new buildings. World Heritage Site status will give protection, but it is the same protection offered to a Conservation Area, so there would be no new restrictions.

6.5       Price Waterhouse Coopers have examined the cost of a bid, but the steering group disagree with their conclusions. They believe York is more or less ready for an application. The key area of the application is the management plan, and this is ready.

6.6       The first stage is a preliminary application. At the second stage, they are invited to do a full application. The first stage will cost nothing other than officer time. In the second stage, once they are on the UK tentative list, the major cost will be the application to UNESCO, which will cost £225,000 over four years. We see it in partnership with the private sector, and a relatively small cost for the potential benefits. The consultants tended to talk down the benefits. World Heritage Site status would help maintain tourism and attract businesses, students and residents to the city. World Heritage Site status is what each site makes of it, and York would make the most of it. The bid is one way to care for the future of York’s heritage and it would also do a lot for civic pride, which would benefit the entire community.

6.7       If the council support the project, they would launch a preliminary bid in July and submit a full application by April. They would know if they made the UK list by the end of 2010. They would begin lobbying UNESCO in 2011-12, and by 2016 would know if they had been successful. In Bath, they claim to sustain the values of the heritage site while promoting Bath as a living city. The steering group sees this as York’s last chance to secure World Heritage Site status.