A 30 year management plan for the most beautiful place on earth

‘Studley Royal Water Gardens with the Ruins of Fountains Abbey’ was first inscribed as a cultural World Heritage Site in 1987 recognising the significance that the site has had on the development of the culture of the world.

As General Manager of the Site I was charged with developing a World Heritage Site Management Plan that would fix the long term policy and direction. As with many heritage sites the income derived from visitors and commercial activities was vital and the three-way balance between income generation, conservation and access was always a fine one. My greatest fear was creating a straight-jacket for future managers rather than a strategic, living plan, but at the same time is the outcomes were too ‘fluffy’ then the two year process would be a waste of precious time and resources. In the end I believe we were able to achieve a realistic and relevant strategy that (having just had its first five year review) is still driving the direction and development of the site.

Chris Young, Head of World Heritage Sites and international Policy for English Heritage, who was part of the four person steering group described the WHS regulatory and advisory framework: The inscription of World Heritage Sites is…. “recognised by UNESCO through the work of ICOMOS, based in Paris. In the UK the major government player is the Department for Culture Media and Sport, with international responsibility within government for the World Heritage Convention. Within England, advised by English Heritage, it also has direct responsibility for the conservation of the built and archaeological environment and the application of the Convention, shared to some extent with the Department for Communities and Local Government, responsible for town and country planning and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, responsible through its agencies English Nature and the Countryside Commission, for natural heritage and the countryside.

Two national Non-Governmental Organisations are particularly involved with World Heritage matters. The UK branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, (ICOMOS UK), is part-funded by English Heritage, Cadw and Historic Scotland to advise on World Heritage matters such as capacity development and standard setting. The Local Authority World Heritage Forum, founded in 1995, is a network of local authorities having or hoping to have a World Heritage Site in their territory. It acts as a liaison network for those authorities and as a forum for exchange of information and best practice. It also lobbies central government to seek more funds for World Heritage activities undertaken by local government.”

At the local level large number of bodies are involved in the management of UK World Heritage Sites. These include owners and managers, local authorities, planners and development controllers, government departments and agencies, many of whose first concern is not conservation, as well as those bodies directly concerned with conservation. There are also local and national interest groups, and last, but by no means least, the interests of the local community, living and working around, and sometimes in, the Site must be remembered. Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal World Heritage Site is owned and operated almost exclusively by the National Trust, working in close co-operation with English Heritage and Harrogate Borough Council.

There has recently been increased attention paid by the World Heritage Committee to the management and protection of existing World Heritage Sites. A large part of their work is now the review of State of Conservation reports of sites which are being damaged or threatened in one way or another. The involvement of the Committee, even if it has no direct power, has frequently proved very effective in achieving a solution to a problem. The Committee is also now widely recognised as a route by which interested parties can bring pressure to bear on the responsible authorities for a Site.

These are important factors since all World Heritage Sites, like any other part of the natural or cultural heritage, do suffer from pressures and potential damage of one sort or another. As with all sites of importance, it is important that the process of change, which is inevitable, is managed positively to minimise damage to the essential values and significance for which a Site was inscribed on the World Heritage List. The pressures from which the United Kingdom Sites suffer vary widely. This of course reflects the very different natures of the sites, ranging from modern town centres through great monumental buildings in use, to archaeological sites and landscapes.

The development of a World Heritage Site Management Plan for Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal (FASR) had the ambition to look forward 30 years to ensure the future of this internationally important site.

Common pressures to many Sites were evident at FASR including development, with potential impact both within World Heritage Site and on the borrowed landscape beyond the site and traffic, and intensive agriculture which can be damaging to buried archaeology. At FASR there was a £10 million backlog of conservation to structures and landscapes. The management of visitors is an issue at all Sites. At FASR the concerns included possible damage to the monument; the effect of tourist congestion on the local population; the economic impact of the site on local businesses; the preservation of the ‘spirit of place’; and the need to ensure that visitors have a good experience during their visit and make an adequate contribution towards the cost of conservation.

The planning undertaken before developing the document itself was the key to success and considerable time went into devising and refining the process before work began to clarify timescales, milestones and outputs and manage the expectations of stakeholders.

The methodology was constructed to be clear, concise but inclusive and that ensured that consultation was comprehensive including a wide range of stakeholders such as: Harrogate Borough Council; North Yorkshire County Council; Nidderdale AONB, local residents; Ripon City Council; National Trust staff and volunteers; English Heritage specialists; visitors to the site; specialist interest groups including The Georgian Society and the Dean and Chapter from Ripon Cathedral.

A twelve month research and information gathering phase was undertaken that marshalled documents and information that had previously been spread across a range of sources. This was carried out by a Management Plan Officer who carried out desk top research, interviewed specialists, met and talked with local people and designed, distributed and collated a questionnaire that went to all stakeholders.

A project consultative group was set up. This consisted of around 30 people who all had a personal interest, or represented their organisations’ interests in the development of the plan. This group met four times during the course of the plan development and at each meeting was appraised of progress so far and then through workshops and discussions were consulted about matters of future direction and possible options that were available for the next steps in developing the plan.

Communication with all the stakeholders was key to success and during the course of the two year project there were four newsletters sent out to the growing mailing list of interested parties.

The cost of developing the plan was shared by the National Trust and English Heritage and a four person steering group (two from NT and two from EH) oversaw the process and agreed the process. The Steering group was chaired by the National Trust as the owner of the site. Because the ownership of the world heritage site is so unambiguous the compromises which had to be made to achieve a final plan were limited and the first five year action plan that resulted from the development of the 30 year strategy was (within the constraint of funding being available) contained a number of clear ‘to do’ points that formed a firm commitment for action.

Many contentious issues came under scrutiny and most were eventually resolved as clear future policy points for the site. On any highly visited heritage site the tension will always be between enabling access for the public to experience the site, and ensuring that just through sheer volume of visitors they don’t destroy that which they come to experience. This was tackled by monitoring the volumes of visitors at different times of day, week and year and making assessments of the potential for damage at each point. Regular data collection by both NT and EH staff, volunteers and specialists was invaluable in being able to identify pressure points. Different zones within the public areas were identified and the impacts and likelihoods of damage from visitor volumes were assessed, including the impacts on the ‘spirit of place’ that make particular areas of the site feel special. Having understood when and how the greatest impacts were being felt it was possible to develop ways of managing visitor flows and routes to encourage the spreading put of visitors across the whole site rather than focussing on one or two pinch points.

The iconic nature of any site that achieves World Heritage Site status is undeniable. There are, of course, many debates now taking place about inscriptions made several decades previously and their relevance and/or relative importance to world history and culture. There are a very limited number of benefits to any site that gains World Heritage Site status in the UK and very few of them are directly financial. In the national affluence and stability of the last 10 years relatively large amounts of money have been made available to assisting those sites that are already World Heritage Sites develop their planning processes for the future, and those sites that think they should be World Heritage Sites to develop their thinking and proposals. Whilst this money is welcome it is a drop in the ocean compared to the costs of maintaining and conserving these fantastic national treasures. If the world enters a period of financial instability (the American sub-prime lending debacle illustrates how easy it might be to destabilise the system) the fear of UK heritage managers is that even this meagre assistance with planning will be reduced and the candle of World Heritage Site status that has burnt brightly in recent years may gutter and burn low in the drafts of fiscal policy.

If you would like to know more about the work of Northern Strategy and Operations you can contact Mike on:

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