http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal/spatial_planning/consultee_documents/avebury_whs/stonehenge_avebury_and_associated_sites_world_heritage_property_consultation_draft

Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site is one of Wiltshire and the UK’s greatest assets. Recognised as one of the top ranking places in the world alongside cultural marvels such as the Pyramids and natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef, the World Heritage Site needs appropriate management and protection. Wiltshire Council have launched a consultation to address this.

The consultation provides the public with an opportunity to comment on a document that summarises exactly what it is that makes Stonehenge and Avebury internationally important. The document will be a key reference for those making decisions on how to manage the World Heritage Site and look after the features which qualify it to appear on the World Heritage List. The aim of the council is to produce a clear definition in one document that will help in the long term protection of the World Heritage Site.

Since 2007 UNESCO has required new World Heritage Sites to provide a Statement of Outstanding Universal Value as part of the nomination process. Stonehenge and Avebury became a World Heritage Site back in 1986 and along with a large number of other sites across the world now needs to produce a Statement of Outstanding Universal Value.

The consultation asks you to look at the draft Statement of Outstanding Universal Value and leave your comments, the consultation is open until the end of October and you can find it by visiting the Wiltshire Council website.

Adam Wilkinson, the Director of Edinburgh World Heritage in the guardian.co.uk

(www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh/2010/apr/16/edinburgh-world-heritage-heart-capital)

At Edinburgh World Heritage we are marking UNESCO’S World Heritage Day this year with a seminar delving into the questions of the benefit of World Heritage status to communities and economic development.

There are hundreds of urban World Heritage Sites, and the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh must count as one of the most vibrant, with 25,000 residents, many local businesses, a long legal tradition, the ancient university, the festivals and the revived political community.

Without them, the skeleton of the historic buildings has no meat, and would be in danger of becoming like parts of Venice, where residents recently held a funeral for the city. Its population has shrunk from around 120,000 in 1980 to around 60,000 today.

World Heritage status is more than just a badge or a source of pride for Edinburgh – it is about recognizing that the ancient heart of the capital is of value to everyone in the city, and using it as a positive tool for education, repair, and helping inform the ongoing debate about the future of the city.

A part of our role at EWH is to support this diverse community as best we can, while coordinating action for the preservation of the key historic values of the World Heritage Site with our partners at Historic Scotland and The City of Edinburgh Council.

The most visible way in which we support the community is through projects that help bring different aspects of it together and break down barriers.

With pupils at Panmure St Ann’s, a school for excluded pupils, we have been supporting a ‘Growing and Building Project’ funded by EWH. With help from Greenworks, pupils are designing their own garden area with planters for growing vegetables and herbs, seating areas for rest, reflection and group work, a painted mural capturing the history of the place, and a sculpture that will reflect seasons of the year.

At Scotland Street Yard, the blocked up end of the 1842 tunnel of the Edinburgh Leith and Newhaven Railway, a working group of local councillors, residents, police and council officers, in consultation with the local community and pupils at nearby schools, have drawn up a scheme with local architect Andrew McRae to revitalise this neglected gathering spot for local children. EWH funding has helped bring this project to life.

There are however, more subtle ways in which we support the community, whether through the intensive process of bringing together residents for the communal repair of tenement blocks or the review of the Management Plan for the World Heritage Site.

While this keeps us busy, along side our other areas of work in education, interpretation, and repair within the World Heritage Site, there is clearly a great deal more to do, using our status as a means of giving a voice to those in and around the Site who do not have a voice and who are excluded from society.

http://www.herculaneum.org/hcp-home/

http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/6763.aspx

The UK Government believes that the historic environment is an asset of enormous cultural, social, economic and environmental value.

They state that the historic environment ‘makes a very real contribution to our quality of life and the quality of our places’. Their statement on the historic environment aims to help the Government to realise its vision for the historic environment, and to assist them in working jointly with others to achieve their aims. In it the Government set out thier understanding of the value of the historic environment, and the many roles that Government and others can play.

Just how uesful is this document, and how realistic are it’s aims?