CITY OF BATH

WORLD HERITAGE SITE

MANAGEMENT PLAN

June 2003

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

by Councillor Roger Symonds

The natural resources of hot mineral spring waters, honey coloured building stone and a beautiful, dramatic landscape are combined with architectural wonders and a rich historical story to produce the spa city of Bath, loved and highly valued by people all over the world.

This Management Plan has been prepared in collaboration with many individuals and organisations and it reflects the diverse interests present in this special city. The combined efforts of all these different people has produced a Plan that will guide us as we work together to safeguard the future of the World Heritage Site and ensure that it is enjoyed both now and in the centuries to come.

We have come a long way from the time when Bath was a blackened dull place. We have learnt from the mistakes of the 1950s, 60s and 70s when so many historic buildings were demolished and the replacements did not do justice to the earlier builders. We have been able to restore much of the beauty and integrity of the city and must continue in this work.

The challenge for us today is to conserve the World Heritage Site for future generations, whilst ensuring that the city succeeds in its role as living city for residents and businesses, and retains its pre-eminent position as a visitor attraction and regional shopping centre. Bath is a wonderful place to live and will continue to be so. We must ensure that development is appropriate, sensitive to its surroundings and that new buildings match the high quality of our historic buildings. This World Heritage Site Management Plan, and its future implementation, is an important step towards this goal and is a credit to all those who have invested time and effort in its preparation.

COUNCILLOR ROGER SYMONDS

LONG TERM VISION

Bath will practise and promote sustainable management, understanding the World Heritage Site's unique qualities and its world-wide significance

The cultural assets of the World Heritage Site, their values and significance will be conserved and safeguarded for this and future generations

Bath will be a centre of excellence for urban heritage management and conservation, founded on partnerships of local, national and international communities and organisations

Bath will be accessible and enjoyable to all; a site that understands and celebrates its outstanding universal values and atmosphere

Bath will continue to be a thriving living city and will use its status as World Heritage Site to support and further the vitality of the local community

SECTION 1

INTRODUCTION

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The World Heritage Site

1.1.1 The city of Bath has been a World Heritage Site since 1987, recognised as a place of outstanding universal value for its architecture, town-planning, landscape, archaeological remains and its role as a setting for social history. The history of the city extends over 6 millennia, from its earliest days when the hot springs were a place of worship for the Britons, to the modern day where Bath is an international icon of architecture and archaeology within a thriving local community.

1.1.2 Spread across the World Heritage Site are extensive remains from all eras of the development of the city:

· archaeological evidence of pre-Roman use of the hot springs;

· archaeological remains of the Roman religious spa and settlement;

· Saxon and medieval remains, including parts of the central city street layout, parts of the city wall, the East Gate and the Abbey church, as well as extensive archaeological deposits;

· the Georgian city and associated villages with their dwellings, social and civic buildings, parks and gardens, streets and public open spaces;

· the stone mines and associated works, transport systems and communities;

· the natural landscape setting;

· the hot springs, associated buildings and systems, and their continued use for health and leisure;

· Brunel's Great Western Railway Paddington to Bristol line (on the UK's tentative World Heritage Sites list) with associated buildings and structures;

· 19^th and 20^th century development, including presentation of the historic environment through museums; and

· extensive collections of artefacts and archives relating to the development of the city.

A living city

1.1.3 The World Heritage Site, as in all periods throughout its long development, is home to a living community. The city is a blend of history and modern life, continually changing, growing and adapting to modern requirements.

1.1.4 Bath is home to approximately 84,000 people and is a regional centre for employment, shopping and entertainment for many more. It is an international tourist destination, attracting approximately 3.7 million visitors each year, and lies on strategic road and rail transport routes. The city has a wide range of businesses and industries, and there is a close relationship between the heritage and the success of the modern city. Maintaining economic stability and retaining the local community is essential for the long-term protection of the city's heritage, which in its turn gives Bath a unique and much-celebrated character, drawing in both economic and cultural vibrancy.

1.2 The Management Plan

Aims

1.2.1 The Management Plan aims to provide a framework to conserve the cultural heritage assets of the World Heritage Site of Bath. This wide remit includes protection and enhancement of the architectural, archaeological, landscape and natural assets and their urban and landscape settings; improving understanding of the Site, its interpretation and use as an educational resource, and supporting the local community in its cultural social and economic vitality.

1.2.2 The Plan will outline the main issues that challenge the World Heritage Site and the potential opportunities of that status. These issues will be addressed through a series of objectives and actions, specifically intended to fulfil the Main Aims of the Plan. These are:

· Promote sustainable management of the World Heritage Site

· Ensure that the unique qualities and outstanding universal values of the World Heritage Site are understood and are sustained in the future

· Sustain the outstanding universal values of the World Heritage Site whilst maintaining and promoting Bath as a living and working city which benefits from the status of the World Heritage Site

· Improve physical access and interpretation, encouraging all people to enjoy and understand the World Heritage Site

· Improve public awareness of and interest and involvement in the heritage of Bath, achieving a common local, national and international ownership of World Heritage Site management

Status of the Management Plan

1.2.3 The Management Plan is a partnership document, providing guidance for the activities of organisations and individuals operating within the World Heritage Site, with a view to achieving holistic and co-ordinated management. It meets the government's requirement for Management Plans for World Heritage Sites as set out in PPG15, paragraph 6.37.

1.2.4 It represents the consensual view of the members of the Steering Group and has been subject to consultation with the local community and relevant organisations and agencies. The successful implementation of the Management Plan will rely upon the participation of those who prepare and sign up to it to work in partnership to achieve its aims.

1.2.5 The issues and objectives in the Management Plan are expected to retain their relevance for at least five to ten years, some for much longer. In order to keep the Management Plan as relevant as possible, there should be a formal review of the issues at least every five years, with revisions to the objectives to reflect any changes in circumstances.

1.2.6 The Bath World Heritage Site derives its statutory protection from the 1997 Bath City Local Plan and emerging Bath & North East Somerset Local Plan, according to the principles laid down in PPG 15, and from statutory designations such as listed buildings, conservation areas and scheduled monuments (see 2.5.22 for more detail on the planning framework and Appendix 5 for the World Heritage Site policy of the Local Plan). In the UK the designation of World Heritage Site by itself carries no statutory protection. The World Heritage Site also derives important protection from non-statutory designations, such as English Heritage's Register of Historic Parks & Gardens.

1.2.7 The Local Plan is essentially a land-use document, focusing on a sustainable approach to development and the need to improve the quality of life for residents, workers and visitors. It seeks to take into consideration any social, economic and environmental implications of development and aims to maintain and enhance the distinct characters of the city and district. The Management Plan complements the Local Plan and should be used in conjunction with it, as it derives both its statutory protection from it and works with the sustainable development approach set out in the Local Plan. The Management Plan is not a development framework but is closely linked to the policies in the Local Plan on this issue.

1.2.8 The complexity of the Site in terms of scale, ownership and management means that there is a huge wealth of information that is relevant to the management of the World Heritage Site. The Management Plan supports, and is supported by, a large number of existing and emerging strategies and programmes of the organisations and site owners who contribute to the management of the World Heritage Site. The information in these strategies and programmes has been used to compile this Management Plan and will continue to be used in future to aid the Plan's implementation.

1.2.9 Some of these documents relating to the above mentioned strategies and programmes are listed in Sections 2.5, 3 and in Appendix 1, though this list should not be considered comprehensive. They are diverse in content and format and cover areas such as traffic, transport, housing, public realm, commercial property, heritage, conservation, archaeology, tourism, education, access and planning policy.

1.2.10 The relationship of the Management Plan to these documents is, like the Local Plan, complementary. By having such a wide remit, the Management Plan could be seen as the document that links the information contained in these diverse documents together. They should be used in conjunction with one another, as the Management Plan will not go into the level of detail that individual strategies can.

Geographical scope of the Management Plan

1.2.11 Whilst the present working boundary of the World Heritage Site (see also Section 2.2) follows the municipal boundary of Bath City as it was in 1987, the geographical scope of the Management Plan is not defined simply by a line on a map. The main area covered by the Management Plan is the city of Bath and its landscape setting of the countryside surrounding the city which has a visual and contextual link to the city. How far beyond that setting the influence of the Management Plan will extend, depends largely on the particular issues involved.

Need for the Management Plan

1.2.12 In recent years, it has been recognised that active management of World Heritage Sites is required. This is reflected in UNESCO's current programme to revise the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention (2002) and in the improved nomination process. UNESCO now expects nominees will have a management plan as part of their application. The UK Government is committed to ensuring management plans are produced for all UK World Heritage Sites and through PPG15 (paragraph 6.27) encourages local planning authorities to work with site managers, owners and other agencies to ensure management plans are in place.

1.2.13 The particular situation of Bath, where ownership and management responsibilities lie with many thousands of individuals, groups and organisations, renders a management plan a valuable tool for strategic co-ordination. In a city with so much heritage, managing change in a way beneficial to both the historic environment and the community is key. The Management Plan will help Bath to move forward into the 21^st century, secure on its foundation as an internationally important heritage city.

Preparation of the Management Plan

1.2.14 The preparation of the Management Plan is overseen by the Bath World Heritage Site Steering Group, a partnership committee of local and national organisations with management responsibilities, and representatives from various sectors of the city (for membership details see Appendix 8). The Steering Group is serviced by the Project Co-ordinator, and consults widely with a specific stakeholder group and the general public. The Stakeholders are a large group of interested local individuals and organisations from different sectors of city life including residents, business, transport, environmental conservation, regeneration, heritage, tourism and education.

1.2.15 Consultation with the Stakeholders in 2000 and 2002 has informed the project design, the significance of the World Heritage Site and identification of the management issues. Stakeholders have also contributed ideas towards the management objectives and programme of actions.

1.2.16 The Management Plan describes the Site and sets out its special significance so that its management requirements can be understood. It then identifies the key management issues and prescribes objectives for addressing those issues. Finally, the Management Plan presents a programme of actions to fulfil the objectives and ensure that the World Heritage Site is managed according to its needs.