Decision details

Submission of an information dossier to UNESCO addressing comments on the WHS Management Plan & informing them of proposed developments

(1) To ENDORSE the submission of the dossier to UNESCO.

It is good management practice to ensure that bodies such as UNESCO are aware of future development proposals.  This gives confidence that development is being responsibly planned and managed, and gives UNESCO an opportunity to comment should they so wish.  Whilst protocol dictates that the Council should correspond via DCMS, such restrictions do not apply to groups or individual citizens who may choose to write directly to UNESCO to comment on development proposals.  It is prudent that accurate factual information is supplied by the Council pre-empting any comments which might reach them by other means and removing any ‘future shock’.

With regard to the submission of an information dossier to UNESCO, the main alternative option would be to do nothing. This would leave areas of ambiguity unaddressed which is not considered to be conducive to a positive working relationship between Bath WHS and UNESCO. To not take this opportunity to inform UNESCO of future developments would increase the risk of that body hearing of developments through third parties, most likely in negative terms. In the worst case scenario this could lead to a further mission to Bath with associated potential reputational damage and questions over the City’s WHS status.