At its January 2025 meeting, SPC resolved response to B&NES Council’s Consultation on Draft City of Bath and Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Site Management Plan (2024-2030).
SPC identified in its response that retaining the UNESCO World Heritage Status had become an unsustainable burden on the whole of Bath and NE Somerset and that its UNESCO World Heritage status was likely to increasingly be a hindrance to how Bath develops to meet the needs of the 21st Century.
SPC’s response also included reference to benefits should UNESCO status be withdrawn, such as increased provision for affordable housing. SPC recognised that this could be of particular benefit for the local workforce as it would result in less commuter traffic in/out of Bath.
Loss of UNESCO status would also allow the ability to make decisions that suit Bath’s needs unrestricted by UNESCO requirements that may not suit Bath.
Responses by SPC to the consultation are as follows:
What do you value most about Bath as a World Heritage Site? Please choose up to two features which are most important for you
‘The architecture’: Its architectural heritage, combined with the look and feel of the city, its shops, food, leisure (including visitor attractions and Victoria Park) and entertainment make Bath the unique city that it is.
‘Something else’: The Green Belt landscape surrounding the outer reaches of the city provides a unique Somerset rural setting for this historic city.
Is there anything which you think endangers or reduces Bath’s value as a World Heritage Site?
The availability of affordable housing within the city itself will increasingly make it difficult for the hospitality, tourism, service and healthcare sectors of the city to recruit and/or retain staff. Road transport for visitors (arriving by car and bus) is severely congested and this has been made worse by too many new housing developments being built outside the city. The significant amount of new student accommodation built on the Lower Bristol Road is a missed opportunity that could be rectified in the future by incentivising Bath’s Universities to build student accommodation on their own campuses, funded by the conversion to affordable accommodation (apartments) and sale of the city based student accommodation.
Is there anything which you think endangers or reduces Bath’s value as a World Heritage Site?
The availability of affordable housing within the city itself will increasingly make it difficult for the hospitality, tourism, service and healthcare sectors of the city to recruit and/or retain staff. Road transport for visitors (arriving by car and bus) is severely congested and this has been made worse by too many new housing developments being built outside the city. The significant amount of new student accommodation built on the Lower Bristol Road is a missed opportunity that could be rectified in the future by incentivising Bath’s Universities to build student accommodation on their own campuses, funded by the conversion to affordable accommodation (apartments) and sale of the city based student accommodation.
The aims of the Management Plan: Do you agree with and support these aims? What do you we should change in, or add to, the aims?
Partially agree / support
II and III. Retaining the UNESCO World Heritage Status has become an unsustainable burden on the whole of Bath and NE Somerset. That is because the consequence of the UNESCO status that puts an unnecessary constraint on permitting the building of new housing required to meet the Government’s targets for new houses in Bath that, due to its existing level of housing, being a city, requires a high increase as new housing targets are based on percentage increases.
Page 46 of the Management Plan describes our key priorities: Do you think these are the correct key priorities to have, and the right actions to address them? What do you think we should change in, or add to, the key priorities and associated actions?
Partially agree / support
Many of the Actions (1-27) are worth doing in their own right, regardless of the UNESCO World Heritage status.
The UNESCO World Heritage status is likely to increasingly be a hindrance and not necessarily a help to how Bath develops to meet the needs of the 21st Century as decision-making should be the responsibility of B&NES Council, not an external third party.
If B&NES Council took a decision to withdraw from the UNESCO status for Bath, and relied on Bath’s famous and long-established reputation that already attracts UK and overseas visitors, and instead took a more European city approach to allow the city and its immediate surrounds to develop to meet Bath’s needs this would have several benefits including:
The provision of affordable housing for its local and growing workforce;
Less commuter travel into Bath thereby reducing the city’s carbon footprint, air pollution and congestion;
The ability to make decisions that suits Bath’s needs unrestricted by UNESCO requirements that may not suit Bath;
Reduce the pressure of the rural areas including the Green Belt in Bath & NE Somerset that arise from housing targets imposed by central Government to meet a perceived need calculated from existing housing provision. That pressure, if not removed, will lead to a widespread reduction in farming land that will become increasingly necessary for food production both now and in the future, and loss of green, open spaces that contribute to the health and well-being of B&NES residents across the district (i.e. in villages, towns and in Bath itself);
A significant reduction in bureaucracy connected to maintaining the no longer necessary UNESCO status.
Page 56 of the Management Plan describes our other priorities: What do you think we should change in, or add to, the other priorities and associated actions?
Partially agree / support Some of the actions will become unnecessary if the UNESCO World Heritage status is dropped.
Respond to the consultation:
The consultation has been published online by B&NES Council at https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/bath-world-heritage-site-management-plan-consultation.
Image above taken from B&NES Council’s Facebook page, to publicise the consultation.
The draft of the City of Bath and Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Site Management Plan (2024-2030) can be found at https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/document-and-policy-library/bath-world-heritage-site-management-plan-draft-consultation-november . For convenience and ease of reference, key elements linked to the consultation questions are reproduced in whole below.
The B&NES Council Consultation on Draft City of Bath and Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Site Management Plan (2024-2030) ends on Friday 17 January 2025.