Environment and Heritage Service National Trust Moyle District Council GIANT’S CAUSEWAY AND CAUSEWAY COAST WORLD HERITAGE SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN Final Draft January 2005 CONTENTS PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 World Heritage Sites 1.2 The Need for a WHS Management Plan 1.3 Status of the WHS Management Plan 1.4 Preparation of the WHS Management Plan 1.5 Structure of the WHS Management Plan 1.6 Definition of Terms 2.0 SITE DESCRIPTION 2.1 Location and Extent 2.2 Description of the Site 2.3 The Socio-Economic Context and Tourism at the Site 2.4 Setting of the Site 2.5 Site Zones 3.0 OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING 3.1 Ownership of the Site 3.2 Agencies with an Interest in the Site 3.3 Agencies with a Planning Function or Role 3.4 Policies and Plans Affecting the Site 4.0 JUSTIFICATION FOR INSCRIPTION AND STATEMENT OF VALUES 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Justification for Inscription and Criteria 4.3 Statement of Outstanding Universal Value 4.4 Statement of Other Values Man-Plan Final Draft 27-01-05 5.0 MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES, ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Management Principles 5.3 Management of the Site 5.4 Conservation Values of the Site 5.5 Socio-Economic Context 5.6 Visitor Management and Experience 5.7 Setting of the Site 5.8 Site Boundary 6.0 VISION AND ACTION PLAN (2005-2011) 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Vision for Giant’s Causeway WHS (2005 to 2011) 6.3 Strategy for the Implementation of the WHS Management Plan 6.4 Reviewing the WHS Management Plan 6.5 Action Plan BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX A: FULL LIST OF STEERING GROUP APPENDIX B: SUMMARY OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION PROCESS APPENDIX C: REFERENCE POINTS FOR THE SITE APPENDIX D: MONITORING FIGURES: 2.1 General Site Location 2.2 Site Boundary 2.3 Extent of Site as shown in Nomination Document 2.4 Key Features on the Site 2.5 Designations within and around Site 2.6 Setting of the Site 2.7 Site Zones 6.1 Proposed WHS Management Structure and Information/Communication Flows Man-Plan Final Draft 27-01-05 1 PREFACE This Management Plan for the Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site was commissioned by the Environment and Heritage Service of the Department of the Environment on behalf of its partner organisations, the National Trust and Moyle District Council. It forms one strand of the Ministerial initiative announced in April 2003 by Northern Ireland Office Ministers Ian Pearson MP and Angela Smith MP. The two other strands of the initiative are: • a Tourism Masterplan for the Causeway Coast and Glens area (published by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) in April 2004), and • an international competition for a replacement visitor centre (to be launched by DETI in 2005). Officials from UNESCO (the body responsible for the designation of World Heritage Sites) and IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) undertook a mission to the Giant’s Causeway in February 2003. Subsequently, its World Heritage Committee requested the UK authorities to submit a Management Plan to the World Heritage Centre by February 2005. The Management Plan addresses the conservation requirements of the site and the needs of the visitor, both in terms of access and information. It establishes a vision for the site and five underlying principles that will serve to guide its protection, management and enjoyment for many years to come. It thus provides an important context for the proposed new visitor centre. Looking ahead, it proposes a new structure to ensure that the site is managed in a unified manner and that the Management Plan is implemented effectively. The Management Plan is not a statutory document. It does not include planning policies for either the World Heritage Site itself or for its wider setting. These policies will be contained within the Department of the Environment’s Draft Northern Area Plan, to be published in 2005, and will be subject to public consultation and, in all probability, public inquiry through a separate process. The formal recognition of the setting through this statutory process will replace the interim 4km zone in which all proposals for development are carefully scrutinised by the Department’s Planning Service and its advisers. The resources to implement the Management Plan will have to come from a variety of sources. A partnership approach will be required to realise its speedy and full implementation. Through endorsing this Plan, the Site’s owners, Government and other key stakeholders are signalling a continued commitment to investment at the Giant’s Causeway. Man-Plan Final Draft 27-01-05 2 We are confident that the Management Plan provides a sound basis for the future management of the World Heritage Site, and will serve as the foundation for a more effective and cohesive approach through involving and respecting the individual roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders. Environment and Heritage Service January 2005 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The WHS Management Plan was prepared by Chris Blandford Associates (CBA) in discussion with and on behalf of the WHS Management Plan Steering Group, which included the key stakeholders with an interest in the management of the Site. A full list of the Steering Group can be found in Appendix A. The CBA team comprised: Chris Blandford - Project Director Andrew Croft - Project Manager Marian Cameron - Environmental Planner CBA was advised by a number of specialists including Bernard Smith, Queens University, Belfast, The Tourism Company, Spouncer Associates, the Countryside Consultancy, and CONSARC. Man-Plan Final Draft 27-01-05 © NT/Chris Will 1.0 INTRODUCTION 4 5 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 World Heritage Sites The Concept of World Heritage 1.1.1 The World Heritage Convention was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO at its seventeenth session in November 1972 and introduced the concept of ‘Outstanding Universal Value’ and the need to preserve such value as part of the world heritage of mankind as a whole. It imposed the duty on the World Heritage Committee of establishing a World Heritage List of properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which it considers as having Outstanding Universal Value in terms of such criteria as it has established. 1.1.2 The Convention came into force in 1974 and the United Kingdom ratified it in 1984. In July 2004, there were 179 Contracting Parties to the Convention and the World Heritage List contained 788 Sites in 134 countries, of which 611 are cultural, 154 natural and 23 mixed sites. 1.1.3 The Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1986 as a natural site under criteria (i) and (iii) in recognition of its geological and geomorphological values, its history of scientific study and its exceptional landscape values (the criteria are presented in full in section 4.2). The United Kingdom and World Heritage 1.1.4 The United Kingdom (UK) Government ratified the World Heritage Convention in 1984 and submitted its first nominations in 1985. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is responsible for the UK’s general compliance with the Convention. Twenty-six cultural and natural heritage sites have been inscribed on the World Heritage List in the UK and its overseas territories: sixteen of these are in England, four in Scotland, two in Wales, one in Northern Ireland and three in the UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. There are two World Heritage Sites in the Republic of Ireland. Man-Plan Final Draft 27-01-05 6 1.2 The Need for a WHS Management Plan UNESCO requirements 1.2.1 The Operational Guidelines issued by the World Heritage Committee strongly recommend that all State Parties have management frameworks and adequate legal protection for securing the long-term conservation of WH Sites. Though the Operation Guidelines do not actually specify Management Plans, the creation of WHS Management Plans has been the response of several governments, including the UK, to the more general management requirements of the Operational Guidelines. 1.2.2 In addition, all European and North American WH Sites inscribed prior to 1997 are subject to the current round of Periodic Reporting to UNESCO, which needs to be completed by 2005/6. Periodic Reporting takes the form of a report submitted by each of the State Parties that covers a number of key questions, including the application of the World Heritage Convention by the State Party, and the state of conservation of individual World Heritage Sites. As part of the Periodic Reporting for each site, the State Party needs to report on the management arrangements and plans for the sites compared to the situation at the time of inscription. National Policy 1.2.3 As an early nomination in 1986, the Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast WHS was not required to prepare a Management Plan at the time of nomination. However, it is now Government policy that all UK sites have a management plan in order to fulfil our obligations under the Convention. The Local Context 1.2.4 The need for a WHS Management Plan stems not only from international guidance and UK Government policy but also from the situation at the Site. The production of a WHS Management Plan has been a long-standing aspiration of the various organisations that have an interest in the conservation, management and development of the Site and its visitor facilities. Most of these organisations are represented on the WHS Management Plan Steering Group. The Steering Group recognises that to achieve the World Heritage Convention’s aims of sustaining the Outstanding Universal Value of World Heritage Sites, Man-Plan Final Draft 27-01-05 7 there is a need to develop a coordinated and consensual framework for the long-term management of the Site.