Consultation outcome

UNESCO World Heritage Sites - UK Tentative List Review: information for applicants

Updated 4 July 2023

This document sets out some important information for applicants to be aware of. It is expected that applicants familiarise themselves with the background on UNESCO, the World Heritage Convention, the obligations of State Parties and the Tentative List process. Find out more.

UNESCO background

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations, founded in London in 1945,

to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.

UNESCO’s headquarters are in Paris and it has a network of regional offices around the world. Under UNESCO’s constitution, Member states have a UNESCO National Commission. National Commissions are established by their government to be a focal point and link between government, society and UNESCO. The UK National Commission also advises Government on UNESCO matters.

UNESCO carries out policy research and development, sets standards, and monitors outcomes at a global, regional and country level and acts as a catalyst for international cooperation. Worldwide, it is the lead international inter-governmental body dealing with heritage, both cultural and natural. As a United Nations Agency, UNESCO is fully aligning its work with the implementation and achievement of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

The overarching aims of UNESCO current Medium Term Strategy (2022-29) are:

1. Meeting the educational challenge: Ensure quality equitable and inclusive education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, in order, inter alia, to reduce inequalities and promote learning and creative societies, particularly in the digital era

2. Meeting the environmental challenge: Work towards sustainable societies and protecting the environment through the promotion of science, technology, innovation and the natural heritage

3. Meeting the challenges of social cohesion: Build inclusive, just and peaceful societies by promoting freedom of expression, cultural diversity, education for global citizenship, and protecting the heritage

4. Meeting the technological challenge: Foster a technological environment in the service of humankind through the development and dissemination of knowledge and skills and the development of ethical standards.

Who does what: National governments, World Heritage Committee and its advisers

The World Heritage Convention recognises that the primary responsibility for the care and conservation of world heritage belongs to individual states and in joining the Convention, each government recognises its duty to protect World Heritage. As signatory to the Convention the UK government is the State Party and is committed to its implementation.

The lead government department on UNESCO is the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, while the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) leads on cultural issues and World Heritage policy and acts as the State Party, representing the UK government on the implementation of the Convention.

The operation of the Convention is overseen by UNESCO’s intergovernmental World Heritage Committee, made up of 21 states elected in rotation from the 193 member states of the Convention. At its annual meeting, the World Heritage Committee decides which sites shall be inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Committee also monitors how well World Heritage Sites are conserved and can intervene with individual governments if they consider there are problems.

The World Heritage Committee is advised on nominations by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) on natural sites, and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) advises on cultural sites and also advises on the conservation of sites. Both bodies have national committees in the UK, but these do not have formal direct links with UNESCO.

The secretariat for the Committee is provided by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The UNESCO website is an excellent source of information.

The expert advisers to the UK State Party are Historic England for cultural sites, and Joint Nature Conservation Committee for natural sites.

The approach to reviewing the UK’s Tentative List

The government is preparing a new ‘Tentative List’ of natural, cultural and mixed sites for potential nomination for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List, to be submitted to UNESCO later this year, with a view to putting forward the first nominations to the World Heritage Committee from 2024.

Inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site is an acknowledgement of the global significance of such places. It is an honour and a privilege and can bring social and economic benefits. Because all World Heritage Sites have to be of global importance, the World Heritage List is inevitably very selective and many places of national or even of international significance will not make it on to the list.

UNESCO’s Global Strategy seeks to address the imbalance of the World Heritage list where the vast majority of sites are located in developed regions of the world. Since 2001 the UK has followed the World Heritage Centre’s request for countries well represented on the World Heritage List to hold back from nominating further sites in the interests of a more balanced World Heritage List.

Recent UK practice (since 2012) has been to adopt a biennial approach and therefore only present 1 nomination every other year. The only exception is where a UK site is part of a transnational bid (such as Bath Spa as part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe – listed in 2021 and led by the Czech Republic).

For the next decade, the UK will continue to follow this biennial approach to nominations, excluding any nominations that are part of a transnational bid.

In addition to addressing the imbalance between countries represented on the global list, there have been calls for a rebalancing of the global and national World Heritage Sites in relation to themes of sites and the harmonisation of lists with other countries.

In consideration of the current 33 UK World Heritage Sites, we particularly welcome applications from sites that are classified as natural or mixed sites, or are situated in the Overseas Territories or Crown Dependencies.

All applications will still be required to demonstrate potential Outstanding Universal Value as part of the independent expert panel’s assessment of the Tentative List. It is expected that only exceptional sites will be included on the Tentative List.

Inscription necessarily carries responsibilities for the protection, preservation and transmission to future generations of the site’s Outstanding Universal Value. Preparing a nomination and managing sites for the long term are both costly. These commitments should not be underestimated and should be considered carefully before any application is made.

Further information about the process will be provided at workshops to which all EOI applicants will be required to attend.

The process for reviewing the UK’s Tentative List

To apply to be considered for the UK’s Tentative List we are asking applicants to first submit an expression of interest (EOI) form, followed by a full application form at a later date. Both parts must be completed and submitted on time in order to be eligible for consideration.

The closing date for submitting the expression of interest form is Friday 6 May 2022.

The closing date for submitting the application form is Friday 15 July 2022.

We are holding two open online information sessions on Thursday 31 March and Monday 11 April 2022. If you have any questions or would like further information or support with the process at this stage, please email tentativelist@dcms.gov.uk to be sent the video link.

Once your expression of interest form has been received you will be invited to attend a workshop. The mandatory workshop will provide more detailed information and support for completing the full application.

We are holding two online workshops, on Thursday 21 April and Tuesday 17 May 2022. We would encourage applicants to send in their EOI early and attend the first workshop so as to allow more time to complete the full application form. All remaining applicants will be invited to attend the second workshop.

Please note, only applicants who have completed an EOI will be invited to attend a workshop and submit a full application. Applicants must complete an EOI and attend the workshop before submitting their full application form.

The full application forms will then be assessed by a panel of independent experts appointed by the government. A list of the recommended sites for the Tentative List will be submitted to ministers for approval before being registered at UNESCO later this year.  

Suggested reading

You may like to refer to Management Plans and other documents including State of Conservation Reports, for example:

• Cornish Mining (and supporting document)
• The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wale (and supporting document)
• The Lake District (and supporting document)

Relevant research, studies and publications:

• ICOMOS
• IUCN
• UK National Commission for UNESCO (UKNC)
• World Heritage UK