Over the past 10 years, WHUK has been very fortunate to have had hard working and passionate Trustees managing the charity. As part of our celebrations, past Trustees were invited to share their thoughts about their time at WHUK.
World Heritage UK founder Trustee and ex-Chair Tony Crouch
“The 10th anniversary provides an excellent milestone for reflection, review and celebration. I was a founder trustee and went on to become Chair and Vice-Chair of WHUK.
The establishment of WHUK made perfect sense to me. The Local Authority World Heritage Forum provided a good foundation, but with a growing number of sites not in local authority stewardship we needed a body which represented all. We also needed to venture out from under the wing of the Local Government Association to gain visibility and independent voice. This happened at the right time, with government spending rapidly shrinking and Whitehall less able to provide direct support. WHUK stepped confidently into a market gap.
Launching WHUK was a grand experiment. It faced challenges and raised eyebrows amongst some in the established sector. Sam Rose deserves massive credit here, as this was largely his creation which he delivered confidently from the front. The keys to success were a lean set-up with no physical offices or financial dependence upon anyone other than subscribing members, committed and passionate volunteers, excellent staff who consistently went above and beyond and a genuine team spirit. To the credit of national governments and their advisory bodies, they too recognised the opportunity, and their sponsorship of events and other support has been vital.
The family feel of the organisation merits special mention. Many World Heritage coordinators work in splendid professional isolation, surrounded by colleagues blissfully unaware of what Outstanding Universal Value is. WHUK provided a meaningful network, supporting dedicated heritage professionals who in many cases would go on to become firm friends. I genuinely enjoyed my time with the WHUK Board and happily committed the volunteer hours. How many other organisations the size of WHUK offer behind-the-scenes access to such amazing places, and also to contact with people at the very top of the professional tree? Memories of coffee queue conversations with the UNESCO Deputy Director and with (as he was then) Prince Charles come to mind, as does Evensong in the choir stalls at Durham Cathedral, walking across the roof of the Tower of London, Burns Night in Edinburgh and many more.
Solid progress has been made by WHUK, especially with World Heritage now being a whisker away from formal recognition in English primary planning legislation for the first time. These things take time and skilful perseverance – qualities perfectly embodied in the tireless work of WHUK President Chris Blandford. WHUK is now firmly established as a valuable part of the UK heritage sector and it would be difficult to imagine a scenario where it didn’t exist. I am very proud of what has been achieved in 10 years, happy with where we are now and thankful for all the wonderful colleagues with whom I’ve shared the journey.”
World Heritage UK Trustee David Holroyd
“I did two terms as a trustee of World Heritage UK. My most memorable role was trying to deliver a HLF project to produce a five-year plan in the middle of Covid! Interesting times.
It was a privilege to be a trustee and a pleasure to work with such a committed, dedicated and knowledgeable team. We had many memorable events and I was lucky enough to see behind the scenes at most of the UK’s iconic World Heritage sites. From this, I started to appreciate the real depth, breadth and value of our unique heritage. In addition, I met the teams of dedicated staff who manage these sites with a passion and dedication rarely seen.
I would like to wish everyone the best of luck for the next ten years as WHUK continues to grow in its stature and influence at a national policy level. This will, in turn, bring tangible benefits to individual sites and a wider understanding of the cultural and educational importance of UK World Heritage.”
World Heritage and the Sovereign State Factor by Ian Wray
“I was there when Sam Rose advocated turning the Local Authority World Heritage Forum into an independent charity, subsequently called World Heritage UK. But I was sceptical. I thought it would be too complex and time consuming and that we should proceed more slowly and timidly. Sam characteristically pushed ahead in determined dynamic style. He did it and I admit I was wrong.
What did we achieve? We gave all the World Heritage Sites an independent and informed voice. We brought together officers, coordinators, chairs and experts to share their experience and knowledge and build long term personal relationships, especially in workshops, committees and (increasingly) online. We created an organisation which is widely respected by politicians and civil servants which carried out the first review of all the UK sites. We advised those who are preparing bids for World Heritage designation. We engaged internationally and filled the space which in other countries is often occupied by official bodies, giving the UK the international credibility it needs.
But we didn’t succeed on two or three crucial issues. Despite a huge effort from our President Chris Blandford, who undertook the first ever Review of UK sites personally, we did not convince government that WHUK should get public funding to establish a full-time team. Despite a skilful campaign led by former Trustee Don Gobbett, we did not get statutory status in the planning system for World Heritage Sites, with a strong and clear policy framework. And we lost Liverpool as a World Heritage Site – a huge setback which means that the city’s international heritage assets do not have the national and international recognition and protection which they need.
These setbacks are I believe connected by what I’d call the ‘sovereign state factor’, which we also saw at work in Brexit. Government was unwilling to give statutory protection to sites which an international body, rather than Parliament, had designated. It was unwilling to put national resources into the management of sites which were not identified by Parliament as of national importance (as it does with many national environmental designations, including National Parks, AONBs (or ‘National Landscapes’), SSSIs, National Nature Reserves.
I’m more convinced than ever that we need a new national designation: National Heritage Areas, not unlike those which exist in the USA. These could be approved by Parliament for existing World Heritage Sites and for other sites which are clearly of great national significance but do not meet UNESCO’s exacting preservationist standards for designation and subsequent management. As national sites they would have statutory national status in planning policy. They would have a modest annual management budget, not unlike AONBs, for example. What’s more, by making Liverpool the pilot National Heritage Area, its assets would be given the level of protection and recognition that they still deserve.”
Ian Wray is the author of ‘Great British Plans’ and an honorary professor at both Liverpool University and Manchester University. He is a former WHUK Vice Chair.
World Heritage Trustee Graham U’ren
“I was asked to join the WHUK board in 2019, having recently ended a ten-year term as a trustee at New Lanark Trust. I had also been fully retired for two years after 47 as a town planner in many aspects of the discipline including heritage policy and governance. Early in my career, I had led the local authority initiative which led to the acquisition of the mills and of Robert Owen’s important community buildings at New Lanark and the establishment of the Trust which continues to look after them. After a stalled bid in 1986, I was also involved as an adviser in the second, successful, bid in 2001 to secure WH inscription when all the policy and political ramifications of the UK tentative list, buffer zones and management plans, which did not exist 15 years before, had to be addressed. By then, I was running the Royal Town Planning Institute’s office in Scotland, engaged in the policy world and then, during a period as a consultant, I also chaired another major heritage trust.
I was recruited as someone who had governance/trusteeship experience and, having retired, would have “time on my hands” to help out the busy practicing professionals already on the board. In three enjoyable years on the board, I was able to contribute to the interesting policy agenda at a time when Chris Blandford’s report on the state of UK WHS and our Statement and Action Plan had been published highlighting the potential value of the maturing portfolio of UK WH sites and the greater recognition needed from all UK governments. However, my credentials in governance were immediately put to the test as leader of a governance and constitution review of WHUK. This was part of a Lottery funded resilience review which included other elements for business strategy and communications. Normally a dry subject which attracts little interest, I was gratified that governance review in this instance was embraced by the board as an essential part of using the resilience exercise to improve the impact of WHUK with its member sites and with government and wider audiences.
To persuade me to accept, the chair originally wrote me to say “I genuinely enjoy my time with WHUK and with my colleagues as they are positive and committed people who really believe in what they are working for. And we get to work in some fabulous places!”. In the light of my experience of both the people and the places, I can only concur.”
WHUK Trustee Gillian Clarke – World Heritage UK: the first 10 years
“Ten Years! Time has indeed flown. It was a little more than 10 years ago that a few of us from the former LAWHF committee started to ponder on the future of that organisation. I was Secretary of the committee and was very aware that World Heritage in the UK deserved better recognition and relevance at a time when Local Authority budgets became increasingly stretched and less sites were actually managed by Local Authorities. It was time to change tack and I was privileged to be part of that team which oversaw a transition to a more autonomous and still independent network with the necessary national standing. We put together a vision, the aims and basis of a constitution. At the 2014 LAWHF AGM we were in a position to set up the new Charity. We achieved approval from the Charity Commission in September 2015.
While we kept the general pattern of meetings we introduced the two-day conference with a great first meeting at Saltaire. Followed by other conferences at for example, the Tower of London, Ironbridge and Llangollen, Of course we are fortunate to have some stunning venues for these events. These have I think become the highlights of our year. We should count on them as a great success
Then there was the opportunity offered by the NHLF to benefit from the Resilience Programme designed to examine and improve the way we ran our organisation. Board member Jane Gibson put together an application and it was exciting to learn we’d been awarded funds to run the project.
We started work on this early in 2020 but, like the rest of the country, we had to change abruptly. We quickly found on-line means to communicate but even so the lockdown was a pretty big challenge. Timing of the Resilience project could not have been more apt. Under our Project Manager, the redoubtable Tiva, we got to grips with on-line working and carried on. The Resilience Project gave us new confidence, a more streamlined organisation, with increased breadth. A General Manager was appointed, a Business Plan approved.
In all the ten years the network has continued to offer a supportive atmosphere, a source of advice, information and inspiration to its members, all of whom have the important job of managing our country’s World Heritage Sites. I’m now glad to see that WH UK is running smoothly and fulfilling its purpose and continuing the vision.”
WHUK Trustee Don Gobbett – My Experience as a WHUK Trustee
“I became a Trustee of World Heritage UK in 2016 and finished my tenure in 2022. My interest in World Heritage began when I became the Head of Planning at the then Dorset County Council, where I was responsible for the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Team, led by Sam Rose, and became the chairman of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Trust Partnership. I am deeply grateful to Sam and his team, as well as colleagues in Devon County Council, for the support and help they gave me. Their enthusiasm and innovative approaches always impressed me, and were key factors in helping me decide to put myself forward as a Trustee to the WHUK Board.
I had a number of roles with the Board. First I was the Board’s Planning Adviser. At the time, the Levelling Up agenda was a key feature of Government policy, and the “Planning for the Future White Paper” was published. Some of the White Paper’s proposals found their way into the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, and the Board took the opportunity to press for World Heritage Sites to be included in primary planning legislation. I am pleased to note this is now the case.
My other key role on the Board was to set up and chair the Climate Emergency Special Interest Group, to raise awareness of climate change and to share ideas on how to mitigate and adapt to it. The Board decided that the Climate Emergency should be the theme of WHUK’s Annual Conference in 2021, which I helped to organise with Chris Mahon, WHUK’s then Operations Manager. The conference was not only challenging in terms of subject matter, but also because it was “virtual” in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.
Other roles on the Board included membership of the Board’s Events and Governance Groups, which supported the running and work of WHUK.
Looking back at my time on the Board, a key feature was the good working relationships with other Trustees, World Heritage Site coordinators and representatives of respective Government agencies. It was good to see the same enthusiasm and innovation that I had experienced in the Jurassic Coast team. The annual conferences were also highlights for me.
There were also frustrations. My principal frustration was the lack of resources available to World Heritage UK and the individual Site teams. I know we could have done so much more if everyone had more time and better funding. After all, this was about World Heritage and whichever Government is in power should recognise the many benefits the many benefits of inscription. Then it was also a great disappointment that Liverpool was removed from the World Heritage List. In my view, the World Heritage Committee is too narrow in its focus and too political.
I wish WHUK every success for the future”.
Sam Rose, Founding and Past Chair, World Heritage UK
“So, World Heritage UK is 10. Fantastic news and congratulations to all involved over that time, WHUK has achieved a lot, not least bringing people together regularly and creating a supportive and strong community. This is my recollection of how it all started, so forgive me if my memory is a little vague in places.
It all started with the Local Authority World Heritage Forum (LAWHF) – technically a committee of the Local Government Association (LGA) – as Gill has already said, and although LAWHF was a functioning platform for World Heritage, it was not really able to do the job we needed it to do; to get on that top table, to advocate for resources and change, and to collectively support and promote the UK’s World Heritage Sites.
So, back in 2013 I joined the Committee alongside Tony Crouch and Mark Suggitt (former manager at Derwent Valley – much missed) with the cunning plan of how we, as a collective group of Sites, could up our game nationally. My earliest recollection of a decision was being at a LAWHF Committee meeting in a council room in Telford, keenly discussing the way forward with at least Chris Pound, Gill, Tony, Mark, Lesley, Deborah Boden (I think) and Jonathan Lloyd.
I was advocating for a review of the organisation and a possible movement towards charitable status, and at least one other around the table was less than keen. A typically good-natured, but robust discussion followed, but we agreed to create a process of change as long as we consulted the membership. Being someone happy to stick my neck out, I took ‘point’, and Tony and Mark were the most able wingmen I could have asked for.
Between us, we drafted aims, vision and a mission, and then created a brief for a short consultant contract to take this forward. A consultant named John Keiffer took on this role and his work involved a lot of conversation with membership, DCMS, UNESCO UKNC. John was thorough and eventually came out with a firm conclusion that we needed to ‘constitute or die’!! By constituting as a charity, we would be able to access funding to support the national body that we had not been able to do as a LGA Committee, and by being independent of the LGA, we were able to be fully inclusive of Sites that were not hosted by Local Authorities. There were clearly other benefits, such as a new name and profile, but these were the two key points.
As with all of the decisions to be made – and one of the good reasons the process look so long – we took this finding to the membership in Dec 2014 and they said yes, which is kind of when WHUK was born! In fact, I remember the meeting and a real buzz in the room; yes, it was way before COVID, so very much in person.
At that meeting we agreed to set up a ‘shadow board’ to act as if we had a charity in place and do all of the work needed to get it set up. The first meeting of the board was Feb 6th, 2015, in Bath, and the minutes included the need to set up a business plan, design a logo, create a website, plan events and elect officers, including Gill as secretary, Beth Thomas as treasurer, Tony as Vice-Chair and me as Chair. Also present were Mark, Jonathan Lloyd, Ian Wray, Alan Eales, Lesley Garlick, John Rodger, Deborah and Laurence Smith (by phone).
This led to a Charity Commission application, and whilst waiting for that, with characteristic gusto we just got straight on with the job! Apart from what was mentioned above, top of the list of jobs was events and appointing a part-time Development Officer post. The first event was a networking meeting in March, ironically in Liverpool. This was attended by 34 people including DCMS and Historic England – the top table had come to us!!
After the success of Liverpool, we set the conference for October in Saltaire with a theme of tourism and regeneration, and set about recruiting someone to run it. After national recruitment, this coveted job was won – by a country mile – by Chris Mahon, who told me in confidence after the Saltaire event that if he had known what was coming, he would have run to the hills!! However, he stayed for about 8 years so was clearly joking.
Chris was fantastic, steady hand at the tiller to keep us Trustees calm, and with 100+ people and some great talks, the conference was a resounding success, uncomfortable chairs notwithstanding! UNESCO came to talk and for me the night out enjoying the curry capital of the UK epitomised what setting up WHUK was all about, building lasting friendships and a strong and supportive peer group.
I found my opening speech of the event and it started: “I am delighted and proud to be able to welcome you to the Inaugural conference of World Heritage UK. Thank you for coming – the organisation is for you, and for World Heritage more widely, and without your desire to learn, share and work collaboratively, we wouldn’t be here today.” And I think that is as valid now as back then.
WHUK was formally constituted Sept 15th, 2015, happily before the conference, and with that event to cement its purpose, the organisation flourished. I chaired it for 3 years and then passed the mantle to Tony who took it to new heights. For me, it was a fabulous team effort and so rewarding to create something new and important with such a warm, determined, funny and lovely group of people. The degree to which you think WHUK has succeeded in its original aims is up to you, but from a personal perspective I think we have done pretty well.
Coda:
At the 10th anniversary event in London, Peter Marsden reminded me of a day way back in the late noughties, a little before he left DCMS to take his place in the big bad world, when we shared a beer in a café just off Trafalgar Square, near the old imposing DCMS building. My recollection is hazy, but I do remember that we casually discussed a World Heritage Ltd – a new approach World Heritage in the UK. Whilst it was probably the London Pride ale talking, and came to nought, it clearly sowed a seed in my mind, which others shared – so thank you Peter, for the chat, the beer, and for remembering!