Bath could temporarily drop UNESCO status
The radical suggestion comes as the council administration faces backlash over its proposed local plan
Bath could temporarily give up being a UNESCO World Heritage Site in order to build new suburbs.
World-famous for its Roman baths and Georgian architecture, Bath is the only entire city in the UK to be designated as a world heritage site. Now Liberal Democrat-run Bath and North East Somerset Council is considering temporarily giving up the status in order to change the wording.
Currently, the world heritage site inscription covers not just the city itself but also its setting in a “hollow in the hills.” That description prevents the city from building more suburbs around it — something the council says it needs to do to hit the Labour government’s new housing targets.
Changing that wording would mean Bath would have to be delisted as a world heritage site and then reapply to be one if UNESCO approves of the change. Council cabinet member Matt McCabe (Bathavon South, Liberal Democrat) told a council scrutiny panel on September 24: “I don’t think there is, in my view, any reason why UNESCO wouldn’t allow us to rejoin.”
The radical suggestion comes as the council administration faces backlash over its proposed local plan, a major document which sets out where future housing developments should go. When the newly-elected Labour government changed how housing targets were calculated in 2024, Bath and North East Somerset’s mandatory housing target was doubled — from around 14,0000 to around 27,340 — due to the demand for housing in Bath.
But the restrictions around building in the world heritage site mean that most of those homes would be built away from the city in North East Somerset instead. Under the proposed local plan, Bath would only get around a quarter of new homes. The 5,900 which would be built in the city is only fractionally more than the 5,700 proposed in Keynsham, despite the town being five times smaller than Bath.
Bath’s homes would mainly be on small brownfield sites along the river. Mr McCabe said: “Bath is going to squeeze in as much as it can on every single bit of space but that doesn’t quite get it to 6,000 houses.”
Initially, the council had proposed allocating land between the edge of Twerton and the Globe Roundabout for a 2,000 home westward suburban expansion of the city. The government’s planning inspectorate said that their local plan would be rejected if this was included in it without the support of UNESCO. Mr McCabe said: “Politically, everybody thinks that’s the best place for the city to expand. We have to change the wording of the UNESCO World Heritage inscription.”
The government would have to lead the process, submitting the changes to the international council on monuments and sites (ICOMOS) who would then make a recommendation to UNESCO. Bath would be delisted as a world heritage site and have to reapply. The process could take several years.
Mr McCabe added: “Last year they told us there was no appetite for that process. We have now got the backing of the West of England Combined Authority Mayor so we will see if that produces any changes and we will try and start those conversations in the new year.”
Even if the process runs as swiftly as hoped, it would not be completed in time to include the suburbs in the currently proposed local plan, which councillors will be voting on in December. However, while the plan is officially intended to be in force for 18 years, a new local plan could be required in as soon as five years to keep pace with changing national and regional policy.
Bath first became a world heritage site in 1987. It later became a world heritage site twice over when it was also inscribed as part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Site in 2021.
Opposition Labour councillors — who all represent wards outside of the city — have previously called for the city to scrap the world heritage site status in order to take a greater share of housing. Labour group leader Robin Moss said recently: “UNESCO is proud of other World Heritage Site cities where the locals aren’t priced out.”
Risking the city’s prestigious world heritage site status could be politically dangerous but — with councillors representing areas of North East Somerset up in arms over the unequal distribution of proposed new homes — being seen to do nothing could be politically dangerous too.
‘Asleep at the wheel for 13 years’
Chair of the scrutiny committee on September 24, Andy Wait (Keynsham East, Liberal Democrat) said the proposed local plan looked “blatantly unfair.”
He told Mr McCabe: “You have actually created a plan that is pretty unpopular everywhere in Bath and North East Somerset. … The statement ‘the right houses in the right places’ is a joke because frankly we are building the wrong houses in the wrong places.”
Committee member Duncan Hounsell (Saltford, Liberal Democrat) added: “We have had 13 years where this was an inevitable situation and in that time the world heritage site management plan has been updated at least twice. Has the planning policy team actually been asleep at the wheel in terms of this issue for 13 years?”
Mr McCabe said this was “harsh” as the council did not expect the housing target to be doubled. He said: “I don’t think anyone has been asleep at the wheel but, last year, I went up to government and said: ‘You have doubled our target. You have to do something about Bath. We can’t expand the city and we can’t build up because of the UNESCO listing.’ And there was no interest last year.”
A six-week public consultation on the local plan runs until October 30. This will be the final opportunity for people to comment on the plan before it is submitted to the government for approval. Once approved, it will establish the rules by which planning applications are decided until 2043, unless replaced by another plan.
You can respond to the consultation here: https://haveyoursay.bathnes.gov.uk/localplan/