Decision 41 COM 7B.54

Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) (C 1215)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/17/41.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 39 COM 7B.86, adopted at its 39th session (Bonn, 2015),
3. Recalling the recommendations of the Reactive Monitoring missions of October 2013 and January 2015, urges the State Party to complete their implementation as a priority;
4. Welcoming the State Party’s efforts for improving planning tools and their implementation in order to ensure that there are no adverse impacts on the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), commends the State Party for the progress which has occurred and requests it to provide information to the World Heritage Centre on further improvements, finalization and implementation of the planning tools and approval processes, which will contribute to preserving the OUV of the property;
5. Also requests the State Party to establish stronger protection tools and more detailed planning outlines for the 10 components of the property, in order to strengthen the Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) and the associated improved planning processes; and that these two latter be endorsed and implemented by the two other Councils responsible for local planning in the property;
6. Welcomes the State Party’s invitation for an Advisory mission to Hayle Harbour to guide the redesign of the South Quay project and invites the State Party to broaden the scope of the mission to advise on the revision of the Local Plans and proposed timeframe to define detailed planning outlines for other areas of the property;
7. Taking note of the new operator of the South Crofty Mine, Strongbow Explorations Incorporated (SEI), also welcomes the State Party’s monitoring efforts and further requests it to continue to keep the site under high scrutiny and maintain dialogue with SEI, and to submit an update of the archaeological reports as well as on the agreement of details of the boundary treatment and detail planning tools and information on any future development especially regarding any surface elements at the South Crofty Mine;
8. Requests furthermore the State Party to ensure that details for any substantial future projects in the property or its immediate and wider setting, together with Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs) with a specific section focusing on the potential impact of the projects on the OUV, be submitted to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies, before making any decisions that would be difficult to reverse, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
9. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2018, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 43rd session in 2019, with a view to considering, if the proposed improvements to the planning tools and approval processes outlined by the State Party are not completed, endorsed and strictly implemented, the possible inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger.