The DCMS hopes to submit a revised nomination to UNESCO in January 2009.

Darwin at Downe – Darwin’s home and workplace - was submitted to UNESCO as the UK's 2006 nomination to become a World Heritage Site in January last year, in response to the World Heritage Committee’s call for ‘nominations which recognise and celebrate the achievements in science’. The nomination, which was to have been considered by the World Heritage Committee at its meeting this month in New Zealand, was formally withdrawn in a letter from the Government.

The letter not only confirmed the withdrawal of the nomination but also raised concerns about the evaluation report.

In its report to the Committee, ICOMOS has questioned the outstanding universal value, authenticity and integrity of the nominated site. However, the government considers that the report fails to recognise Darwin at Downe’s significance as a site for the heritage of science.

To support UNESCO’ s aims to include more sites celebrating the achievements in science on the World Heritage List, the DCMS has offered to host an international UNESCO meeting in the UK to discuss the criteria for these sites. This offer will be considered by the World Heritage Committee at its meeting in June.

Culture Minister, David Lammy said:

“The Government firmly believes that Darwin at Downe fully justifies World Heritage status.  We remain committed to this nomination.  We were surprised and disappointed at the ICOMOS evaluation and we need to consider very carefully the issues raised by them.  Withdrawing the nomination this year will give us the opportunity to do just that – and we look forward to submitting a revised bid to UNESCO in 2009.

“Defining the heritage of science for World Heritage Sites is a very complex issue and more needs to be done to further the international community’s understanding on this. We have therefore offered to host and fund, on behalf of UNESCO, an international expert meeting which we believe will enrich the evaluation process for all potential World Heritage sites for the heritage of science.“

Leaders of the bid partnership, Councilor Stephen Carr, Leader of Bromley Council said:

“Our initial disappointment has been tempered by our optimism for the future.  We would like to thank everyone who has worked so hard on the bid - we are examining the issues raised in detail.  This is the first application of its type as we recognise the unique nature of the nomination.  The very essence of Darwin at Downe remains our priority and Darwin’s legacy underpins global understanding of scientific theory in the natural world, which we remain very proud of in Bromley.”

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Notes to editors

1. The location of the proposed WHS is situated in the London Borough of Bromley, approximately 25km south east of the capital's centre. It extends approximately 6km from north to south and approximately 3km from east to west, covering an area of 10 square kilometers.  The area is ancient countryside and includes picturesque rural villages on the rolling Kent North Downs. It contains Darwin's home, garden and grounds at Down House, the neighboring villages of Downe and Cudham, and the surrounding countryside in which he walked and rode daily from his home. The area has been chosen in order to cover the range of his typical daily activities as a naturalist during the 40 years he lived at Downe (1842-1882), much of it little altered from how it was when Darwin lived, worked and experimented there.

2. Re-submitting the Darwin at Downe nomination will have a knock on effect on the order of nominations for the next 3 years. The proposed order will now be:

• Frontiers of the Roman Empire: The Antonine Wall, - nominated in January 2007 for consideration in June 2008
• Pontcysyllte Aqueduct – to be nominated in January 2008 for consideration in June 2009
• Darwin at Downe – to be re-submitted in January 2009 for consideration in June 2010;
• Twin Monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow - will now be nominated in January 2010 for consideration in June 2011.

3. The concept of World Heritage Sites is at the core of the World Heritage Convention, adopted by UNESCO in 1972, to which 180 nations belong. Through the Convention, UNESCO seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of the cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. The Convention required the establishment of the World Heritage List, under the management of an inter-governmental World Heritage Committee as a means of recognising that some places, both natural and cultural, are of sufficient importance to be the responsibility of the international community as a whole.

4. As a member of the Convention, States Parties are pledged to care for their World Heritage sites as part of protecting their national heritage. In the UK this duty is discharged through the existing planning system.

5. The International Council on Monuments and Sites is an association of professionals throughout the world that currently bring together over 7500 members ICOMOS works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places. It is the only global non-government organisation of this kind, which is dedicated to promoting the application of theory, methodology, and scientific techniques to the conservation of the architectural and archaeological heritage. Its work is based on the principles enshrined in the 1964 International Charter on the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites (the Venice Charter). 

6. Darwin Withdrawal Letter to UNESCO PDF (75kb)