June 2025
The City of Bath has endorsed its World Heritage Site Management Plan – thought to be the first management plan combining two inscriptions in the world!
Bath is exceptional in having two UNESCO inscriptions. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987 and again as part of The Great Spa Towns of Europe in 2021. The new Plan sets out the approach to management of the Site for a six-year period.
The Great Spa Towns of Europe is a complex transnational World Heritage Site, because it’s made up of eleven historic spa towns from seven countries. Together, they comprise one ‘property’.
It’s complex, but that also means the eleven towns bring together a breadth of expertise. Local knowledge from the people on the ground, alongside professionals in conservation, architecture and town planning, work together to be proactive with the care and custodianship of the World Heritage Site.
Bath’s new plan is a great response to a unique challenge, steering a clear path through the complexity of a transnational inscription.
It stays at the forefront of UNESCO World Heritage Site Management and this will be drawn on very soon, as The Great Spa Towns of Europe’s Property Management Plan Review is kicking off next year.
The World Heritage Site Management Plan can be downloaded from www.bathworldheritage.org.uk/
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The City of Bath and Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Sites Management Plan for 2024-2030 was presented to Bath and North East Somerset Council’s Cabinet on 20th May 2025, where it was unanimously endorsed for submission to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and in turn to UNESCO.
The review of the new Plan involved a rigorous collaborative and participatory process involving key stakeholders from the City of Bath World Heritage Site’s Advisory Board over a two-year period, including Historic England, National Trust, ICOMOS-UK, the University of Bath, Bath Spa University, Bath and North East Somerset Council, Bath Preservation Trust, UNESCO and ICOMOS. The general public were also involved during an eight-week public consultation between 2024 and 2025.
We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the advisory bodies and UNESCO on this groundbreaking document.
The Plan sets out:
- Why Bath is a World Heritage Site
- The issues facing the Site, and the corresponding management objectives
- The actions to achieve these objectives
The City of Bath encompasses an entire living city of 100,000 people, where modern life co-exists with historic cultural and natural assets of global significance. Achieving a balance between its conservation and the needs of the community is a constant challenge, which this plan addresses.
A main aim of the Plan is to ensure that the Outstanding Universal Value of the Site and its setting is understood, protected and sustained. The Plan addresses the City of Bath as a World Heritage Site yet is not a management plan for every aspect of life in the city. While the boundary of the Site covers the whole city, the Plan also includes the countryside immediately beyond.
12 Bath Street, City of Bath, UK. Credit Visit West.