Darwin at Downe Nomination for World Heritage status withdrawn by UK Government in June 2007.

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 2006.

The nomination was 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was to have been considered by the World Heritage Committee at its meeting in June 2007 in New Zealand, was formally withdrawn on 12 June 2007.

In a letter to the World Heritage Centre, DCMS reiterated its conviction that Darwin at Downe fully justified inscription on the World Heritage List. However, the Department raised a number of serious reservations about the evaluation report submitted by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) to the World Heritage Committee, which the Department believed, would result in the Darwin site not receiving the objective assessment that it deserved.

To support UNESCO’ s aims to include more sites celebrating the achievements in science on the World Heritage List, DCMS has offered to host an international expert 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.

To withdraw the application means that the UK reserves the right to re-submit, with modifications to the application if necessary. If the bid had been considered and rejected by the World Heritage Committee this year, there would not have been an opportunity to re-submit.

The UK National Commission for UNESCO is disappointed at the withdrawal but understands the concerns raised. We are fully supportive of the positive proposal of holding an international expert meeting and has offered our assistance to DCMS.

Further information

14.06.2007 DCMS Press Release
13.06.2007 UK National Commission Statement

Darwin at Downe website

About World Heritage