main content Darwin at Downe - A natural selection

The World Heritage Site nomination bid relating to Darwin at Downe has now been submitted. Tessa Jowell MP, Culture Secretary launched the Darwin at Downe bid to UNESCO. The submission represents two years of careful preparation and consultation with local people and organisations as well as a Steering Group including English Heritage and Bromley Council.

Leader of Bromley Council, Councillor Stephen Carr, said, “This is an exciting application and World Heritage status would give Down House and the surrounding area international recognition. More importantly it would enable this area and its legacy to remain intact for generations to come. We have taken residents feedback on board and will work with them to overcome issues that may affect their quality of life.”

The Council has addressed issues such as education, visitor management, and enhancing wildlife and access to the site in the Management Plan. This has been submitted alongside the Nomination Document to UNESCO. The public has provided the Council with a clearer image of the current and potential issues that may arise from World Heritage status through formal consultation during last summer and continual involvement in the bid. The Council is committed to the long-term sustainability of the Site.

The United Kingdom can nominate only one site per year for consideration as a World Heritage Site and Bromley Council is delighted that Darwin at Downe - Charles Darwin’s home and surrounding landscape - is the selection for 2006. Darwin was one of the greatest scientists of the modern age and his contribution to our understanding of the natural world is unrivalled. Using wildlife observations and experiments in the grounds of Down House and the surrounding countryside, Darwin recognised that evolution by natural selection is key to our understanding of the living world. Darwin’s landscape still survives today and provides a unique opportunity to appreciate one of the supreme achievements of modern science.

The website www.darwinatdowne.co.uk provides information about the World Heritage Bid and Darwin’s life at Downe. Its sister website www.darwinswildlife.co.uk provides more detailed information about the variety and range of species of plants and animals which can be found in the site and also is regularly updated with details of biodiversity events arranged.

The World Heritage Centre at UNESCO will assess the bid over the next 18 months and will announce their decision in the summer of 2007.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 
• The World Heritage (WH) Convention (adopted by UNESCO in 1972) was ratified by the United Kingdom (UK) in 1984. The Convention provides for the identification, protection, conservation and presentation of cultural and natural sites of outstanding universal value, and requires a WH List to be established under the management of an inter-governmental WH Committee. To qualify for WH status, a site must be of outstanding universal value, which is tested against criteria. The UK Tentative List was drafted in 1999 and Darwin at Downe was chosen in 2004 as the 2006 UK nominated Site. 
• The site covers an area of 10km² and includes the village of Downe, Keston Common and parts of Cudham. Charles Darwin spent 40 years of his life at Downe and it was here where he wrote his most famous books including The Origin of Species and the Descent of Man. Charles Darwin’s work has influenced our understanding of the natural world. Using wildlife observations and experiments in the grounds of Down House and the surrounding countryside, Darwin recognised that evolution by natural selection is key to our understanding of the living world. Darwin’s theory of evolution has withstood the test of time and thousands of scientific experiments. 
• The London Borough of Bromley owns and manages about 45% of the nominated area. Most of this is farmed land with a significant proportion being managed for nature conservation and public open space. English Heritage manages and opens for visitors The Home of Charles Darwin - Down House.
• The Darwin at Down WHS Steering Group comprises of English Heritage, International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), English Nature, Greater London Authority (GLA), London Development Agency (LDA), London Borough of Bromley, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Natural History Museum, Charles Darwin Trust, Kent Wildlife Trust and the London Wildlife Trust. 
  
• For media enquiries, please contact Andrew Rogers, Communications Advisor, on 020 8461 7670 or Alister Hayes, Countryside Management Officer on 020 8461 7808 or email Andrew.Rogers@bromley.gov.uk