The final Section C, below, describes how you can use your understanding of Attributes of OUV and setting to re-design or remove elements of your development that could result in harm within or around the WHS, using the WHS Development Impact Checklist. 

WHS Development Impact Checklist - Introduction

This checklist is intended to provide a quick way to establish whether your development will have an impact upon the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site (WHS). It is designed to help you consider the following questions;

1. Will the WHS affect my project?
2. If so, how does the WHS affect my project?
3. How can I ensure my project contributes positively to the WHS?
4. What changes might I need to make?

For more complex projects, or where your development could have an impact upon significant heritage features (or several heritage features), then it is recommended that you seek to engage the services of a heritage professional to assess the impacts of the scheme. They would then be able to undertake a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) to see what impacts the development will have upon features such as listed buildings, archaeology, Conservation Areas, Scheduled Monuments and the WHS.

This checklist is simply designed to help identify what impacts might arise from your development in respect of the WHS.

1. Will the WHS affect my project?

1.0  Looking at the mapping you should now know if your development site is within one of the 10 WHS Areas, or if it is nearby or visible in views of the WHS Area.

You can use the questions below to help consider question 1 (above). These include an example to help get you started. You will see that questions 4 and 5 are not applicable as we have already noted the site is within the WHS Area 1: St Just Mining District.

1. Is my site in or near the WHS?
   Yes
    
2. Which WHS Area is it?
   e.g. Area 1: St Just Mining District
    
3. Is my site in the WHS?
   (if “no” see questions 4 and 5)
   Yes
    
4. Is my site near the WHS?
   N/A
    
5. Is the WHS visible from any part of my site?
   N/A

2. If so, how does the WHS affect my project?

2.0  This section of the checklist should help you to look at your site and establish if there are any key Attributes on or near your site. You can also describe the current state of your site, such as its use, what buildings there are, their state of repair, landscaping, boundary walls or hedges, if the site is visible or if there are views out from the site, etc.

2.1  When you have considered these matters it will become clear if there are attributes and features of the WHS that may affect your project, as you start to think about how your development will interact with the WHS. This could be as simple as considering if your development will directly change or alter an attribute, such as adding an extension to a mineworkers’ cottage, or if a new dwelling would block views of an engine house.

The questions below are designed to provide a way of noting your answers to question 2 (above). An example is included to give you an idea of what you might look out for and what might be recorded on historic mapping.

1. Site description 
   Example: house and garden - it is an old mineworkers’ cottage at the end of a terrace row.
    
2. Are there any key Attributes on the site? 
   Example: the mineworkers’ cottage including its garden.
    
3. Are there any key Attributes near the site? 
   Example: terraces of similar cottages, nearby mine site, some small fields, engine house in the distance.
    
4. What uses and buildings are on site or nearby? 
   Example: current use is as a house with garden, the same as the other cottages in the row. The mine site nearby is mainly covered in vegetation, with a few spoil heaps and paths running through it. The engine house is derelict.
    
5. Are there any other notable features on site? 
   Example: the house is made from stone and slate with a large chimney stack. There is a long narrow back garden closed in by stone walls and a Cornish hedge, and there is a smaller front garden with a stone wall and pedestrian gate between two granite gateposts. There is a stone outbuilding at the end of the garden used as a shed/store.
    
6. Are there any notable features around the site? 
   Example: the cottages are all similar in style and there are 3 rows all in a line. They all back onto some small fields and the mine site is next to those fields. You can see the engine house in the distance and another set of cottages further to the west.

3. How can I ensure my project contributes positively to the WHS?

3.0  This section of the checklist is designed to help you set out what your project may have to consider to not cause harm to the WHS. Equally, any positive parts of the scheme, such as the sensitive restoration of a WHS attribute, might also be noted here.

This will help you to establish if the project will have any negative or positive impacts upon the WHS and then to consider if the project needs to be modified to avoid harm, or to increase positive outcomes for the WHS and the project overall. This will help develop some of the design responses for your project which consider how it interacts with the WHS.

The headings below should help you to consider some of the aspects of design for your project with specific reference to the WHS.

• Layout 
  Example: are there any features about the site or area that should inform layout, such as historic layout, local street pattern, plots sizes, is there the ability to retain, expose or re-introduce heritage features, existing or new access point to be used?
   
• Size (often referred to as “scale” and “massing”) 
  Example: is the project informed by existing or past development on or near the site? Will it be like these, or will it be smaller/taller? What building shapes, roof profiles could it reflect?
   
• Materials 
  Example: the materials you use should be based upon any remaining structures on the site, archaeological evidence, period photographs and/or surrounding historical context. If new materials are proposed what is the basis for their use, why have they been chosen and how will they impact the WHS? Are they suitable, will they age well and are they of high quality?
   
• External works 
  Example: consider what was/is the nature of the site. Was it a hard-surfaced industrial area or was it more rural? How were boundaries historically defined, what materials were used, was it a stone wall, Cornish hedge or something else? Are the boundaries and external areas important features of the site?

4. What changes might I need to make? 

4.0  Now that you have considered how your project could respond to the WHS you have the basis for considering the design choices you can make. This will then help you to establish if your project can be designed to have a positive response to the WHS and not cause harmful impacts.

The headings below can be used to consider your project and how it either positively or negatively impacts the WHS. The examples given are simple questions you can ask yourself as to how you could consider both positive and negative impacts and think about some possible solutions that have been developed through the checklist process thus far.

• Layout 
  Example: the extension to the mineworkers’ cottage is single storey and to the rear. It is to be built in stone and have a metal roof. If the roof were changed to a natural slate, then it would match the materials of the dwelling better. This should make it blend well with the dwelling and is a modest addition. 
  Or: the porch to the front of the dwelling would be a large conservatory made of uPVC, this is not a traditional material and none of the cottages would have had porches originally. This is likely to have a negative impact on the main elevation of the dwelling and look out of place. Can it be omitted from the scheme?
• Size (often referred to as “scale” and “massing”)
  Example: the proposed extension to the cottage will be in the form of a sloping (catslide roof) There are a few like this on other cottages and this seems appropriate. 
  Or: my extension will be flat roofed and will be two-storey in height. This is likely to look out of place. Can it be modified to make it have a pitched roof?
• Materials
  Example: traditional stone and slate buildings are in the area adjacent to my site and a rendered or timber clad finish would look out of place. 
  Or: there are some corrugated roofs nearby, is the use of this suitable for my project?
• External works 
  Example: I can rebuild the Cornish hedge to the rear of the property and repair the outbuilding that has fallen in disrepair. This would help bring those features back to the site. 
  Or: I need a new parking area, and this would require the demolition of the front stone wall and some tarmac to be laid down. This is likely to have a negative impact though as the cottages all have front garden areas and pedestrian gateways.

Further Advice

Hopefully the above checklist should help you consider how your project is impacted by the WHS and how your project can positively respond to the WHS.

Ideally the project should be designed so that it does not cause harm to the WHS. If the proposals do have the potential for negative impacts, then it is worth considering whether these can be lessened through a redesign of the project to avoid harm. The WHS Office would suggest that this would best be achieved by seeking further professional advice through commissioning a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA). If thought necessary, the HIA process should be undertaken at the start of your concept planning to directly inform the design of your project.

The WHS Development Impact Checklist can also be downloaded as a PDF.

The first image shows a distinctive Cornish type engine house within a moorland mining landscape and this tall building is currently the dominant feature in the scene. If a competing tall feature was introduced, however, this may in turn become the new dominant feature, thereby reducing the visual prominence of the engine house. The presence of the wind turbine, as shown in the second photo, replaces the engine house as the dominant feature in the scene and therefore harms the ‘setting’ of the engine house, and the OUV of the World Heritage Site.

Harmful impacts on the landscape setting of the Site due to inappropriate development outside the World Heritage Site Areas

Given that the WHS comprises ten separate Areas, it is possible for developments occurring outside the Site and between Areas to potentially impact on the wider landscape setting of the WHS. This may occur, perhaps, if a particularly tall building were to be constructed between two adjoining Areas, as shown in the photo montage below.

While the above montage is an extreme example prepared for the purposes of this guidance, the view eastwards of Kit Hill (Area A10) from Caradon Hill (Area A9) illustrates well the close proximity of some adjoining Areas of the WHS. The potential for harm through out-of-scale and visually disrupting development here is clear.

When approaching any proposed alteration to an historic property within the World Heritage Site it is important to consider how this could be achieved without causing harm. Harm could be caused through inappropriate design.

To illustrate this, the images below show a typical row of mineworkers’ cottages dating from the nineteenth century, which are individually and as a group attributes of Outstanding Universal Value. In this view the external appearance of the cottages is relatively the same as when these were built and therefore these are authentic in their uniform appearance. The following images show how inappropriate modifications to these, through changes to the front and/or rear, can diminish their authenticity and therefore harm the World Heritage Site.

This first image (above) shows a row of six mineworkers’ cottages which for the most part retain their original form including walled front and rear gardens. It can be seen, however, that changes have occurred to some in the form of non-original replacement windows, the addition of a dormer, altered roof cladding (away from the traditional slate), and the loss of one front wall to create a parking space. Perhaps the most harmful change is the full-width porch (below) which largely obscures the historic front of the cottage.

This rear view of the mineworkers’ terrace (above) shows the long gardens typically associated with such cottages from the nineteenth century, with small privies (outside toilets) at the end – these were a common feature before the introduction of bathrooms. These cottages are often of very modest size, reflecting the limited means of mineworking families at the time as opposed to the space and layout requirements people prefer today. Harmful impacts can come about through cottage alterations and extensions, and through subdivisions.

Here we see a range of harmful developments in the form of over-sized or inappropriately proportioned extensions, inappropriate dormer insertions, changes to windows, the creation of garages and the subdivision of gardens to create separate dwellings which, in this instance, requires the demolition of the earth closet.

The challenge for the owner/developer is to appreciate the historic form of the cottage and that it is part a terrace with a common design style, and to ensure that any development respects this and does not diminish its ability to be appreciated as an historic cottage.

Mineworkers' smallholdings

Mineworkers’ smallholdings are one of the seven landscape attributes of the World Heritage Site but are often difficult to spot in the countryside as these can appear only as simple collections of small fields with no apparent connection to mining or mineworkers.

Mineworkers’ smallholdings were small subsistence-based farms created in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a response to the needs of growing populations with mouths to feed. (see the description of mineworkers’ smallholdings at Step B for more information).

In the first illustration, below, we see a typical mineworkers’ smallholding of around 5 acres in size (2 hectares) comprising six fields (shown in dark green), with the remains of two small stone buildings which were once a cottage and outbuilding.

The second illustration (below) shows the same smallholding but with many of the boundaries (i.e. Cornish-type hedges - stone-faced earth banks) removed, to create three larger plots more suitable for modern farming techniques. The remains of the cottage and outbuilding have also been removed and together these changes have significantly altered its form and reduced the authenticity of the smallholding and its legibility in the landscape. Similarly, the insertion of dwellings into smallholding fields will, in most cases, harm their authenticity and therefore the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage Site.

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly's Historic Environment Interactive Mapping

The mapping available here usefully extends into west Devon to cover the Tamar Valley and Tavistock Area of the WHS, but if you are in Devon and using a post code to search by, please use the Devon link below:

Devon County Council Environment Viewer

Using the Cornwall Council online mapping:

Use the ‘Search’ icon located in the top left-hand corner of the map web page to enter your location postcode, or part of your address, to centre the map on your property.

Please note: the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ (plus and minus) buttons can be used to change the view scale of the map and to reveal greater detail as the view is zoomed in. If using a computer or laptop, the mouse wheel button enables the user to zoom in and out quickly.

Firstly, please click on the ‘Layers’ icon, click then select the ‘World Heritage Site Areas’ option (found under ‘Designations’ and also ‘Mining’). You should now be able to zoom in and move around the view to determine if your property is within an Area of the WHS. If it is, please click on the shape and a pop-up window will tell you within which of the 10 Areas you are located. This link also provides a short description about that Area on the WHS home page.

If you are not within the WHS your project may not be affected by the WHS, but it is recommended you zoom the map out to establish how far you are away from a WHS Area and whether your site or project might be affected by it being within the ‘setting’ of the WHS (for more information on setting, please see the section What is the WHS Setting?).

If your project is within a WHS Area or potentially just outside the boundary of an Area (i.e. within its setting), then you will need to establish if your development is affected by any WHS Attributes, or other historic features, within or near your project’s location.

Historic maps allow you to compare the development site today with how it looked in the latter years of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century (around the 1880s and 1907, respectively). These historic Ordnance Survey maps can be accessed by selecting the ‘Basemap’ icon and clicking on the relevant map layer. Please note by using the ‘Transparency’ slider it is possible to view the modern map underneath. In addition, you can access further information by switching on other layers such as ‘Listed Buildings’ and, as with the WHS layer, there are links to other detailed information.

The ‘Event record’ layer is very useful as it provides links to published reports, such as the Cornwall Industrial Settlements Initiative (CISI) surveys and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Urban Survey (CSUS) studies produced in the 2000s (these reports can also be found on the Cornwall Council Appraisals and Surveys webpage, while Cornwall's Heritage Hub gives access to Historic Environment Record (HER) guidance as well as projects such as that addressing Cornish distinctiveness). 

While the modern digital colour mapping appears noticeably different from the historic black and white paper sheets of yesteryear, the online interactive mapping enables the different maps to be seamlessly overlain, zoomed, and the various data layers turned on and off as the viewer wishes.

Using the Devon County Council online Environment Viewer:

After reading and accepting the Devon County Council web disclaimer, use either the mouse pointer or touch the screen to move the map view around and the slide bar (located top left) to zoom the map view in and out.

The viewer’s ‘Address Search’ option (top left) allows you to search for properties by post code. The Viewer’s ‘Map Options’ tab (top right) enables the display of historic mapping with the Ordnance Survey First and Second Edition maps of c.1880 and c.1907 being particularly useful in identifying WHS Attributes. The ‘Map Options’ tab also gives access to modern and historic aerial photographs.

A number of map data layers are available for viewing and these can be selected using the list to the left of your screen under the ‘Historic Environment’ tab. Tick the ‘World Heritage Sites’ box within this list to show the Tamar Valley with Tavistock Area of the World Heritage Site (Area A10). Features such as Listed buildings and Scheduled Monuments can also be displayed by selecting options under the ‘Historic Environment’ tab.

How to identify Attributes of Outstanding Universal Value using historic maps online

To interpret historic maps, it is useful to see examples of how Attributes are shown within these. The following images have been created to show two sections of a hypothetical Ordnance Survey map dating from around the 1880s. These show some of the Attributes that are typical at many locations within the WHS. There are five of the seven landscape Attribute types included within these map images, these being: a mine site, an ancillary industry (an arsenic works), a series of mineworkers’ smallholding fields and a cottage, a mineral railway and, lastly, an imaginary mining village – ‘Bal Moor’.

In each view the various Attributes are colour coded for convenience and where directly related Attributes are mentioned, such as the mine’s gunpowder magazine (store), these are colour coded to match.

Within our first hypothetical WHS landscape we have a [planning_red]mine site[/planning_red], which is in this instance named ‘South Wheal Fran’. This is indicated as producing both tin and copper and the site includes features common to many mines of the nineteenth century, including a Cornish type steam pumping engine, and its adjoining boiler house, alongside the mine’s pumping engine shaft. A leat, a man-made watercourse, is also shown, as this is required by the mine to deliver water to the engine’s boilers. The last also powers the operation of the adjoining Arsenic Works (below), by means of a water wheel. All the mine features are set within an area of mine waste spoil (mine dumps) which are shown on the map as pock-marked irregular rock-strewn ground in and around the buildings and shafts.

Away from the mine itself, and to the east (right), we have an [planning_aqua]ancillary industry[/planning_aqua] - in this example an Arsenic Works which produced raw or refined arsenic for sale for use in products such as insecticides, dyes, paints and medicines. An arsenic works is one of many examples of a mining ancillary industry, others include engineering foundries and gunpowder manufacturing sites. The Arsenic Works machinery is powered by a water wheel fed by a leat, a man-made watercourse, and this can be seen flowing from east to west across the site.

Around the mine and between it and the Arsenic Works are several very small fields which form part of adjoining [planning_blue]mineworkers’ smallholdings[/planning_blue]. These were small subsistence farms, i.e. farms raising crops and animals solely for consumption of the individual family concerned. These are a common though little recognised feature within mining landscapes across Cornwall. While a great many smallholdings have lost hedge boundaries to changing farming practices during the twentieth century, many survive to illustrate how the broader landscape was reshaped through the dominating influence of metal mining. The imaginary map here also shows individual mine shafts, or indications of shafts shown as small areas of rough ground, seemingly remote from the cluster of buildings at the focus of the workings. This spread of features is common, however, as the various shafts can be connected by perhaps hundreds of metres of individual levels (tunnels) underground, along the strike (direction) of a mineral lode (ore body).

At the top of the map we have an example of [planning_orange]mine transport infrastructure[/planning_orange] in the form of the route of a mineral railway used to transport metal ores and materials between the mines and mineral harbours. Rather like mineworkers’ smallholdings, the routes of former mineral railways can sometimes be difficult to spot in the landscape, being, in this case, most likely enclosed within parallel tall Cornish hedges. While easily overlooked, such routes were an essential part of the mining industry and enabled the transportation of many thousands of tons of cargo while in operation.

Our second map section view is dominated by a [planning_green]mining settlement[/planning_green], in this case the imaginary village ‘Bal Moor’, and here we see the linear rows of mineworkers’ cottages with their characteristically long front or rear gardens, used to grow the family’s staple fruit and vegetables. Numerous privies (outside toilets) and other outbuildings can be seen at the rear of the garden plots, which were essential features of the individual dwellings. Alongside these within the village is a non-conformist Methodist Chapel, in this case of the Wesleyan denomination. This is an example of the social infrastructure common throughout the mining districts. Although not indicated within the map, Bal Moor would also have had numerous small shops and other businesses serving the community.

The first hypothetical map view shows a [planning_red]mine site[/planning_red] (‘South Wheal Fran’) alongside several other features which are the sites of mine shafts positioned along the strike (direction) of the mineral lode (ore body).

The second hypothetical map view also highlights a mining [planning_aqua]ancillary industry[/planning_aqua], in this instance an Arsenic Works. This refined raw arsenic ‘soot’ to produce a pure white product suitable for sale.

The third hypothetical map view in the sequence highlights a mineral railway which falls under the category of [planning_orange]mine transport infrastructure[/planning_orange]. Mineral railways were used to transport mineral ores and supplies between the various mines and mineral harbours.

The final hypothetical map view in the sequence highlights a [planning_blue]mineworkers’ smallholding[/planning_blue]. Consisting of two small fields and a cottage, this is characteristic of the small subsistence farms which were established in great numbers in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in response to the need for productive land to support the growing mining populations.

The first hypothetical map view in the second sequence shows several [planning_red]mine site[/planning_red] features adjacent to the mining village ‘Bal Moor’. Five mine shaft sites are shown in addition to a mine gunpowder magazine (store) which was used to secure the explosive safely away from the public.

The second view highlights the imaginary [planning_green]mining settlement[/planning_green], or village, ‘Bal Moor’. Consisting of tight rows of modest terraced cottages with extensive linear garden plots and outside privies (toilets), villages like Bal Moor were established in many mining districts across Cornwall and west Devon.

This final view highlights another [planning_blue]mineworkers’ smallholding[/planning_blue] directly adjoining the limits of the village.

The above hypothetical map views have been created to show multiple Attributes together for illustrative purposes and it should be noted that in many real-world situations there may be only one or two Attributes present at, or near, any given location. Hopefully these and the above descriptions serve as a useful introduction to enable you to decide if you require an HIA to accompany your project planning application.

To decide if to approve your project, the local planning authority needs the application or your HIA to identify all Attributes present, in accordance with the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the National Planning Policy Guidance (NPPG), and to set out how your proposals either avoid causing harm or better reveal their historic significance.

A development project may also offer potential improvements and benefits to Attributes, in some instances, which may better reveal the importance of these within the WHS. All such improvements should be fully described within an HIA if any are proposed.

To help you consider the above, there is a simple WHS Development Impact Checklist that can be used to help quickly establish whether your development will have an impact upon the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site (WHS). It is intended that the Checklist will help you to quickly identify the potential impacts of your development project and if you will need to employ a professional to produce a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA).

The following photographs show examples of the Attributes to help you recognise them in towns and villages and within the wider landscape. Each Attribute is accompanied by a short description, showing how these relate to the story of historic metal mining in Cornwall and west Devon.

It should be noted that all heritage features that are Attributes of OUV are of equal heritage value within the WHS and all are ‘…of the highest significance’, as confirmed by the National Planning Policy Guidance (NPPG Paragraph: 032 Reference ID: 18a-032-20190723). This significance is regardless of whether these Attributes have any other national or local status, or neither.

Mine sites, including ore dressing sites, e.g. East Pool Mine

Mine transport infrastructure, e.g. mineral railways, ports or harbours

Ancillary industries, e.g. engineering foundries, safety fuse works

Mining settlements and social infrastructure, e.g. mineworkers’ cottages

Mineworkers’ smallholdings, i.e. small subsistence farms (often around 3-5 acres in size)

Great Houses, estates and gardens, e.g. Scorrier House

Mineralogical and other related sites of particular scientific importance, e.g. Cligga Head

While some Attributes of OUV within the World Heritage Site will be immediately familiar to many, such as the highly distinctive Cornish-type engine houses found at many mine sites, others will be much less so.

The mining industry in Cornwall and west Devon required considerable infrastructure to operate in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and this included that relating to mineral transportation, i.e. the ports and harbours needed to ship the ores and metals to the smelters or end users, and the mineral tramroads, railways and canals, essential to link mines with dock facilities.

Mining (extraction) and ore dressing (processing) sites are the most obvious features within the historic mining landscape and are often accompanied by one or more of the distinctive Cornish type engine houses. The Taylor’s Shaft pumping engine at East Pool Mine (above), is somewhat unusual in being located within an entirely urban setting but illustrates well the close contextual relationship which existed between metalliferous mine and community.

Transport infrastructure was essential to carry imported coal, supplies and mineral ores to and from the mines. Many ports, harbours, mineral tramroads and railways and, occasionally, canals, were constructed in Cornwall and west Devon for this purpose. Former tramroads and railways are often easily overlooked in the landscape due to their narrow linear nature and the absence of rails or other more obvious features. This section of the Liskeard & Caradon Railway at Pontus Peace (Ponton’s Piece) near Minions, is distinctive in retaining the original parallel granite setts, or bed-stones, which supported the iron rails.

The growth of mining in Cornwall and west Devon fostered the creation of many industries ancillary to mining such as iron foundries and engineering works, gunpowder factories and tin smelters, i.e. industries which were established to service the mining industry or that which processed minerals produced by it. By way of an example, Harvey’s Foundry in Hayle was the leading Cornish engineering works in the nineteenth century and at one time constructed the largest steam pumping engines ever made, many of which were exported via the local port, itself directly created to support the mining industry, to other mines around the world.

The employment opportunities offered by large scale development in the mining industry led to a rapid population growth and the emergence of new towns and villages with their workers’ housing, Methodist Chapels, public institutes, libraries and shops, etc. Housing was not only built within existing market towns and villages, but also resulted from the establishment of new settlements in the various mining districts, for example Pensilva in the Caradon Mining District (WHS Area A9).

Mineworkers’ smallholdings developed in the mining districts as a response to an increasing demand for land to rear animals and tend crops. These smallholdings, often no larger than two hectares (five acres) in size, consisted principally of often self-built cottages (set within or near to their cluster of small fields – as shown within the blue outline, below) on holdings leased from a landowner. This ‘pig and potato’ subsistence husbandry brought an important degree of self-sufficiency to the mineworker and family, and radically changed the local landscape to create the very distinctive field patterns that are a direct consequence of the mining industry.

Mining wealth was used by influential landowners (e.g. the Williams family) and shareholders (adventurers) to establish grand estates and gardens, many using specially imported plant species new to Britain.

Mineralogy, geology, and the practical application of these sciences to the mineral processing industries were studied extensively in Cornwall and west Devon in the nineteenth century. Key mineralogical sites within the WHS include the discovery sites of new types (species) of mineral, the sources of world-class mineral specimens, and important mineralogical exposures at surface. Such mineralogical exposures, e.g. Cligga Head, below, may be designated County Geology Sites (CGS) or, as in this case, as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Why is the World Heritage Site important?

World Heritage Sites are very special places. They are inscribed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for their ‘Outstanding Universal Value’ (OUV), or international importance, to the whole of humankind. World Heritage Site status is the most important heritage designation internationally.

The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, or Cornish Mining WHS, is defined by individual Attributes of OUV, i.e. particular historic features in the landscape which have a defined link with local metal mining during the period 1700 to 1914. These Attributes can be found throughout the WHS which consists of ten separate Areas numbered A1 to A10 (please see the WHS Areas map below to see the locations of these). Together these internationally important Attributes express the OUV of the World Heritage Site and are as described in the illustrated list in Section B.

Will the World Heritage Site affect my development project?

Not all development projects will be affected by the WHS as your location may be beyond the Areas shown on the map but, for those sites that are within or nearby, consideration is required to determine how a project might impact on, or be shaped by, any heritage features present. The purpose of this guidance is to help you find out if there might be WHS implications for your development and, if so, whether this should be designed in such a way as to avoid causing harm to it.

When making a development application it is necessary to submit enough information to the local planning authority to enable it to undertake an adequate assessment of all potential impacts. This can be achieved by the planning applicant or their agent commissioning a contractor to prepare a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA). Whilst usually a separate study, these can sometimes incorporate or form part of a Landscape Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) or a Design and Access Statement (DAS). The LVIA should set out how the project might affect important views between Attributes or between adjoining Areas of the WHS. A DAS should demonstrate how the findings of the HIA study has informed and shaped the final design. If you would like further information on the format of the above studies, please contact the World Heritage Site Office at: whsplanning@cornwall.gov.uk

Is my development within, or adjacent to, the World Heritage Site?

In considering if the WHS might affect your development project, first check if your site is in, or near, one of the WHS Areas. Digital mapping, available free to the public online, identifies the ten Areas of the WHS and can show if your site includes, or is near, any WHS Attributes of OUV. This is explained further in Section B. The online mapping also gives details of listed buildings and scheduled monuments  as well as other designated landscapes, such as Conservation Areas and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), should any of these relate to your project.

Historic and modern mapping, and other information, is available online at both the Cornwall Council and Devon County Council websites. Please follow the web links below to view;

Cornwall Council Interactive Mapping: https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/community-and-living/mapping/

Devon County Council Environment Viewer: https://www.devon.gov.uk/historicenvironment/projects/national-mapping-project/

Explanations of designations can be found via the links below;

Listed buildings 

Scheduled Monuments

Conservation Areas

National Landscapes

Development within, and adjacent, to the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site will change towns, villages and the wider landscape.

Development may be large housing or industrial developments, or minor changes such as an extension to a home. Development can be undertaken by major developers or individuals.

Such development will change our environment – it can be positive, negative or neutral in heritage terms and very often a mixture of these.

This section of the website has been created to introduce the World Heritage Site (WHS) and to explain why it should be protected and how this is to be done.

The following pages address the importance of the WHS, and how its important features can be identified, and looks in detail at the information available for you to do this.

Photos and maps are included to illustrate the important features of the WHS, and an Impact Checklist has been added to provide a quick way to establish whether a development will have an impact upon the Site’s special qualities.

For those who require specialist planning advice, the World Heritage Site Office provides a dedicated advice service, and details and the charges for this can be found on the Pre-application advice page.

Guide to positive development within the World Heritage Site

The guidance on this and the following pages will help you gain a basic understanding of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site, which can help you identify potential design issues at an early stage.

You will also gain a clear understanding of what makes your development site important to the WHS.

Ideally negative changes should be avoided, and this is usually possible through careful design based on a clear understanding of what makes the development site important to the WHS. For some locations, it may be considered that development should not be pursued due to the harm this would cause to the WHS.

This guidance will help you revise your development, where necessary, to avoid negative change, and may also inspire positive design choices, which, in turn, make a positive contribution to the WHS.

The guidance is set out as three steps - A, B and C.

Helps you to understand the environment in which the development will take place

Helps you to understand the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site and why it matters at the earliest stage of your design / development process

Helps you to use this understanding to re-design or remove elements of the development that would result in negative change within or near the World Heritage Site

This guide is intended to help get you from steps A to C by providing you with information that can help you better understand the WHS and how all types of development, from the very small to the very large, can impact upon it.