Let's show the world

IF THERE is anyone who should appreciate York's culture, beauty and heritage, it is the Lord Mayor, Janet Hopton.

She lives in the Mansion House, can see York Minster from her bedroom window and the city's narrow streets and architectural wonders are a stone's throw from her home.

She has some of the best views in the city, too.

Just before our interview in the Mansion House, Coun Hopton climbed on to her roof to pose for our photographer. It is there that she sometimes goes to enjoy her lofty view of the city centre.

Little wonder that she has been campaigning for three years to secure World Heritage Status (WHS) for York, since long before she became Lord Mayor.

"I love York," she says, casting her eyes towards the Mansion House windows. "I think it is so special. We represent the history of our islands from Roman times right through to the present day.

"We've got everything. We've got the evidence, but we're also a living city and, as far as we can see, there is nowhere else that has the complete records we have or has evidence from these different ages.

"York has got all these things and we don't think it can be refused. But then, we are up against the world."

The World Heritage Status scheme was established in 1984. Joining was straightforward at the time, and Edinburgh, Bath, Durham and Canterbury succeeded easily.

The idea was floated in York in 1990, but later laid to rest. When interest resurfaced, the challenge became clear.

"We missed the boat in 1990 when I think we would have walked it," Coun Hopton says. "We are under no illusion that it is a long, difficult process, but if we don't succeed then any work that's done will not be wasted. It can only help us in our development of our heritage and the care we take of it."

It might cost up to £115,000 to fund our bid and be accepted on to the tentative list, the roll call of English sites which want World Heritage status.

Only one site from each country can be put forward each year, when they will compete against sites from the rest of the world.

UNESCO may feel it already has too many walled cathedral cities, admits Coun Hopton, but York has plenty more to shout about.

"We have all these different periods of history and we have the chocolate manufacturing and railways," she said. "We also have the development of new ways of thinking, the Quaker movement and Rowntrees with the social conscience and reports on poverty."

Many visitors to York are amazed we don't have World Heritage Status already, she says.

If we didn't gain it but others did, it might eventually work against us, particularly if tourists began specifically seeking out WHS sites.

Recently, a steering group led by the Lord Mayor has been looking at the pros and cons of a bid.

Yesterday, the council's Executive agreed to consult York residents about the way forward.

The main concerns, points out Coun Hopton, seem to be over planning restrictions.

Developers worry world heritage status will make it more difficult for developers to build new flats, bars and businesses. But this seems unlikely, considering the restrictions in place already.

"The area we are talking about in York is the central historic core and there are three conservation areas. They are already restricted and at the moment the WHS don't seem to have further restrictions."

In Edinburgh, people were concerned about precisely this, but contacts there have insisted that 12 years after the city was designated, the economy is stronger than ever, Coun Hopton says.

"There are things to weigh up and down, but we strongly feel as a working group that the plusses are very much plusses and the minuses as far as we can see at the moment are negligible.

"We rely on our heritage and quality of our life here and lovely surroundings and people wanting to live here and business wanting to settle here. If you have a lovely city and show that you care for it and have World Heritage Status, then the economy will do well."

The other side of the coin, she says, is WHS could act like a watchdog to make sure we don't ruin the city.

"If we want to protect our heritage while continuing to develop, I don't think it's a bad thing to have another body giving advice and saying perhaps that's not the way," Coun Hopton said.

Anyway, nothing will happen overnight. Even if the people of York agree to go forward and everything goes according to plan, it will take at least six years.

"But we think we certainly must try," Coun Hopton said. "We all love York's heritage and I think most people will be very happy to do whatever is necessary to ensure that is managed property.

"It's a way of ensuring that people in the future continue to care for it as we do now."

The background

MANY might think it is high time that York took its place on the world stage, alongside other such unique cultural and archaeological treasures as the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, Stonehenge and the Pyramids.

After all, if other British cities such as Bath, Edinburgh and Durham are reckoned worthy of World Heritage status, why shouldn't York be too?

The city officials who drafted a report for yesterday's Executive meeting have no doubt about York's claims.

The city's long history of continuous inhabitation, its central role in many periods of British history, its magnificent Roman, Viking and medieval remains, its 19th century importance as a railway city - all contribute to making it of "outstanding universal value".

The report says: "York contains masterpieces of human creative genius (York Minster; York Minster and other medieval glass; York city walls and gates; Merchant Adventurers' Hall; Minster masons' trading floor); outstanding examples, both above ground and in buried though well-preserved archaeological deposits, of structures illustrative of various traditions of urban settlement over 2,000 years.

"It exhibits important interchanges of human values over a long span of time It bears unusual testimony to cultural traditions and civilisations both living and disappeared No other place on Earth combines the same series of functions over so long a period."

Given that York is such a unique place, why isn't it designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site already? Because the city has never applied for it. There were discussions about submitting a bid in the early 1990s, but the city could never make its mind up.

So York is arriving very late on the World Heritage scene. Bath became a World Heritage city in 1987, Edinburgh in 1995).

There is no guarantee York will get World Heritage status, even if it applies. There is competition from a number of other European medieval walled cities to be designated.

Nevertheless, York will be able to make a "strong case", the report says.

The next stage will be to consult with local people and businesses in the city, to find out whether they back the idea.

Only if they do will a bid be put in for York to be included on the "tentative list" of UK candidates. And even that would be no guarantee the city would be finally accepted.

Pros and cons...

There would be both advantages and disadvantages to York becoming a World Heritage Site, the city council accepts. Hence the importance of consultation before moving forward.

The advantages are many. Winning World Heritage status would:

* Massively increase the city's national and international profile* Boost tourism* Attract inward investment* Make more archaeological and historical research about the city's past possible.

There would be possible downsides, too, however, the report notes. These might include:

* The city being swamped by too many tourists* More planning and conservation constraints on new developments* York becoming a virtual museum city in which archaeological remains limit development.

Mike Slater, the city council's assistant director for city strategy, believes there would be no more restrictions on development than already exist as a result of listed building and conservation area controls.

It is most likely that the World Heritage Site designation will apply only to the area within the bar walls, and to the St Mary's Abbey precinct and Museum Gardens.

All that part of the city is already covered by the conservation area, so the planning controls that would apply would probably be no more rigorous than those already in place.

Tourism bureau boss Gillian Cruddas said it would be her organisation's job to ensure any extra visitors who did come if the city got World Heritage Status were managed properly.

One way of doing that would be to try to encourage visitors to come at different times of year, she said.

Instead of day trippers, it might also be possible to encourage more visitors to stay longer, she added - good news for the city's hotels, B&Bs and restaurants.