London World Heritage Sites - Guidance on Settings

The London Plan 2011 sets out policies to conserve and enhance London’s World Heritage Sites and their settings, and states that the Mayor will produce guidance on defining the settings of London’s World Heritage Sites.

There are four World Heritage Sites and one potential site on the Tentative List in London:

• Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey, including St Margaret’s Church
• Tower of London
• Maritime Greenwich
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• Darwin Landscape Laboratory (Tentative List)

Each has been designated because of its outstanding universal value of international significance. The sites themselves are set in a very dynamic, complex urban environment in which pressure for development is high. However one of the things that makes London distinctive is the way it combines old and new, protecting heritage but encouraging change.

The Mayor has brought forward guidance on how this dynamic relationship can be managed in ways that protect the value of the sites and whilst also allowing the city to grow and change around them. This is being published as supplementary planning guidance (SPG) to the London Plan.

This SPG is available in PDF and RTF (text only) files and a Statement of Consultation is also available to download below.

Hard copies of the SPG are available to purchase. Please email publications@london.gov.uk, ring 020 7983 4323 or write to:

Publications (PP18)
City Hall
Greater London Authority
The Queen’s Walk
London SE1 2AA