Decision details

Economic Assessment of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site

Decision Maker: Cabinet Member for Strategic Leadership, Culture, Tourism and Climate Change

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: Yes

Purpose:

To seek the Cabinet Member’s approval to use £30,000 from the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site reserve to commission an economic appraisal of the value of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site to the local and regional economy.

Decision:

That Cabinet Member approves the use £0.030m from the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site reserve to commission an economic appraisal of the value of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site to the local and regional economy.

Reasons for the decision:

The economic assessment is required to establish the risk to the local and regional economy of losing World Heritage Inscription from the Derwent Valley. 

Alternative options considered:

1)      Do Nothing – If the Council does nothing, it is unlikely that the DVMWHS Coordination Team will be able to make a coherent case to secure funding to produce a Development Framework.  It will also limit the ability to quantify the negative impact to the local and regional economy if the DVMWHS was to be struck from UNESCO’s World Heritage List. This option is not recommended.

 

2)      Rather than seeking an assessment that identifies both the current value and the potential future value of the DVMWHS to the local and regional economies, a study could be commissioned that solely focuses on the current value.  While this will be useful in identifying the potential impact of losing World Heritage Inscription, it would provide less evidence to support the production of a Development Framework. Also, it is unclear if this would provide a substantive saving as the groundwork to establish the current economic value is likely to be a large part of the commission.  This option is not recommended.

Publication date: 28/01/2025

Date of decision: 28/01/2025

Effective from: 05/02/2025

Accompanying Documents: