The purpose of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site (WHS) Management Plan is to protect and sustain the Outstanding Universal Value of the WHS for this and future generations, and provide a framework for partnership working.

Within the UK, Management Plans provide the overarching strategy for the management of the WHS. They are a material consideration in planning decisions and provide an advisory framework for guiding management initiatives. Management Plans are endorsed by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and referred to UNESCO.

 

The Management Plan is available in the following formats, please select to download:

 

Management Plan Summary

This 16 page document gives a useful overview the WHS and the Plan’s priorities and policies.

 

The full Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites WHS Management Plan (2015)

Within the plan, 61 management issues have been identified and agreed by WHS partners and stakeholders. These form the basis for the aims and policies for the management of the WHS, as well as the 178 related actions set out in the complete Plan. The full Plan also includes extensive mapping and bibliography, and photographs of a number of the site’s monuments. 

The Plan’s main themes are:

• planning and policy
• boundaries of the WHS
• conservation
• visitor management and sustainable tourism
• interpretation, learning and community engagement
• roads and traffic
• research
• management, liaison and monitoring

 

Previous Management Plans

The Stonehenge & Avebury WHS Management Plan replaces the Avebury WHS Management Plan 2005 and the Stonehenge WHS Management Plan 2009. 

 

Creating the Management Plan

The current Management Plan is the first to be produced jointly for the Stonehenge and Avebury WHS, and was launched on 18 May 2015 following a review of both plans in 2012-13. The review was completed by holding stakeholder workshops, drop in public consultation sessions, professional focus groups and posting a web-based questionnaire. A full public consultation took place on the draft Stonehenge and Avebury WHS Management Plan between 8 December 2014 and 1 March 2015.

The WHS Coordination Unit is very grateful to the numerous colleagues and individuals who helped contribute to the development of the Management Plan and to Historic England and Wiltshire Council for funding its production.