Environment Minister, Angela Smith, has announced that the management plan for the Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site, has been submitted to UNESCO.

The Minister said: "Few people in Northern Ireland would dispute that the Giant's Causeway is a very special place. It is the only place in Northern Ireland to receive the global accolade of World Heritage Site. It is also Northern Ireland's premier tourist attraction and balancing the two, presents its owners and managers with a very considerable challenge."

The management plan had been requested by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, following its mission to the Giant's Causeway in 2003. It sets out how Government, National Trust, Moyle District Council and others, will work together to ensure that the interests of the Causeway, its visitors and local residents, are all catered for.

Angela Smith praised the support of key stakeholders throughout the process of the plan's preparation when she said: "I welcome, in particular, the endorsement of this management plan by the National Trust and Moyle District Council who, between them, own most of the land within the designated area and are responsible for its day to day management."

In April 2003 the Minister announced, with her colleague Ian Pearson,MP, who was the Minister responsible for tourism at that time, that the Environment and Heritage Service would prepare a management plan for the World Heritage Site. This was coupled with the announcements that there would be an international competition to design new visitor facilities and a tourism master plan for the wider area.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. The Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site (WHS) was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1986. It is the only WHS in Northern Ireland and one of only three natural' Sites in the UK.
2. The management plan for the WHS was commissioned by Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) on behalf of its partner organisations, the National Trust and Moyle District Council. It forms one strand of the Ministerial initiative announced in April 2003 by Angela Smith, MP and Ian Pearson, MP. The two other strands of the initiative are:
   1. Tourism master plan for the Causeway Coast and Glens area (published by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) in April 2004), and
   2. An international competition for replacement visitor facilities (anticipated to be launched by DETI in late March).
3. Officials from UNESCO (the body responsible for the designation of World Heritage Sites) and IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) undertook a mission to the Giant's Causeway in February 2003. Subsequently, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee requested the UK authorities to submit a management plan to the World Heritage Centre by February 2005.
4. The management plan has been prepared in broad accordance with the general requirements, published by UNESCO. It has been guided by a Steering Group comprising representatives of: the Causeway Coast Glens Heritage Trust, the Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside, DETI, EHS, the Geo-Conservation Commission, Moyle District Council, the National Trust and Northern Ireland Tourist Board. The plan was subject to a three months period of public consultation, by the end of which, 37 responses had been received from individuals and organisations. In addition, a public consultation meeting was held in November 2004.
5. The management plan is not a statutory document. It does not include planning policies for either the WHS itself or for its wider setting. These policies will be contained within the Draft Northern Area Plan, to be published in 2005, and will be subject to public consultation through a separate process.
6. The document is currently accessible on the EHS website: www.ehsni.gov.uk . A full printed version will be published shortly, along with a separate summary leaflet.