2

AG

Isn’t Deputy Storey a bit late? I think that there are already some unsympathetic developments.
Although we all want progress, steel and glass is not always the way to go, what happened to using good ol granite eh?

Report abuse

4

Kurtz

St Peter Port is really up there with Machu Picchu and the city of Petra!!!!

Report abuse

6

Expat80

Excellent idea! Excellent, excellent, excellent! Well done that man for sure! Now lets see every Guernsey resident support the idea.

Report abuse

8

po boy

I think the operative words for World Heritage status is that a community “has” preserved its historical look, not “would like to stop not doing so”.
It is a pity we can not even include the Town Church in the promo shot here.
Despite this, its a good idea to try anyway and I will be interested to hear what they say about it.

Report abuse

10

Gormley's statue

Criteria for world heritage status, one of these criteria have to be met (apologies but I’ve lifted this from Wikipedia) and for the town to be of outstanding universal value:

I. “to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius”; No

II. “to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design”; No

III. “to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared”; No

IV. “to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history”; No

V. “to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change”; No

VI. “to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria.) No

Natural criteria N/A

VII. “to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance”;

VIII. “to be outstanding examples representing major stages of Earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features”;

IX. “to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals”;

X. “to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-site conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.”

I don’t reckon that St Peter Port satisfies any of these criteria. Much as Deputy Storey is a very pleasant man, I don’t think that he has really thought this one through?

Report abuse

12

Truth Man

Gormley’s statue:

Thanks for the breakdown, I must admit when I read the article I wondered if Mr Storey was having delusions of grandeur on behalf of St Peter Port! It is quite a nice town, but there are a lot of those in the world! As sad as it is, I think St Peter Port is hardly deserving of World Heritage Status.

I don’t understand why we need such a tag to protect town from unsightly development anyway – haven’t we got a whole States department (that we pay for) doing that for us?! If they are not performing as we would wish, then let democracy take its course.

Report abuse

14

Gormley's Statue

Simon, I’m not seeing it myself. St Peter Port is a nice enough town but its not astonishing or the sort of place that justifies an international award or preservation order.

Presumably you’d go for “exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition” but I’m not sure that it is a testimony to a cultural tradition, or indeed exceptional. If you look at the kind of places that have been given an award under that cateory you’ll see that St Peter Port would find itself hard pressed to justify inclusion.

Report abuse

16

Les Smith

As a visitor to Guernsey for over 50 years I have been appalled recently over the loss of Town’s unique character. Only when it’s too late will Guernsey realise what it has done to itself. The recent glass and concrete buildings are out of context and scale for the islands. The loss of the market was a big blow – am I the only one that preferred the smell of fresh flowers to the smell of fresh DVDs, CDs and computer games. You have a very beautiful island please don’t destroy it.

Report abuse