It's the coast with the most

If successful, the coast will become England's only natural World Heritage site and just one of only a handful in the British Isles. Although the bid is proposed by the UK Government, council officers, academics and others have been responsible for doing the ground work and putting the bid package together over several years.

It includes a management plan detailing how the coast will be looked after and how the area can be brought to the public's attention which means major educational and tourism opportunities.

In the first in a series of articles about the county's World Heritage bid, MARTIN LEA meets two experts who have been involved at local level since the beginning

PROFESSOR Denys Brunsden breathes in the crisp November air as he stands on the pebbles at Seatown beach.

As the waves crash upon the shore, he glances up at the mighty cliffs that dwarf him - Golden Cap, the highest point along the south coast.

"It's marvellous, don't you think?" he says.

As the person who originally suggested that the coastline should be nominated as a World Heritage site, Prof Brunsden is particularly excited at this time.

He travels to Helsinki next month when Unesco's World Heritage Committee will meet to decide whether the UK bid should be accepted as a site of 'universal value'.

He will be on hand, together with Dorset County Council's coastal policy officer Tim Badman, to answer any technical questions the committee may have about the bid.

He said: "Although it is a conservation bid, World Heritage status has huge tourism and economic implications. This is probably the most exciting economic opportunity for Dorset and East Devon in 20 years and it is sure to affect everyone in some way."

Prof Brunsden, 65, is a leading authority on landslips and a former senior professor in geomorphology at Kings College, London. He has been a key player in moving the bid for World Heritage status forward, particularly in his role as chairman of the Dorset Coast Forum, a partnership organisation established in 1995 to look at the long-term strategic issues facing the Dorset coast.

He suggested the idea of World Heritage status at a meeting of the Lyme Bay coastal forum in 1992 because he felt the superb coastline of Dorset and Devon should be afforded the honour and be held up as one of the earth's most prized natural assets.

A technical working party was established to investigate whether a bid would be feasible and a wide variety of organisations and individuals were consulted.

He said: "I must have given 50 lectures up and down the coast to everything from WIs to conservation societies, universities to Round Tables, and I would say there is almost total support."

The professor says that as information was gathered, the team putting the bid together from the county councils in Devon and Dorset learnt that Unesco only accepted a bid for a site if the area was already protected under existing legislation.

This meant that the area of coast included in the bid was limited and fears from landowners that World Heritage status would bring extra controls could be calmed.

The protected coastline included in the bid therefore was brought down to a 95-mile stretch from Orcombe Point, near Exmouth, to a point just past Old Harry Rocks, near Swanage.

Existing controls along this section of coast include Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AoNBs), Heritage Coast designation, wildlife sites and the Landslide Nature Reserve in Devon.

Prof Brunsden said: "When the Government drew up a list of sites proposed to be submitted for World Heritage status Dorset's bid was chosen because it was the only one that was ready. We were selected ahead of the Cairngorms, the Lake District and the Flow Country."

The bid has been submitted under the criteria of the coast's outstanding geological and geomorphological interest, its contribution to the history of science and its aesthetic quality and beauty.

The rocks of Dorset and East Devon cover some 180 million years of the earth's history and are unique in the world in that they straddle three divisions of geological time - the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary periods.

The complete sequence of fossils through this Mesozoic (middle) era contained within the rocks highlight the importance of Dorset's geology. It was along the Dorset coast that many early earth science theories were first developed, while the fossils, particularly from the Lyme Regis and Charmouth area, provided the early clues that fuelled the debate between creation and evolution.

In addition to the geology, spectacular erosional features, such as Lulworth Cove, Durdle Door and Old Harry Rocks are widespread along the coast.

Prof Brunsden said: "This area has become the training ground for young geologists and geomorphologists. It is also one of the most visited coastlines by schoolchildren learning about rocks."

The success of World Heritage status will inevitably mean that the coast will be given a higher profile but Prof Brunsden is quick to point out that it will not necessarily mean that thousands of people will be flocking to Dorset next summer.

He said: "The idea is that towns like Weymouth, Lyme Regis and Swanage will become gateways to the coast and this is where the provision of services will be sited to take the pressure off the coast.

"People are concerned that the coastline's beauty and peace will be destroyed and the road system will not be able to handle the increasing number of visitors.

"But we don't think there will be a vast increase in numbers during the summer. We believe the type of visitor we will attract will come off-season between the winter and summer including fossil hunters and school, college and university field trips.

"From a point of view of the economy that's wonderful because it means the season will be extended."

He added: "There is a number of interpretation centres along the coast including Charmouth, Purbeck, Kimmeridge and Chesil Beach, together with the museums, but what we would hope to do is to create more of them and improve the facilities in the ones that exist."

Richard Edmonds, 39, of Lyme Regis, became interested in fossil collecting and geology at an early age. He later ran the Charmouth Heritage Coast interpretation centre before becoming Dorset County Council's geological co-ordinator.

Richard has also been a major player in the bid for World Heritage status, and helped to get the ball rolling in 1997 when he launched the Jurassic Coast Project for Dorset, which explored the opportunities for geo-tourism along the coast.

As an important feasibility study, it provided valuable information to aid the preparation of the World Heritage bid. The study aimed to demonstrate how Dorset's internationally important coastal geology could be used to promote special interest and sustainable geo-tourism.

One such place highlighted in the study includes the Isle of Portland, which is said to be central to the Jurassic coast. The geology, stone industry and complex relationship between geology, quarrying and wildlife are themes of great importance, the study said.

The view is strengthened with the recent discovery in a Portland quarry of a 450-million-year-old set of dinosaur footprints.

This was the first find of its kind on the island and experts believe the sets of prints belonged to the Iguanodon or Megalosaurus species.

Richard said: "Footprints have been found in the same rocks in Purbeck before but have never before been found on Portland. It demonstrates that the coast is changeable and is forever coming up with surprises."

Quarry owners Hanson Bath and Portland Stone intend to display the stones in museums and other places where they can be seen in safety by the public.

For Richard, this enforces the view, supported by the Jurassic Coast project, that Portland should be developed as a geological focus for the Jurassic Coast through the promotion of a quarry park and visitor centre.

It is thought it could be located in a quarry that is approaching the end of its working life.

He said: "As well as the focus on geology, a quarry park would celebrate the island's stone industry. As a former quarry it would also be a haven for wildlife.

"The new mine and minerals planning permission laws require quarry companies to resubmit certain applications with modern working practices and long term plans for restoration. There is an opportunity here identified by the Jurassic Coast Project to make more of the stone heritage of the island, centred on the quarries.

"We're looking at probably the most famous stone in the world and that is an opportunity. Right now you can't come to Portland and buy a piece of Portland stone."

The implications of the bid are huge but it's thanks to the hard work of individuals like Richard Edmonds and Prof Brunsden who have 'moved the earth' in their own way to see results.