World Heritage Site buffer zones: statements of fact or aspiration?

The Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, designated in 1999, is used as a case study to review ICOMOS guidance on the definition of buffer zones. ICOMOS encourages the use of extant designations. The Orkney example highlights the difficulties in marrying the specific aims and consultative requirements embedded in such extant statutory designations with the requirements of the World Heritage Site. The authors encourage extreme caution in using extant designations for this purpose. Instead, they recommend an aspiration to boundaries that are designed to meet the needs of the Site and are workable through the local planning framework: their formal designation in development plans; and the use, where relevant, of supplementary guidance to bridge the gap between the date of inscription of the World Heritage Site and the formal revision of existing plans