Sam Rose has travelled all over the world to study and work but his current job is very much focused on the UK.
Based in Dorset, Rose is responsible for managing the Jurassic Coast, a 95-mile long World Heritage Site (WHS) in the south of England that features a remarkable range of rocks, fossils and landforms. The site, awarded WHS status by Unesco in 2001, tells an uninterrupted story of more than 185 million years of Earth’s history, through its Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous geology.
The task of preserving the past is firmly embedded in Rose’s remit, but his daily concerns are very much centred around the present day. Working on a national and local scale, he forges formal and informal partnerships with any organisational bodies that have interests in the Jurassic Coast.
As the leader of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site management team, based at the offices of Dorset County Council, Rose’s role is to coordinate and deliver the site’s management plan, which sets out how this huge stretch of coast should be looked after.
The work of the management team is overseen by the Jurassic Coast Steering Group, a committee made up of representatives from organisations that play key roles on the coast, as well as a number of experts who provide advice and support. Rose also works with many other partners who are not part of the committee but are essential in running the Jurassic Coast effectively.
These smaller, informal partnerships include landowners, visitor centres, district councils and community groups. The area the Jurassic Coast covers is owned by more than 80 separate landowners, the largest of which is the National Trust.
“The number of people involved makes managing the coastline mind-bogglingly complex, but it is fascinating as well,” Rose says. “In some respects that complexity is the key, because there are so many groups doing so many different things.”
To explain the importance of this myriad of groups, Rose points to a project to develop a visitor centre at Seaton in east Devon, which has taken nearly 15 years to get off the ground. The venue, which will tell the story of the Jurassic Coast’s geology and marine ecology, will open in spring next year.
Partners comprise local community representatives, East Devon District Council, Seaton Town Council, Devon Wildlife Trust and the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Team. Funders for Seaton’s visitor centre, titled Seaton Jurassic, include the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), which provided more than £600,000.
Rose says that HLF cash has played an important role on the Jurassic Coast in a number of key projects, including the Chesil Beach Centre, which reopened in 2012 following a £1m redevelopment. And last May, Dorset County Museum secured initial support for a £10.3m HLF grant for a redevelopment that is due for completion in 2020.
Dorset County Museum is one of a number of museums that has an important role in interpreting and explaining the geology of the Jurassic Coast to visitors. “The museums along this coast have played a really great role in building up the interpretation offer and developing partnerships,” Rose says. “It’s a good example of a set of small, independent museums that have chosen to work together because there’s a shared theme and geographical area.”
Collecting Cultures, an HLF fund that supports collection development through strategic acquisition projects, was an important catalyst. Nine museums along the coast were awarded £200,000 to acquire fossils and improve their education and interpretation.
Acting under the title Jurassic Life, the scheme took in the discovery of the Weymouth Bay Pliosaur as it tumbled from the cliffs from 2003 to 2008. Unveiled in 2011 by David Attenborough at Dorset County Museum, the fossil of this ancient marine predator attracted national media coverage.
The county councils for Dorset and Devon, the two main authorities responsible for initially securing the designation of WHS status, also have a central role on the Jurassic Coast. It is essential to maintain the quality of the natural environment for both authorities – its beauty attracts tourists, and the economic benefits that come with them are important.
“The councils are under a lot of pressure financially and that translates to all the services, but they saw the possibilities of WHS status for this area and decided to invest in it,” Rose says. “It’s been a very positive thing for the area.”
Budgets have been getting tighter for the Jurassic Coast World Heritage team, as they have for most other bodies supported by public money, and Rose says the organisation has had continuous cuts for the past seven years. But his staff are working hard to diversify sources of income and it has also tried to help others to deliver services.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s us or one of the partners who are delivering it, as long as the quality is good and it’s accurate,” Rose says. “And by being relaxed about our aims and not controlling everything, you allow things to really flourish.”
WHS status comes with many responsibilities, requiring the managing body to look at issues such as access and enjoyment, education and information, conservation and protection, safety and economic development. So a lot of Rose’s work is related to visitor management and balancing the needs of tourists, local communities, economic development, as well as preserving the natural beauty of the area.
“There are tiny, remote communities along this coastline that are not on our website,” Rose says. “We don’t put them on the map because we don’t want people going there, because if they did it would reduce the quality of life for the people who live there, and that’s not what we’re about.
“The World Heritage convention is supposed to protect, preserve, present the site and transmit it to future generations as best as possible – giving it a function in the life of the community,” Rose continues. “And you’re supposed to tell people about it and raise awareness of world heritage and you can do that in thousands of different ways. So we try to find interesting ways to do so.”
One of the ways the Jurassic Coast team is doing this is by inviting members of local communities to become Jurassic Coast ambassadors. The aim is for people to volunteer their time to advocate for the area and to develop projects to increase public engagement with the coast.
“We’ve got this HLF funding to employ someone with the Jurassic Coast Trust to really get under the skin of the community and recruit 50 ambassadors,” Rose says. “We are building up a group of people who love the coast and are fantastically motivated about it.”
The trust is running more and more public campaigns and it is initiatives such as these that have helped to grow the reputation and profile of the Jurassic Coast.“The Jurassic Coast has become a new brand in the last 10 years,” Rose says. “People recognise it now, they come here, it’s in all the papers, it’s on the telly. And we have taken a lead in quite a lot of areas to do with world heritage in the UK because we’ve had the benefit of the council investing in us.”
The work of the Jurassic Coast could get more attention from an organisation that Rose is helping set up to represent World Heritage Sites in the UK. WHS-UK will replace the Local Authority World Heritage Forum, which, as Rose says, has done some good work but is very much focused on council-managed sites. The new body will act as a forum for sharing expertise and resources, and is planning its first annual conference, which will take place in Saltaire, Bradford, from 14 to 15 October.
Rose and many of his counterparts think that WHS sites in the UK should have a higher profile, which is part of the reason for setting up the new organisation. The 28 British WHS sites range from well-known places such as Stonehenge, Ironbridge Gorge and the Tower of London to less familiar places such as the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal and the Heart of Neolithic Orkney.
“The WHS sites in the UK are brilliant places, and we in the sector have always found it disappointing that the world heritage badge isn’t used as a way of promoting the UK more,” Rose says.
For now, Rose’s focus remains on the Jurassic Coast and managing its broad range of attractions.
Sam Rose is responsible for the overall coordination of the management plan – from preparation, delivery, to review – for the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.
He also leads the Jurassic Coast Team.
Rose completed a PhD in Tropical Rain Forest Biodiversity at the University of Leeds in 1996. He later managed biodiversity research projects in South America, and supported international development work for Voluntary Service Overseas in countries including Kazakhstan, Tuvalu and Sri Lanka.
Unesco granted the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site (WHS) status in 2001.
The Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site management team, which has five staff members, is funded by Dorset and Devon County Councils, the main funders, and Natural England and the Environment Agency. Working closely with this team is the Jurassic Coast Trust, a registered charity that supports the delivery of science, conservation, arts and education programmes on the coast.
The land within the WHS boundaries is maintained by many different owners, including the National Trust, private estates, the Ministry of Defence, the Crown Estate, and national and local authorities, as well as small landowners.
Based in Dorset, Rose is responsible for managing the Jurassic Coast, a 95-mile long World Heritage Site (WHS) in the south of England that features a remarkable range of rocks, fossils and landforms. The site, awarded WHS status by Unesco in 2001, tells an uninterrupted story of more than 185 million years of Earth’s history, through its Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous geology.
The task of preserving the past is firmly embedded in Rose’s remit, but his daily concerns are very much centred around the present day. Working on a national and local scale, he forges formal and informal partnerships with any organisational bodies that have interests in the Jurassic Coast.
As the leader of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site management team, based at the offices of Dorset County Council, Rose’s role is to coordinate and deliver the site’s management plan, which sets out how this huge stretch of coast should be looked after.
The work of the management team is overseen by the Jurassic Coast Steering Group, a committee made up of representatives from organisations that play key roles on the coast, as well as a number of experts who provide advice and support. Rose also works with many other partners who are not part of the committee but are essential in running the Jurassic Coast effectively.
These smaller, informal partnerships include landowners, visitor centres, district councils and community groups. The area the Jurassic Coast covers is owned by more than 80 separate landowners, the largest of which is the National Trust.
“The number of people involved makes managing the coastline mind-bogglingly complex, but it is fascinating as well,” Rose says. “In some respects that complexity is the key, because there are so many groups doing so many different things.”
To explain the importance of this myriad of groups, Rose points to a project to develop a visitor centre at Seaton in east Devon, which has taken nearly 15 years to get off the ground. The venue, which will tell the story of the Jurassic Coast’s geology and marine ecology, will open in spring next year.
Partners comprise local community representatives, East Devon District Council, Seaton Town Council, Devon Wildlife Trust and the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Team. Funders for Seaton’s visitor centre, titled Seaton Jurassic, include the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), which provided more than £600,000.
Rose says that HLF cash has played an important role on the Jurassic Coast in a number of key projects, including the Chesil Beach Centre, which reopened in 2012 following a £1m redevelopment. And last May, Dorset County Museum secured initial support for a £10.3m HLF grant for a redevelopment that is due for completion in 2020.
Dorset County Museum is one of a number of museums that has an important role in interpreting and explaining the geology of the Jurassic Coast to visitors. “The museums along this coast have played a really great role in building up the interpretation offer and developing partnerships,” Rose says. “It’s a good example of a set of small, independent museums that have chosen to work together because there’s a shared theme and geographical area.”
Collecting Cultures, an HLF fund that supports collection development through strategic acquisition projects, was an important catalyst. Nine museums along the coast were awarded £200,000 to acquire fossils and improve their education and interpretation.
Acting under the title Jurassic Life, the scheme took in the discovery of the Weymouth Bay Pliosaur as it tumbled from the cliffs from 2003 to 2008. Unveiled in 2011 by David Attenborough at Dorset County Museum, the fossil of this ancient marine predator attracted national media coverage.
The county councils for Dorset and Devon, the two main authorities responsible for initially securing the designation of WHS status, also have a central role on the Jurassic Coast. It is essential to maintain the quality of the natural environment for both authorities – its beauty attracts tourists, and the economic benefits that come with them are important.
“The councils are under a lot of pressure financially and that translates to all the services, but they saw the possibilities of WHS status for this area and decided to invest in it,” Rose says. “It’s been a very positive thing for the area.”
Budgets have been getting tighter for the Jurassic Coast World Heritage team, as they have for most other bodies supported by public money, and Rose says the organisation has had continuous cuts for the past seven years. But his staff are working hard to diversify sources of income and it has also tried to help others to deliver services.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s us or one of the partners who are delivering it, as long as the quality is good and it’s accurate,” Rose says. “And by being relaxed about our aims and not controlling everything, you allow things to really flourish.”
WHS status comes with many responsibilities, requiring the managing body to look at issues such as access and enjoyment, education and information, conservation and protection, safety and economic development. So a lot of Rose’s work is related to visitor management and balancing the needs of tourists, local communities, economic development, as well as preserving the natural beauty of the area.
“There are tiny, remote communities along this coastline that are not on our website,” Rose says. “We don’t put them on the map because we don’t want people going there, because if they did it would reduce the quality of life for the people who live there, and that’s not what we’re about.
“The World Heritage convention is supposed to protect, preserve, present the site and transmit it to future generations as best as possible – giving it a function in the life of the community,” Rose continues. “And you’re supposed to tell people about it and raise awareness of world heritage and you can do that in thousands of different ways. So we try to find interesting ways to do so.”
One of the ways the Jurassic Coast team is doing this is by inviting members of local communities to become Jurassic Coast ambassadors. The aim is for people to volunteer their time to advocate for the area and to develop projects to increase public engagement with the coast.
“We’ve got this HLF funding to employ someone with the Jurassic Coast Trust to really get under the skin of the community and recruit 50 ambassadors,” Rose says. “We are building up a group of people who love the coast and are fantastically motivated about it.”
The trust is running more and more public campaigns and it is initiatives such as these that have helped to grow the reputation and profile of the Jurassic Coast.“The Jurassic Coast has become a new brand in the last 10 years,” Rose says. “People recognise it now, they come here, it’s in all the papers, it’s on the telly. And we have taken a lead in quite a lot of areas to do with world heritage in the UK because we’ve had the benefit of the council investing in us.”
The work of the Jurassic Coast could get more attention from an organisation that Rose is helping set up to represent World Heritage Sites in the UK. WHS-UK will replace the Local Authority World Heritage Forum, which, as Rose says, has done some good work but is very much focused on council-managed sites. The new body will act as a forum for sharing expertise and resources, and is planning its first annual conference, which will take place in Saltaire, Bradford, from 14 to 15 October.
Rose and many of his counterparts think that WHS sites in the UK should have a higher profile, which is part of the reason for setting up the new organisation. The 28 British WHS sites range from well-known places such as Stonehenge, Ironbridge Gorge and the Tower of London to less familiar places such as the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal and the Heart of Neolithic Orkney.
“The WHS sites in the UK are brilliant places, and we in the sector have always found it disappointing that the world heritage badge isn’t used as a way of promoting the UK more,” Rose says.
For now, Rose’s focus remains on the Jurassic Coast and managing its broad range of attractions.
Sam Rose at a glance
Sam Rose is responsible for the overall coordination of the management plan – from preparation, delivery, to review – for the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.
He also leads the Jurassic Coast Team.
Rose completed a PhD in Tropical Rain Forest Biodiversity at the University of Leeds in 1996. He later managed biodiversity research projects in South America, and supported international development work for Voluntary Service Overseas in countries including Kazakhstan, Tuvalu and Sri Lanka.
The Jurassic Coast at a glance
Unesco granted the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site (WHS) status in 2001.
The Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site management team, which has five staff members, is funded by Dorset and Devon County Councils, the main funders, and Natural England and the Environment Agency. Working closely with this team is the Jurassic Coast Trust, a registered charity that supports the delivery of science, conservation, arts and education programmes on the coast.
The land within the WHS boundaries is maintained by many different owners, including the National Trust, private estates, the Ministry of Defence, the Crown Estate, and national and local authorities, as well as small landowners.
