Down House Bid For World Heritage Status

EDM number 1806 in 2006-07, proposed by Ashok Kumar on 02/07/2007.

That this House notes with regret the failure of the International Council on Monuments and Sites to recognise Charles Darwin's former residence Down House as a significant site to the heritage of science and the consequent withdrawal of Down House's bid for World Heritage status; further notes the landmark scientific importance of Down House, where Charles Darwin wrote the revolutionary work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; looks forward to the 150th anniversary of the publication of this work and the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth in 2009; welcomes the Government's offer to host an international conference to discuss the criteria for scientific World Heritage sites; calls on the International Council of Monuments and Sites to reconsider its evaluation of Down House and its criteria for World Heritage listing; and urges the Government to maintain its commitment to Down House's bid.

This motion has been signed by a total of 26 MPs.