GB-LONDON: RBGKEW1394 - Landscape Conservation Management Plan

Overview

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) requires a Landscape Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the Grade II* Registered Park and Garden of Wakehurst and the wider landscape and reserves. The plan will cover the past, present and future of the designed landscape at Wakehurst including the period since Kew took over management in 1965 to the present day. In 2018 Kew's strategic objective for Wakehurst was to be a 'world-leading botanic garden' which requires purpose and ambition beyond the local leisure market - an approach epitomised by the transformative and celebrated Millennium Seed Bank, constructed in 2000. To grow this vision further and make it reality, Kew have spent the last four years developing a robust masterplan for Wakehurst, which sets out a clear strategic path to grow the site into a world leading botanic garden with a focus on science and education. The aim is to transition the site from the local to the national stage becoming an exemplar attraction and world leader in horticultural research. In June 2010, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew commissioned a Landscape Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the estate at Wakehurst Place comprising of the historic gardens, parkland and outlying woodlands. The CMP provided extensive background documentation with regards to the attributes of significance. It studies the historic development of the estate, the importance of its tree collections, its Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the nature reserves. It considers the impact of the estate's past owners and their management, assesses the sites current condition and draws conclusions of the site's overall significance. Since the plan was approved, significant changes in the future direction of Wakehurst as Kew's wild botanic garden and living laboratory research station have occurred. It is timely to review the existing plan and to update the detail to consider the future direction of Wakehurst. Some new historic research has recently been carried out and this detailed report will be available to help inform the new CMP.