Gwynedd Council have been holding talks with international experts on how to secure UNESCO World Heritage Status for the north Wales slate industry.
From their UK conference at Plas Tan y Bwlch this week, representatives of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) have been shown around the Gwynedd quarrying areas, visiting the Llechwedd slate caverns at Blaenau Ffestiniog and the Slate Museum at Llanberis among other places.
ICOMOS specialise in the conservation of cultural sites and are responsible for giving advice to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on World Heritage Sites.
Their objective is to promote the appreciation and understanding of cultural heritage throughout the world and their membership include experts in architecture, engineering, planning, landscape design and archaeology.
Councillor John Wynn Jones, whose cabinet portfolio on Gwynedd Council includes the economy, heritage and tourism, said: “The conference gave us a unique opportunity to discuss the vital importance of the slate industry locally, nationally and internationally.
“We stressed the key contribution the industry made by building and sustaining unique Welsh communities and the rich cultural heritage it has left behind.
“We showed the continuing importance of slate to this day and our pride in it as a distinctive and useful local product.
“We also discussed its international significance in the way it contributed towards roofing the world and the transfer of pioneering technologies to other countries, most notably France and the United States.
“The interest shown by the ICOMOS representatives in the history of our slate industry gave us further encouragement to persevere in our bid to secure World Heritage Status.”
An application to include the north Wales slate industry in the UK’s list of provisional sites to be nominated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites has already been successful.
“It must be realised that this is only the first initial step,” said Councillor John Wynn Jones.
He added: “Securing a World Heritage Site status for our slate industry is going to be a long and complex process and it required commitment from all of us as partners to work together to this end.”
A partnership between Gwynedd Council, the Welsh Slate Musuem, Royal Commission of Ancient Monuments Wales and the Welsh Government (Cadw and the Môn Menai Programme) are currently working on a technical appraisal to be submitted to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) by October 2013.
