PLANS have been agreed to take management of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site to the “next level".

The plans will see the Jurassic Coast Trust take over a prominent leadership role.

The site has been managed by Dorset and Devon county councils with the trust existing within the partnership to support conservation and development.

As the trust has now grown and developed, Dorset County Council has seen duplication of operations between the partnership running the site and the trust.

The partnership has also realised that the trust may be better placed to access resources, attract volunteers and recruit supporters to support good site management than the two county councils.

It is hoped the new leadership of the trust will reduce duplication and allow the World Heritage Site to deliver even more for Dorset than it has done to date.

Dorset County Council’s Cabinet agreed to transfer the main co-ordinating functions to the Jurassic Coast Trust, along with the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Team.

A grant agreement will be made between the trust and the two county councils for funding.

The report discussed by the Cabinet said that the plans would take management to the “next level”.

At the meeting of the Cabinet, Cllr Peter Finney, spoke about the importance of the site.

He said: “The Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site is a globally important asset that puts Dorset firmly on the international map.

“It brings in a huge amount of tourist business.”

Leader of the council Robert Gould, echoed this, saying that it makes an “important contribution to Dorset in every sense”.

Cllr Hilary Cox is a long-serving trustee of the Jurassic Coast Trust and supported the plans to allow the trust to lead.

She said that people will be more willing to volunteer and come forward to help if it is with an outside body rather than the councils.

The plans will also provide a saving to Dorset County Council, taking it down from its 2016/17 level of funding of £120,000 to around £80,000 by 2019/20.

The next steps will see a detailed implementation plan and timeline developed with a planned transition date of April 1 2017.

UNESCO will also need to be satisfied that the proposed changes remain sufficiently robust to deliver on the commitments made by the county councils at the time of inscription.