News story

Eleven sites make UK shortlist to bid for UNESCO World Heritage status

A total of 11 sites across the UK and its overseas territories will form the new UK list for potential nomination for world heritage status.

From:
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and Ed Vaizey
Published
21 March 2011
This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

From the very north of Scotland to the garden of England in Kent, the sites on the list announced today by Tourism and Heritage Minister John Penrose are:

  • Chatham Dockyard and its Defence, Kent, England
  • Creswell Crags, Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire, England
  • England鈥檚 Lake District, Cumbria
  • Gorham鈥檚 Cave Complex, Gibraltar
  • The Island of St Helena, South Atlantic Ocean
  • Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, England
  • Mousa, Old Scatness & Jarlshof, Shetland, Scotland
  • Slate Industry of North Wales
  • The Flow Country, Scotland
  • The Forth Bridge (Rail), Scotland
  • Turks & Caicos Islands, West Indies

Two sites that are being considered by UNESCO already will also join the Tentative List, they are:

  • Twin Monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow, Sunderland and South Tyneside, England
  • Darwin鈥檚 Landscape Laboratory, Kent, England

John Penrose said: 鈥淔ew places in the world can match the wealth of wonderful heritage we have available in the UK. The 11 places that make up the new UK Tentative List are fantastic examples of both our cultural and natural heritage and I believe they have every chance of joining famous names like the Sydney Opera House and the Canadian Rockies to become World Heritage Sites.

鈥淚鈥檇 like to thank the independent expert panel chaired by Sue Davies who have been through all our nominations in detail to make sure the shortlist we now have gives us the best chance of success when putting forward any of these sites to UNESCO in future.鈥�

Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage said: 鈥淓nglish Heritage welcomes the announcement of the new UK Tentative List as it will set the direction for future nominations by the UK for the next decade.听 English Heritage has supported the work on the preparation of the new List along with Historic Scotland, Cadw and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and looks forward to working with the English candidate sites as they develop their nominations.鈥�
听
The Twin Monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow and Darwin鈥檚 Landscape Laboratory are already under consideration by UNESCO. Wearmouth-Jarrow was nominated to UNESCO in January and will be considered by the World Heritage Committee in 2012. Darwin鈥檚 Landscape Laboratory was nominated in 2009 but deferred by the World Heritage Committee last year for further in depth assessment.

The new Tentative List will now be submitted to UNESCO with the aim of nominating new sites from 2012. There will not necessarily be a new nomination every year. Whether sites on the Tentative List are given a nomination slot will depend on the robustness of their case and the likelihood of inscription by the World Heritage Committee. DCMS will be working with all the sites on their nominations.

Notes to Editors

  1. Today鈥檚 announcement follows a review of the UK鈥檚 Tentative List in which applications were sought from Local Authorities and the public. .

  2. An independent expert panel was then appointed by Government to assess the applications and put forward their recommendations for the sites to be included on the new UK Tentative List. .听

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Updates to this page

Published 21 March 2011