Once in a blue moon – well, once every decade or so – the government releases a list of sites across the UK that it deems worthy of Unesco World Heritage status, alongside extraordinary places like the Taj Mahal and the Galápagos Islands.
This time around, seven places have nominated, with four cultural sites and three natural ones in the running. These locations will now be considered to join the 33 other World Heritage sites found in the UK (including overseas territories), including the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland and Bath, the only city to be listed in its entirety. The British government will now work with the sites to develop their bids.
First up on the list is Birkenhead Park in Merseyside. The world’s first publicly funded park opened in 1847, providing a blueprint for municipal planning that has influenced towns and cities across the world, including New York’s Central Park. Elsewhere on the list of proposed sites, you’ll find the Gracehill Moravian Church Settlements, which could become Northern Ireland’s first cultural world heritage site. York’s historic city centre and the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland – a collection of three ancient settlements dating back thousands of years – are the other two sites vying for Unesco Heritage status in the ‘culture’ category.
The natural locations in the running include the wetlands that form part of the East Atlantic Flyway, a migratory bird route over western parts of Europe including Essex, Kent, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Yorkshire that sees huge avian populations pass through every year as the seasons change. If successful, the ‘bird superhighway’ could be the first heritage site of its kind. Also being considered is The Flow Country, a large area of peatland across Caithness and Sutherland in the north of Scotland, filled with bog pools and a selection of rare and endangered wildlife species. Finally, we have the Little Cayman Marine Parks and Protected Areas, an overseas territory, which has been put forward due to its stunning beauty and exceptional importance to marine biodiversity.
A government spokesperson said: ‘We are confirming our support for some of the most enchanting heritage sites and breathtaking landscapes in the UK and its overseas territories as they bid for Unesco World Heritage Site status. All the locations being put forward would be worthy recipients of this accolade – and we will give them our full backing so they can benefit from the international recognition it can bring.’
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