Unesco strips Liverpool of its world heritage status

[Celerity]

UN body says years of development have caused ‘irreversible loss’ to historic value of Victorian docks

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/21/unesco-strips-liverpool-waterfront-world-heritage-status



Liverpool has been stripped of its coveted world heritage status after Unesco blamed years of development for an “irreversible loss” to the historic value of its Victorian docks.

The UN’s heritage body concluded at a meeting in China on Wednesday that the “outstanding universal value” of Liverpool’s waterfront had been destroyed by new buildings, including Everton football club’s new £500m stadium.

The decision is a humiliating blow for the city and gives Liverpool the ignominious distinction of being only the third place to lose the status in nearly 50 years. The other delisted sites were Oman’s Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in 2007 and the Dresden Elbe valley in Germany in 2009.

Liverpool has enjoyed world heritage status since 2004 – placing it alongside the Taj Mahal and Great Wall of China – as recognition for its role as a major trading power during the British empire and the architectural beauty of its waterfront.

snip

[msongs]

1. Liverpool has always looked bleak and lifeless from pics I have seen over the years nt

[T_i_B]

2. Not at all

Liverpool is actually a very lively place to visit. I really like the place.

Plenty to do and there's some amazing grand old buildings there (the London media never really mention this for some reason). The old docks are a very big part of this and as more people want a slice of the action, this leads to more development and then loss of the UNESCO World Heritage Status.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. And they might do the same to the Stonehenge area

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/23/stonehenge-could-be-stripped-of-world-heritage-site-status

The full UNESCO site is "Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites". While the government-proposed tunnel would remove the worst of the current A303 from right by Stonehenge itself, the full site is wider, and it would result in higher speed, non-tunnel sections: