The Lake District has been short-listed by the UK government this week as one of 38 proposed sites around the UK which can be put forward for World Heritage Site status. The current list also includes names such as Jodrell Bank, the Forth Bridge and Blackpool as possible competing candidates.
Now that the list has been published, it will be further scrutinised by a panel of experts and the remaining candidates will then be submitted for review by UNESCO during which further groups including the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) will be consulted during what can be a 5 to 10 year process.
If however UNESCO agree at the end of this process that our own English Lake District is worthy of this prized status it will join the likes of the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and The Statue of Liberty.
The proposals to UNESCO are expected to be made sometime in 2011.
One Comment
One of the major reasons for UNESCO World Heritage status is to protect the listed site. The Lake District is already protected by the National Trust and therefore UNESCO World Heritage status is not needed. I can see the logic in Jodrell Bank and the Forth Bridge, but is Blackpool likely to be changed? I suppose there was that move to make it into the UK’s Las Vegas and bring in the Casinos, so I suppose there is some justification.