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Unesco has deleted Liverpool from its World Heritage List after a committee determined new developments were damaging the city’s global heritage
Tom Anstey | Planet Attractions | 20 Jul 2021
Unesco believes that development plans for Liverpool’s waterfront have resulted in an ‘irreversible loss of attributes’ Credit: Ryan Warburton on Unsplash
Liverpool is no longer considered to be a World Heritage site after a Unesco committee found that a number of developments in the city were damaging the value of its historic waterfront.
A World Heritage Committee report from June said that waterfront developments had resulted in an "irreversible loss of attributes", citing Everton FC’s new £500m (US$680.8m, €578m) stadium and the £5.5bn (US$7.5bn €6.4bn) Liverpool Waters docklands redevelopment project.
The decision came following a vote at the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee in China, with 20 votes cast - 13 in favour of removing the listing, five against the move and two invalid papers.
Commenting on the decision, Liverpool’s mayor, Joanne Anderson, said the decision was “incomprehensible”.
"Our World Heritage site has never been in better condition having benefited from hundreds of millions of pounds of investment across dozens of listed buildings and the public realm," she said, adding that she would work with the government to try and appeal the decision.
Liverpool’s historic centre and docklands were inscribed in 2004 for bearing witness to the development of one of the world’s major trading centres in the 18th and 19th centuries. The site also illustrated pioneering developments in modern dock technology, transport systems and port management.
It becomes only the third site to lose its World Heritage designation since the list was created in 1978. The other two sites to lose their status were the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman in 2007 and the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany in 2009.
"I think it is very painful if a site is listed for removal from the World Heritage List," said Unesco director Dr Mechtild Rossler.
"We can only propose delisting if you have an analysis that states that the outstanding universal value of the site is lost and that is our analysis."
A Unesco statement added: “Any deletion from the World Heritage List is a loss to the international community and to the internationally shared values and commitments under the World Heritage Convention.”
Heritage
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