Search launched for the next UNESCO World Heritage Sites

F.P. Report

LONDON: Heritage Minister Nigel Huddleston has today launched a call for the UK’s next nominations for UNESCO World Heritage Status.

Open to sites in the UK, Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, nominations are reviewed every ten years and is a chance for sites to receive international recognition for the important role they have played in the world’s history.

The successful sites could join the UK’s 33 other UNESCO World Heritage Sites including Stonehenge, Saltaire, The Tower of London and Hadrian’s Wall. Last year the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales was the most recent UK location to receive UNESCO status. 2021 also saw the City of Bath – originally named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987 – awarded a special dual designation with 11 other European Spa towns including Baden-Baden in Germany and Vichy in France.

Heritage Minister Nigel Huddleston said:

UNESCO World Heritage Status has a transformative impact on places bestowed with this honour. As well as international acclaim, UNESCO status boosts tourism and creates employment and economic growth opportunities.

The UK and Overseas Territories have many potential contenders and I can’t wait to see what fantastic sites and stories we uncover in our search.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will form an independent panel of heritage experts to review nominations. Nominations will be assessed against rigorous criteria and only locations with the potential to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List will be put forward to formal nomination.