World Heritage Committee d eletes Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City from UNESCO’s World Heritage List

Reported by Chen Chen

Paris, July 21 (Xinhua News Agency)—— On July 21st, UNESCO released a press statement that the World Heritage Committee, holding its 44th session in Fuzhou, China,decided to delete the property “Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City” (UK) from the World Heritage List due to the irreversible loss of attributes conveying the outstanding universal value of the property. 

According to the statement, Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2004 and on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2012 following concerns about the proposed development of Liverpool Waters. However, the project has since gone ahead along with other developments both inside the site and in its buffer zone. The Committee considers that these constructions are detrimental to the site’s authenticity and integrity. 

The statement also noted that any deletion from the World Heritage List is a loss to the international community and to the internationally shared values and commitments under the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. 

According to British media reports, Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City is located in the downtown area of Liverpool, covering six separate locations including Liverpool landmarks such as Albert Dock and William Brown Street. In the past ten years, Liverpool City Council (LCC) has approved a reconstruction plan for the dock area with a total of £5.5bn, hoping to create tens of thousands of jobs for the local area. The local football club also planned to build a modern football field on the pier. 

Responding to the decision, Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson said that she was “hugely disappointed” like many people who love the city of Liverpool, and said that being stripped of World Heritage status will not erase the city’s cultural history, and Liverpool will continue to work harder in the future to create a cultural city with both modern vitality and historical charm. 

Previously, due to the sharp decrease in its area and other reasons, the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary (Oman) was removed from the World Heritage List in 2007; in 2009, the Elbe Valley in Dresden (Germany) was delisted because of the disruption of the valley landscape by the building of a modern bridge. (Participating reporter: Zhang Dailei)