CONTEXT 180 : JUNE 2024 47 lessons from the 2011 review, guide the assessment process, coordinate an open online call for submissions by candidates wishing to be considered for the revised tentative list and run briefings and workshops. The steering group appointed an independent panel of eight cultural heritage, cultural landscape and natural heritage experts to assess the suitability of applications. Full applications were submitted by 19 candidates from across the UK and its overseas territories. Of these 13 were cultural (C), three natural (N) and three mixed (M). They were Ancient Ulster (M); Armagh Observatory (C); The Barbican, London (C); Bedford and Brentham Garden Suburbs (C); Birkenhead Park, Wirral (C); Bodnant Garden, North Wales (C); Chalk Streams of Southern England (M); Cresswell Crags, Derbyshire (C); Culloden Battlefield, Scotland (C); Eastern Atlantic Way, East Coast (N); Great Baths National Park, Virgin Islands (N); Siccar Point, Scotland (N); Landscape of the White Horse (C); Little Cayman Protected Areas, Caribbean (N); Port Sunlight, Wirral (C); Gibraltar Tunnels (C); Sankey Valley, St Helens (C); City of York (C); and Iron Age Shetland (C). Each site was evaluated against the following ‘necessary’ and ‘essential’ criteria: clear potential outstanding universal value and demonstrable authenticity; support of principal owners and local authority; and threats to viability for management. ‘Desirable’ criteria included addressing a gap in under-represented categories and supporting UK priority areas (natural, mixed, overseas territory sites); realistic approach to comparative analysis; local community and stakeholder support; and potential to enhance conservation and management of the heritage or site. In April 2023 the minister for heritage announced the new UK tentative list of two new natural sites and three new cultural sites: Birkenhead Park, Wirral (C) The ‘people’s park’, a pioneer urban greenspace, was an influential model for municipally funded urban parks throughout the world. East Atlantic Flyway, East Coast (N) 170,000 hectares of varied and connected wetlands and coastal habitats, forming a globally important corridor for migratory water birds. Little Cayman Marine Parks and Protected Areas, Caribbean (N) Undisturbed and exceptional reefs, marine ecosystems and coastal habitats along a 45-kilometre shoreline. City of York (C) The core of the city has been inhabited continuously for 2,000 years. The coherence of its surviving building and townscape, augmented by below-ground archaeology, provides an unparalleled record of the fusion of cultures from the Roman period to the present day. Zenith of Iron Age Shetland, South Mainland Shetland (C) Three sites demonstrate 1,000 years of human endeavour in a harsh environment at the northernmost limit of iron-age farming. Added to these are the two sites that are also on the tentative list and are due to be considered by the World Heritage Committee in 2024: The Flow Country, North Scotland (N) The site includes a large area of peatland that represents the world’s most complete and extensive example of an intact, natural blanket bog ecosystem. Gracehill Moravian Church Settlements, Northern Ireland (C) A transnational cultural nomination adding to sites in Denmark, the USA and Germany, exemplifying the Moravian Church’s spiritual, societal and ethical ideas. The World Heritage Committee approved the new UK tentative list in September 2023. Implementing the list In bringing sites forward for nomination from the tentative list over the next ten years, the UK government has made it clear that it will give The coherence of the city of York’s surviving building and townscape, augmented by below-ground archaeology, provides an unparalleled record of the fusion of cultures from the Roman period to the present day. (Photo: Visit York)
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