In 2012, the city was inscribed on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger, after receiving this status in 2004.
UNESCO World Heritage Status removed the English city of Liverpool from the world heritage list “due to the irreversible loss” of land around its historic Victorian docks.
“The committee believes that the structures are detrimental to the authenticity and integrity of the site,” UNESCO announced in a press release Wednesday.
Liverpool’s docks were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 for their “outstanding universal value.” But as developers took over Liverpool’s waterfront, shading the historic docks with modern commercial buildings.
In 2012, however, the city of Liverpool was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site at Risk after plans for the proposed Liverpool Waters development emerged. Over the past decade, Liverpool’s waterfront has been transformed by a slew of modern buildings, including plans for a new soccer stadium that will cost more than $680 million (£500 million).
Liverpool’s historic downtown and the docks were designated a World Heritage Site as monuments to the development of world trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. The docks were also famous for their technological advances and management techniques, many of which are still used in docks around the world today.
Liverpool authorities could challenge UNESCO’s decision. Joan Anderson, the city’s mayor, told The Guardian that it had been more than a decade since UNESCO representatives had visited the city. Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool City Region, told the newspaper that it was “a decision made on the other side of the world by people who don’t seem to understand the renaissance that has occurred in recent years.”
Liverpool became the third place to be removed from the World Heritage List. The Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman and the Elbe Valley in Dresden also lost their status because of preservation problems.
