UN threatens to de-list seven UK Heritage sites

UNESCO says it wants urgent action to protect seven world heritage sites in the UK which it says are in danger from building developments and said, in some cases, the UK is ignoring its legal obligation to protect them. Sites are: Stonehenge, neolithic ruins in Orkney, Edinburgh Old Town, Bath city centre, Liverpool waterfront, Westminster and the Tower of London.

Its strongest criticism is for Edinburgh, where UNESCO deeply regrets the city council's decision to press ahead with a hotel, housing and offices development which it says will ruin the medeival old town's unique form.

The Chairman of "Save Britain's Heritage" says "Heritage has taken a back deat to Cool Britannia and encouraging everything modern and we're now uncomfortably in the limelight for failing to have proper policies to protect our world heritage sites, and timely criticisms are now being made".

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport says it is introducing a heritage protection bill which will give allsites in England the same legal protection as a conservation area.

Personally, I'm shocked that the World Heritage Jurassic Coast doesn't have the same protection as the Seaton town centre conservation area - but then, how much protection has conservation status given the town centre?