Liverpool has been given a final chance to save its World Heritage status.
A meeting of UNESCO’s ruling body on Tuesday saw the city face its greatest threat to losing the iconic status since it was first awarded back in 2004.
Peel’s £30 billion Liverpool Waters development in the docklands area has seen Liverpool placed on the ‘danger’ list for losing its World Heritage title since 2012.
But UNESCO outlined its ‘extreme concern’ at inaction by both council bosses and UK government to ensure that the city still meets the criteria for Heritage status.
A February deadline has been set for a report on Liverpool’s efforts to conserve the six qualifying areas in the city or risk being removed from the Heritage list.
They include the Pier Head, William Brown Street and the Ropewalks and St George’s Quarter areas as well as the Albert Dock and iconic waterfront area.
Should that report not meet UNESCO’s requirements, the city will be stripped of its World Heritage status at their next committee meeting in July 2020.
Everton’s proposed move to a new stadium in the disused Bramley-Moore Dock could further complicate matters despite no plans being submitted as yet.
However Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has vowed that the priority will be ‘secure a future for our city… with secured jobs’.