The Lake District is Nominated for World Heritage Status
15th January 2014
The Lake District will be put forward as the UK’s next nomination for Unesco World Heritage status, the Government has announced.
The UK’s culture minister said the government will prepare a nomination to be submitted to Unesco in 2016.
It is expected that a decision on the bid will be made in 2017.
Current World Heritage sites include the Great Barrier Reef, Taj Mahal and Hadrian’s Wall and those awarded World Heritage status are considered by the World Heritage Committee as having outstanding universal value.
Mr Vaizey said: “The UK’s heritage is world renowned and the Lake District, England’s largest National Park is one of our heritage jewels.
“The Unesco nomination process can be very demanding and success is not guaranteed, but I believe the Lake District deserves to be recognised and inscribed as a World Heritage Site and I wish all involved the very best.”
Chair of the Lake District World Heritage Bid, Lord Clark of Windermere, said: “It would provide the globally recognised branding the Lake District, Cumbria and our tourism industries are seeking. It would tell the story of what makes this place so special to the outside world, and to the people of Cumbria.”
He said the bid to secure the status for the Lake District dated back to the 1980s.
Lake District National Park chief executive Richard Leafe, said: “We believe it is possible to strike the balance between conserving our historical cultural roots at the same time as encouraging regeneration to meet the needs of a thriving, modern region.”
Holiday Cottages Cumbria strongly supports the World Heritage status bid, and we look forward to welcoming guests from across the globe to our luxury Lake District cottages.