Decision 44 COM 7A.34

Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) (C 1150)

Decision: 44 COM 7A.34

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7A.Add,
2. Recalling Decisions 36 COM 7B.93, 37 COM 7A.35, 38 COM 7A.19, 39 COM 7A.43, 40 COM 7A.31, 41 COM 7A.22, 42 COM 7A.7 and 43 COM 7A.47, adopted at its 36th (Saint Petersburg, 2012), 37th (Phnom Penh, 2013), 38th (Doha, 2014), 39th (Bonn, 2015), 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016), 41st (Krakow, 2017), 42nd (Manama, 2018) and 43rd (Baku, 2019) sessions respectively, and in particular its repeated serious concerns over the impact of the proposed ‘Liverpool Waters’ development in the form presented in the approved Outline Planning Consent (2013-2042) which constitutes an ascertained threat to the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, and that the implementation of the development, as planned, would irreversibly damage the attributes and conditions of integrity that warranted inscription;
3. Also recalling its repeated requests to the State Party to:
   1. Consider all measures that would allow changes to the extent and scope of the proposed ‘Liverpool Waters’ scheme to ensure the continued coherence of the architectural and town-planning attributes, and the continued safeguarding of the OUV of the property, including the conditions of authenticity and integrity,
   2. Establish substantive commitments to limitation on the quantity, location and size of allowable built form and linking the strategic city development vision to a regulatory planning document, which provides legal guidelines on the protection of the OUV,
   3. Establish a moratorium for granting of planning permissions which have a negative impact on the OUV of the property,
   4. Submit, a Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger (DSOCR) and corrective measures in a form that might be considered for adoption by the Committee;
4. Further recalling that, according to Article 6.1 of the Convention, the properties inscribed on the World Heritage List constitute the world’s heritage, the protection of which is the duty of the international community as a whole, and that it is the duty of the international community to assist and to cooperate with States Parties in their endeavour to conserve such heritage;
5. Recalling furthermore that States Parties have the obligation under the Convention to protect and conserve the cultural and natural heritage situated on their territory, notably to ensure that effective and active measures are taken for the protection and conservation of such heritage;
6. Notes with deep regret that inadequate governance processes, mechanisms, and regulations for new developments in and around the World Heritage property, have resulted in serious deterioration and irreversible loss of attributes conveying the OUV of the property along with significant loss to its authenticity and integrity, that the process of further deterioration is irreversible, and that the State Party has not fulfilled its obligations defined in the Convention with respect to protecting and conserving the OUV, as inscribed, of the World Heritage property of Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City;
7. Also notes with deep regret that as a result of approved and implemented development projects, the property has deteriorated to the extent that it has lost characteristics, which determined its inclusion in the World Heritage List, in conformity with Paragraph 192(a) of the Operational Guidelines and that the necessary corrective measures have not been taken in conformity with Paragraph 193 of the Operational Guidelines;
8. Regrets that the entreaties of the World Heritage Committee at its 36th, 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st, 42nd and 43rd sessions have not resulted in protection of the property;
9. Also regrets that the process for the implementation of the ‘Liverpool Waters’ project and other large-scale infrastructure projects in the waterfront and northern dock area of the property and its buffer zone has resulted in serious deterioration and irreversible loss of attributes that convey its OUV, and that further projects, such as the approved new football stadium in Bramley-Moore Dock within the property, add to the ascertained threat of further deterioration and loss of the OUV of the property;
10. Further regrets that the State Party has not complied with the repeated requests of the Committee, and has itself indicated that there are no legal and other means available in the governance of the property that would allow the State Party to comply with all of the Committee’s requests so as to ensure the protection of the property and retention of its OUV in the long-term;
11. Decides to delete Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) from the World Heritage List.