UN cultural agency rejects plan to place Britain's Stonehenge on list of heritage sites in danger
The Peninsula
London: The United Nations cultural agency rejected recommendations Wednesday to place Stonehenge on the list of world heritage sites in danger over...
London: The United Nations’ cultural agency rejected recommendations Wednesday to place Stonehenge on the list of world heritage sites in danger over concerns that Britain’s plans to build a nearby highway tunnel threaten the landscape around the prehistoric monument.
UNESCO experts had recommended listing Stonehenge, a prehistoric stone circle on a plain in southern England, as "in danger” over controversial plans to redevelop the nearby highway that would include the creation of a new tunnel aimed at trying to ease traffic along a stretch of road widely prone to gridlock.
Had the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee in New Delhi backed that recommendation, then British authorities would have come under pressure to think again.
UNESCO says a site’s inclusion on its List of World Heritage Sites in Danger is not punitive. Rather, it is aimed at drawing international attention to the urgent need for conservation measures and "encourage corrective action.” If issues are not rectified, sites face the possibility of being de-listed by UNESCO, though that is rare.
Britain was joined by others, including Kenya and Qatar in arguing that efforts to mitigate the effect on the site of the planned tunnel were sufficient and that it should not be added to the "in danger” list.
