July 16 in Blackpool
Blackpool Council’s Heritage Strategy explicitly states that one of the ‘key outcomes’ of the strategy is that “Blackpool becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site”. As the first ever seaside resort, Blackpool has a unique place in the history of leisure around the world. Blackpool needs to make so much more of its heritage as part of its regeneration strategy, and World Heritage Status is an essential part of that.
But it’s difficult to get recognition of UNESCO World Heritage Status when the Government won’t even let Blackpool apply. The list of new applicants was expected to be announced back in May 2006, but it has dragged, dragged and dragged again. Now the Government are delaying things further by instituting a review of the entire process – and that isn’t expected to conclude until the end of the year. Worse, the review may not even decide to update the list of applicant sites, leaving Blackpool out in the cold.
And all this time, Unesco has continued adding to the list of World Heritage Sites – some 30 or so locations were added to the list during their most recent meeting in New Zealand in late June. Blackpool risks seeing its opportunity slip by.
So whilst Gordon Brown continues to tell us that we have to find other ways of regeneration, his own Government is blocking Blackpool’s attempts to do just that.
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