Jodrell Bank Observatory is competing with 37 other places from around the world for World Heritage status. The shortlist includes: The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, Chester Rows, The Dover Strait, The Lake District, Buildings of Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow and Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.
Tourism and Heritage Minister John Penrose said "The UK's heritage is world class and this list represents the unique variety and history present in all corners of this country and our overseas territories. We wanted a strong and varied list to eventually put to UNESCO and I'm delighted that so many wonderful, diverse places have been put forward.
"Any list that includes Jodrell Bank, the Forth Bridge, Blackpool and the Turks and Caicos Islands certainly doesn't lack variety. But what all 38 sites have in common is a wow factor and a cultural resonance that makes them real contenders to sit alongside The Pyramids and Red Square in this most distinguished of gatherings."
An independent expert panel will now be set up to assess each bid with a new list of potential sites drawn up for submission to UNESCO in 2011.
In order to be nominated by its government a site must be regarded as having made a unique contribution to our shared global heritage. By inscribing a property as a World Heritage Site, the responsibility for preservation and conservation of that site becomes the responsibility of not just the country that holds it, but of the whole world.
There are currently 890 UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the Great Barrier Reef, The Great Wall of China, the Galápagos Islands, Taj Mahal and the Tower of London.
Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net).
