Forth rail bridge and Gibraltar cave in running for world heritage site status

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/28/forth-bridge-gibraltar-cave-heritage

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The Forth rail bridge and the Gorham's Cave complex in Gibraltar could join the list of Unesco world heritage sites after the government selected them to be submitted to the UN culture and heritage organisation.

In March the culture department sent Unesco a list of 11 possible candidates for world heritage status, also including Chatham dockyard in Kent, Cheshire's Jodrell Bank observatory, the Lake District and the entire South Atlantic island of St Helena.

Four of these – the Forth bridge, Gorham's Cave, the Lake District and Chatham – went ahead with the next stage in submitting technical evaluations to the government. A panel of UK heritage experts then selected the first two for formal submission to Unesco.

Both will now be scrutinised by officials from Unesco and its advisory body, the Paris-based International Council on Monuments and Sites. If all goes well, the Forth Bridge could gain world heritage status in mid-2015, and the caves a year later.

World heritage status was devised by Unesco in 1972 as a way to both celebrate and protect places with particular natural, cultural or architectural significance. There are currently 25 in the UK, ranging from Stonehenge to the 19th century model village of Saltaire and St Kilda in the Hebrides. Three more are in UK-administered overseas territories: the isolated South Pacific atoll of Henderson island, the historic town of St George in Bermuda and the nature reserve of Gough island in the South Atlantic.

The UN organisation regularly inspects sites to make sure they are not becoming degraded, or overwhelmed by development. In recent years there has been concern about excessive modern encroachment on Parliament Square and the Tower of London, and in the redevelopment of Liverpool's historic waterfront.

The 1.5 mile Forth rail bridge, the UK's first all-steel crossing, was the world's longest cantilever bridge when it opened in 1890, and among the engineering marvels of the globe. Still used by up to 200 trains a day, the supposed endless repainting of the bridge's girders became a national metaphor for an endless task. If it ever was true, it is not now – last year owners Network Rail said the latest paint job would last 25 years.

The Gorham's Cave complex, on the eastern face of the Rock of Gibraltar, comprises four openings which were once some distance from the sea. First investigated in 1907 by a British captain of that name, the caves showed the signs of thousands of years of occupation by Neanderthals, and are the world's last known site of Neanderthal survival.

The heritage minister, John Penrose, said the bridge and caves complex were both "strong contenders" for recognition. He said: "Nomination to Unesco for world heritage status is incredibly rewarding, but the process is pretty tough and success is by no means guaranteed."