UNESCO's World Heritage Body has made an official recommendation for Liverpool to be stripped of its historic status.
The global organisation has advised that the city is deleted from its prestigious list of World Heritage sites, which Liverpool has been a part of for almost 20 years.
An official vote on , the Liverpool Echo has .
The city was granted the highly sought-after World Heritage Status from UNESCO in 2004.
The accolade recognises the city's history as a major trading centre during the British Empire and its architectural landmarks and places Liverpool alongside world famous attractions like the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal.
But Liverpool has found itself under threat of having the status removed for over a decade now.
That threat first arrived because of Peel Land and Property's £5bn Liverpool Waters development in the city's north docks.
More recently, the heritage body has expressed concerns about Everton's now approved plans for a new £500m stadium at Bramley Moore Dock.
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The main issue raised regarding the stadium plan is the infilling of a Victorian dock - although the club has repeatedly stressed the lengths it has gone to within its plans to respect, restore and value heritage at the site.
UNESCO's committee will meet in late July to make a final decision about Liverpool's fate, but a draft report going to that committee has today recommended that the city should lose its World Heritage Status.
The city will now have just a few weeks to intensely lobby for a decision to defer this move, with the argument being made that it is unfair to do this at a time when Liverpool is still battling against the pandemic.
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Last week a host of key figures from Liverpool's political, academic, cultural and sporting sectors put their names to a letter calling for a rethink and clemency from UNESCO.
The letter stated: "We are now calling on World Heritage Committee members to defer any imminent decision and accept the invitation to see for themselves what is happening in the city, pandemic guidelines permitting.
"We hope they see, like us, that Liverpool’s World Heritage Site should be shown up as an exemplar of best practice in heritage-led regeneration.
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"Deletion would not just be a loss to Liverpool, the 海角视频, and to a greater degree UNESCO, it would be an even bigger missed opportunity in demonstrating to the world that heritage and regeneration are not mutually exclusive."
Today, Liverpool Council published a major report which outlined how more than £700m has been invested in upgrading 119 assets within the six character areas of the World Heritage Site in the past few years.
This investment includes the refurbishment of 59 listed buildings, and the document highlights that a further £800m is to be invested in a further 40 plus heritage assets, over the next five years – including at the new Bramley Moore Dock stadium.
Calling on World Heritage Committee members to defer their decision and visit Liverpool to see the progress made, Mayor Joanne Anderson said: "We will be sending the report to the committee members and I hope it will make them think twice about removing Liverpool from its list of World Heritage Sites. The city council is under new political leadership, with a new emphasis on social value when it comes to development.
“We want to engage with the committee members and invite them to fully appraise all that has been achieved since the committee last met in 2019, and to review all that the council is seeking to achieve in the next 12 months."
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “The Liverpool City Region is a place with a rich and storied history. We are proud of our history and do not shy away from it. But our heritage is also a vital part of our regeneration.
“It is therefore deeply disappointing that this recommendation to remove Liverpool’s World Heritage status has been made today, ahead of the meeting of the world heritage committee meeting next month.
“Many of the sites mentioned by UNESCO are in communities sorely in need of investment. Places like Liverpool should not be faced with the binary choice between maintaining heritage status or regenerating left behind communities – and the wealth of jobs and opportunities that come with it.
“As a host of regional leaders reiterated last week, much work has been done to protect and restore heritage sites and we have made it clear that we do not want to lose world heritage status. I would urge the committee to heed our call to defer any decision and take up our invitation to visit us and see what we are doing collectively, rather than taking their decision sat around a table a long way away from the place it affects.
“I will continue to work with the new Mayor of Liverpool and the city council and I am confident that our city will remain a vibrant and attractive cultural destination – as we rebuild from the pandemic – and will continue to welcome millions of people to our city and wider city region.”
The World Heritage Committee will meet in Fuzhou in China between July 16 and 31 where Liverpool's fate will be decided.