Liverpool deserves better than the humiliation of losing of its Unesco status | Simon Jenkins

The city’s historic waterfront is at risk of being overshadowed by banal flats and offices. National government must step in

Britain could next month become only the second country in the world to have a monument stripped of world heritage status by Unesco. That monument is Liverpool’s magnificent waterfront. And, as if to brush off this shame, Boris Johnson and his government intend to put another site in danger too, at Stonehenge. Does anyone care?

Stonehenge is merely the symbol of a minor but total collapse in British government. For some 50 years, local and central authorities have feuded over how to add two lanes to the A303 where it passes within sight of the stones. Hour-long traffic jams along the route are said to build up at weekends. Now the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, clearly drunk on money, wants to blow a staggering £1.7bn on a two-mile tunnel near the site. This would deprive drivers of even a glimpse of the stones as they pass, all to sanitise a particular view from them for some paying visitors. Given the risk of damage to ancient sites and artefacts, I am not sure that would be of great solace to Unesco, and it is insane expenditure.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3wZD08w