Former UNESCO World Heritage Sites

The committee can place a site it is concerned about on its list of World Heritage in Danger of losing its designation, and attempts to negotiate with the local authorities to remedy the situation.

"[1] Three sites have been completely delisted from the World Heritage List: the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman, the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany and Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City in the United Kingdom.

[10][11] While a majority of local residents polled indicated that Dresden's UNESCO title was unnecessary, the delisting removed funding to support the site and has been termed an "embarrassment".

[2][3] It had become a World Heritage Site in 2004, consisting of six locations in the city centre, for being "the supreme example of a commercial port at a time of Britain's greatest global influence".

[13] In 2012, the World Heritage Committee voted to add the site to the endangered list on the basis that the proposed Liverpool Waters redevelopment project would result in a "serious loss of historic authenticity".

[2][3] However, the reaction from a small sample of Liverpudlians was mixed, some positing that the site's placing on the World Heritage List made it impossible to develop its more derelict areas and forced the city to keep aesthetically attractive but presently uneconomically viable buildings[18] while others doubted tourist numbers would change as a consequence.