Seven UK sites bidding for UNESCO World Heritage Status

York's historic city centre and an iron-age settlement in Shetland are among seven sites to receive government backing to bid for UNESCO World Heritage Status.

The sites have been added to the UK Government's 'Tentative List', published every 10 years.

The list sets out the sites which it feels have the best chance of winning the status.

York city centre and the Zenith of Iron Age are both listed for their cultural importance.

Other sites to gain government support are: The People's Park, Birkenhead, a pioneering urban park that opened in 1847; and the Gracehill Moravian Church Settlements in Northern Ireland.

Also listed are three natural sites: East Atlantic Flyway, a migratory bird route over Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent; The Flow Country, a vast expanse of blanket bog in the North of Scotland; and the Little Cayman Marine Parks and Protected Areas, in the UK Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands.

Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson said: "All the locations being put forward would be worthy recipients of this accolade – and we will give them our full backing so they can benefit from the international recognition it can bring."

If successful, the seven sites would join the 33 other World Heritage Sites already based in the UK.