Six sites across Britain have received government backing in their attempt to gain UNESCO World heritage status, with a further location in UK overseas territory also gaining a place on the Tentative List submitted by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

The designation is recognised worldwide and awarded to places of cultural, historical and scientific significance, the UK already boasting 33 World Heritage sites including Stonehenge and Hadrian’s Wall.

Among those put forward is the city of York, a location steeped in history dating back 2,000 years to the invasion of the Romans; the city is one of the country’s leading examples of continuous urban development over two millennia since it was founded in AD71 as a Roman legionary fortress.

Birkenhead Park on Merseyside, which opened in 1847 as a project to bring greenery to urban environments, was used as a blueprint that influenced town and city parks across the world, including New York’s Central Park

Other locations on the list are:

• the East Atlantic Flyway, a migratory bird route over western Europe that includes Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent; it is recognised as vitally important to bird populations and wildlife.
• the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland, a collection of ancient settlements at the south end of the island off the north coast of Scotland – Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof – which date back thousands of years.
• the Flow Country, an area of peatland across Caithness and Sutherland in the north of Scotland which plays a crucial role in supporting biodiversity.
• the Gracehill Moravian Church Settlement in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.
• The Little Cayman Marine Parks and Protected Areas, situated on the Cayman Islands, put forward for their exceptional importance to marine biodiversity.

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.”