Here is a panel discussion I took part of in London last week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h15kGt28X0s&list=PLhVZKgyRW42tW-FuLO_wogjM0QEz1bRmd&i ndex=6

Thanks for that Gary - it should provide some good opportunities for discussion on this Forum!

The panellist, James Rebanks (the "Lake District Shepherd"), who runs "Rebanks Consulting" ("Working at the meeting point between tourism, heritage and communities. Expert advisors to UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Paris.") has produced the following report titled "WORLD HERITAGE STATUS. Is there opportunity for economic gain? Research and analysis of the socio-economic impact potential of UNESCO World Heritage Site status. Rebanks Consulting Ltd and Trends Business Research Ltd on behalf of the Lake District World Heritage Project"
It might be of interest to Forum members - see
http://icomos.fa.utl.pt/documentos/2009/WHSTheEconomicGainFinalReport.pdf

He was, by the way, heavily criticised by George Monbiot in the Guardian article referred to on this Forum a few months ago -
"The Lake District partnership commissioned its economic evaluation from a company called Rebanks Consulting. It is owned and run by James Rebanks, a Lake District sheep farmer. He was paid £30,000, in effect, to promote his own industry's interests. The bid was riddled with errors and omissions: the claim that the park is in "good physical condition", that the relationship between sheep and wildlife is "harmonious", that farming there is "wholly authentic in terms of ... its traditions, techniques and management systems". Leaving the European Union – on which, through subsidies, sheep farming is wholly reliant – wasn't mentioned."

That of course doesn't make Mr Monbiot right!
See - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/11/lake-district-world-heritage-si te-sheep

The guy from UNESCO spoke about an EU sponsored route of 34 sites, but for the life of me, I can't find anything about it online.

It was called "Underground Europe".
It appears that it is one of a number of UNESCO "Journeys"/"Routes" being "created" in Europe - see this link for background on the project
https://www.patrimonionacional.es/sites/default/files/proyecto.pdf
and here for its "launch"
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/brussels/about-this-office/single-view/news/celebrating_ new_unesco_world_heritage_sites_in_europe/
and this one for a bit more about the "Underground" aspect
https://newsnow.tasr.sk/culture/banska-stiavnica-set-to-join-unescos-underground-euro pe-route/

Thanks for flagging this up Gary, and the additional input Solivagant.

I will try and have listen to it now.

Completely off topic Gary, but as a new twitter follower of yours, I have to agree with you on FiveGuys, a branch has just opened cross the road from my office and it receives pretty regular custom from me :)

I've had some horrible hamburgers around the world, which I find shocking because there really isn't much to them.

And still off topic, Five Guys really does have good burgers. I regularly ate at a local franchise over 10 years ago before they became so prolific. Because of their growth, I wasn't surprised to see a franchise in London when I visited a couple of weeks ago. Glad to hear there are UK Fans, too!