Culture minister Margaret Hodge has revealed that the government is planning to reduce the number of sites it proposes for UNESCO World Heritage status as part of a new streamlined application system.

It is hoped that the plans, which were announced at the launch of a competition to find new heritage sites deemed fit to become prospective World Heritage Sites, will ensure a better chance of success for those put forward for consideration. Local authorities throughout the UK, along with Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, are being given the opportunity to nominate sites for assessment before a 'tentative list' of candidates is drawn up in 2011.

The first nominations are expected to be submitted to UNESCO from 2012. Those included on the UK's last 'tentative list' in 1999 that were not nominated will be able to apply to be included on the new list. Hodge said: "To be designated a World Heritage Site is a real honour and a rare privilege. It can bring social and economic benefits to areas chosen, and it's great for tourism, promoting the profile of our cultural and natural heritage to the world in an eye-catching way.

"But bidding for World Heritage status carries a cost, and we want to be sure that public resources are well deployed. So, in future, we want a process that ensures that only sure-fire winners with outstanding universal value go forward. This means we will make fewer nominations, selecting sites from a new, shorter and more focused list." Pontcysyllte Aqueduct near Wrexham, North Wales, was one of the most recent sites to be awarded World Heritage Site status, receiving the designation in July 2009.