Efforts to establish a twin Anglo-Saxon monastery in north east England as a World Heritage Site have been deferred for a year by the Wearmouth-Jarrow Partnership.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has backed a decision to submit the World Heritage Site bid in February 2011, rather than February 2010, in a bid to give the application the best possible chance of success. It is hoped that the deferral will give the Wearmouth-Jarrow Partnership more time to improve bid documents for the monastery site, which has been a World Heritage Site candidate since 2006.

Bishop of Jarrow and chair of the Wearmouth-Jarrow Partnership, the Right Reverend Mark Bryant, said: "In recent months we have been overwhelmed with the support of people from the region and further afield, and we now have time to further improve our submission documents, which will give Wearmouth-Jarrow the best possible chance for a successful inscription. "These documents reflect the commitment of the Partnership in protecting and preserving the site and set out why it is internationally important. In a year's time we will also have completed more of the scheduled work, funded by One North East, which will make the site even more attractive to visitors."