Arbroath Abbey has missed out on a money-spinning inclusion as a World Heritage Site.
Angus MP Mike Weir said UNESCO had made no secret of the fact it was pushing for more natural inclusions rather than buildings.
He said, “It is a bitter disappointment because a great deal of work has been put into this campaign and it seems very strange to me that the UK Government has decided not to put the site forward. In my own view it should have been the abbey that was put forward as I feel it was the strongest of the candidates on the list to represent Scotland.”
The other Scottish sites overlooked were the buildings of Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow, and St Andrews’ medieval burgh and Links. There are 28 World Heritage Sites in the UK and its overseas territories, among 851 across the world.
All nominations from Britain are taken from the UK tentative list, a shortlist of sites, updated every 10 years, which are recognised as being of outstanding value.
The Angus landmark was cut as a nomination to go forward to UNESCO, which complies the international list.
North East MSP Alex Johnstone, who started the campaign to have the building included, said it was “a huge disappointment” after its campaign team had worked so hard.
He added, “While I would also like to congratulate the successful applicants, I am quite frankly disgusted that the Arbroath Abbey World Heritage Campaign team only found out when they were passed a press release from the Scottish Government via the media.
“This is an absolutely disgraceful way to treat people who have campaigned so very hard to try and secure the recognition that Arbroath deserves.”
Arbroath councillor Jim Millar who chaired the campaign said he thought a connection with the Declaration of Arbroath might have swayed selectors in the abbey’s favour.
“We felt the Declaration of Arbroath had international influence across the world as it is still debated and still holds significance to this day,” he said.
“On the up side I understand there are other similar awards coming up and it is possible Arbroath Abbey could be put forward for a different type of heritage award.
“The bid was worked on for years and I wouldn’t say that has counted for nothing because a lot of research has been done and I feel we have managed to raise the profile of Arbroath.
“Part of the document from UNESCO stated that a site had to be prepared to keep up with the extra visitors there would be as a result of gaining World Heritage status. We proved that Arbroath would have been more than capable of doing that, so not to be selected is a huge blow for the town and for Angus.”