Alternatives

Last updated: 30 December 2007

The difficulty in finding a good solution for the problems at Stonehenge is that there are numerous different, conflicting issues, such as protecting archaeology, protecting other aspects of the environment, managing visitors, and coping with traffic. Different groups value these things in different ways, which is why it's been so hard to reach agreement on what to do.

The problems that remain to be solved are:

• Improving the setting of the stone circle without compromising the rest of the World Heritage Site.
• Improving the "visitor experience" (and, perhaps, visitor numbers) without harming the site or impacting on local communities.
• Improving safety on the A303 (though we should note that this stretch of the road has exactly the same accident rate as the national average).
• Providing improved access to the site for people who want to travel without a car.

Toward a solution for Stonehenge

Friends of the Earth's South West campaigner Mike Birkin wrote a handy little briefing about the transport issues facing Stonehenge back in May of this year and it's well worth another look. This is what Mike had to say about the way forward:

Friends of the Earth and partners in the Stonehenge Alliance believe the key principles for future developments at Stonehenge are:

• Stonehenge is more important than the A303. The requirements for long term protection and management of the Stonehenge landscape -- that is, the World Heritage Site as a whole -- must take precedence over other considerations.
• Nothing irreversible should be done which further damages the physical fabric of the World Heritage Site. This would rule out any above ground road widening within the site boundary.
• Transport measures should aim principally to reduce traffic, carbon emissions and other adverse impacts of road transport.

We propose the following measures, which may or may not be thought of as "intermediate", to fit in with these principles and improve the setting and experience of Stonehenge:

• Closure of the junction of the A303 and A344 and removal of the A344 between this junction and the present visitor centre. This has benefits for the safety of road travellers and removes the road which passes closest to the stones.
• Comprehensive speed management on the A303 from Countess Roundabout to the western end of Winterbourne Stoke.
• Retention of the visitor centre on its present site. Plans for a new centre at Countess are dependent on major road upgrades and associated with new infrastructure within the World Heritage Site. Removal of the A344 allows much more scope to re-design the present facilities.
• A high intensity travel plan for Stonehenge to incentivise and maximise the proportion of visitors arriving by public transport, coach, cycle or on foot.
• A corridor travel plan for the A303 as a whole to reduce road traffic and its impacts.

You might like to read Mike's Stonehenge briefing in full (PDF format).

Further reading

Here are some other documents that provide more detail of possible alternatives.

1. Improving the setting of the stone circle

For more details, see Heritage Action Achievable Stonehenge campaign.

2. Improving the visitor experience

For more details, see:

• So what should be done at Stonehenge? by Kate Fielden (slightly out-of-date, but still worth reading).
• Radical solution proposed for Stonehenge, Guardian, 7 October 2006, which discusses the idea of getting visitors more involved in interpreting the wider landscape.
• "The One Million and the One Hundred Thousand" by Christopher Chippindale explores the problem of managing visitor numbers.

3. Improving safety on the A303

We believe in making minor improvements to the existing road system around Stonehenge to ease immediate traffic problems, including closure of the A344. This could include a route action plan to improve safety on the A303, similar to the award-winning plan Dorset police implemented on the nearby A37 (see bottom of this page). Here are some views of the transport issues at Stonehenge:

• "Friends of the Earth Stonehenge briefing: Stonehenge, the A303 and the South West's "Second Strategic Route": Explains what can be done at Stonehenge without a major road upgrade. May 2007. (PDF format.)
• No increase in road capacity by Dr Christopher Gillham: an argument explaining why no extra road space should be created at Stonehenge.
• The ACT Parker Plan: A rererouting of the A303 south of the World Heritage Site. Many people would still like to see the A303 routed entirely away from Stonehenge.

4. Improving access without a car

This is especially important if you bear in mind that most overseas visitors do not have access to a car: they need much better public transport access to the site. See By rail to Stonehenge by Colin Hall. This paper examines light rail alternatives for linking Stonehenge to Salisbury and local villages using existing, disused rail lines.

General discussions of alternatives

These documents compare a number of different alternatives:

• A303 Stonehenge improvement scheme: Decision letter and Stage 2 report, Official decision letter and reports explaining the decision, 6 December 2007. The report sets out the benefits and drawbacks of other options that have been considered
• Non-Technical Summary of the Environmental Statement - official explanation of the now-cancelled scheme. Includes some explanation of other alternatives considered.
• A303 at Stonehenge: Review of English Heritage 2km Tunnel and Comparative Options: This is the executive summary of a much more comprehensive technical review document prepared for ministers in June 1998 by Halcrow and Partners. Although it purports to be a comparison of all the options for Stonehenge, it includes only the cut-and-cover tunnel and three alternatives that have long been out of contention. The long-bored tunnel is not considered at all.
• ICOMOS-UK Position Statement September 2002: This compares cut-and-cover, bored, and hybrid road tunnels over three different lengths (2.1 km, 2.67 km, and 4.5 km).
• MAXIMISING BENEFITS: A MORE SUSTAINABLE TUNNEL SOLUTION AT STONEHENGE: The National Trust compares different types and lengths of tunnel.

More on the A37 route action plan...

Here are details of the route action plan police implemented on the A37. Could something similar make the A303 safer for motorists?