Countess Road residents pack meeting to oppose Stonehenge proposals

Amesbury Journal Thursday 6 March 2003. Front page

Visitor centre plan "will blight our lives"

by David Vallis

WORRIED Countess Road residents packed out a meeting at Amesbury last week and spoke of their fears of increased traffic and tumbling house prices if the green light were given to current plans for the new multi-million pound Stonehenge visitor centre.

They claimed that the proposal to build the complex on their doorsteps off the A303 roundabout at Countess East would blight their lives.

The concerns were made plain when between 80 and 100 of the residents attended a meeting hosted by English Heritage and the National Trust at the George Hotel in Amesbury to give residents an overall view of the latest plans for the visitor centre and access scheme for Stonehenge.

It was a private meeting, but afterwards, a spokesman for the Countess Road residents Peter Goodhugh said: "If the English Heritage and National Trust Stonehenge project team had any preconceptions about a cosy relationship with local residents, they were swiftly dispelled."

The project team gave a presentation on the styling and layout of the proposed visitor centre and how the 800,000-or so visitors per year would access the building and the wider world heritage site.

But Mr Goodhugh said there was considerable scepticism among residents and deep-rooted concerns about the impact of the project.

Principal among those was the extra traffic that would be imposed on Countess Road by siting the centre in what was, viewed by residents, as the wrong place - a traffic hotspot and a residential area.

A peak-period 5,000 visitors a day could result in 200 vehicles an hour coming on to Countess Road, claimed residents, and they said the situation would be further aggravated by the introduction of traffic lights at the roundabout, causing tailbacks northwards.

Residents felt they were already experiencing extreme difficulty entering and leaving their homes, without this additional congestion.

Another significant concern was the effect of the project on property values.

Mr Goodhugh said: "English Heritage said property values would be enhanced as a result of the visitor centre, but it was quickly pointed out to them that local estate agents with considerable experience of the area, were already saying that property prices were falling as a result of the proposals."

English Heritage public and community affairs manager Jane Danser, who chaired the meeting, said: "We felt this was a really constructive meeting and we were pleased to have an opportunity to try to address some of the key concerns of all Countess Road residents.

`We had a team of experts from the project on hand, who were able to deal in detail with specific aspects of the scheme and also listen to the major concerns of residents.

"We fully understand that many residents are worried that the proposed visitor centre and access plans will affect their quality of life.

We want to reassure everyone that we are listening to their views and concerns and that we want to work with them to ensure our scheme has the minimum impact on their daily lives and enjoyment of the area.

"We are preparing to put on a mobile exhibition at the end of this month, to ensure as many people as possible in the Amesbury and Salisbury areas are able to discuss our latest plans with us. 'We look forward to talking to as many people in the area as possible!'

Meanwhile, English Heritage said it believed a flyover planned for Countess Road would offer a much-needed solution to traffic problems, and claimed that comments attributed to it about house prices had been taken out of context.

It said the meeting was told that English Heritage would be commissioning experts to look into the effects on property prices in Countess Road, following concerns raised by residents, and the impact was therefore not yet known.