Mailing list archive
Last updated: 6 December 2007
If you'd like to receive regular (every few months or so) updates about the campaign to Save Stonehenge, please visit our join the mailing list page.
Recent mailings to the Save Stonehenge! email list:
- 6 December 2007: Subject: Stonehenge road tunnel scheme scrapped
- 17 February 2006: Subject: Stonehenge news: the road ahead?
- 4 July 2005: Subject: Summer 2005 campaign update
- 3 October 2004: Subject: Autumn News: Highway decision soon? More developments at Stonehenge
- 26 May 2004: Subject: Latest news on the campaign to save Stonehenge
- 14 December 2003: Subject: An appeal on behalf of the Stonehenge Alliance
- 16 June 2003: Subject: Urgent: Stonehenge needs YOU!
- 13 December 2002: Subject: Stonehenge saved? Not quite!
- 23 September 2002: Subject: Is this our last chance to Save Stonehenge?
- 14 July 2002: Subject: Campaign update: Summer 2002
Subject: Stonehenge road tunnel scheme scrapped
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 14:15:57 +0000Subject: Stonehenge road tunnel scheme scrapped
Dear Friend of Stonehenge,
We're sending you this email either because you signed up to our
occasional email list or because you're one of our campaign contacts. We
don't want to irritate people with unwanted emails. If you get this by
mistake, please send a short reply. A real-life human being (!) will
remove you from our mailing list and we'll not bother you again.
Promise.
This is a short email to let you know that the A303 Stonehenge
tunnel/road scheme was officially scrapped this morning, Thursday 6th
December. That's the news we've wanted to bring you for almost a decade!
You can read the official British government announcement by Tom Harris
MP here:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/statements/a303
You can find a more detailed report here:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/statements/a303
You can read our (delighted) reaction and response in our press release:
http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/ssnr061207.html
Save Stonehenge was formed back in early 1999 to fight this destructive
scheme. We're delighted to have played a very small part in today's
victory, along with *many* other environmental groups and individuals.
We'd like to pay tribute to our friends at the Stonehenge Alliance,
particularly Dr Kate Fielden, whose tireless commitment to Stonehenge
has kept this issue alive.
We'd also like to thank all of you -- our supporters, some 1600 people
on our email list from over 25 different countries -- for your
unflagging support over most of the last decade. Hopefully, this is the
end of our campaign, but there's still much work to be done in securing
the future of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. This may be our last
email, but we'll announce any future plans or developments on our
website. You can get immediate updates by subscribing to our RSS feed:
http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/rss.xml
Thank you all again so much!
Best wishes,
Save Stonehenge!
http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk
From: Save Stonehenge! Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 To: 'Save Stonehenge'
Subject: Stonehenge news: the road ahead?
Dear Friend of Stonehenge,We're sending you this email either because you signed up to our
occasional email list or because you're one of our campaign contacts. We
don't want to irritate people with unwanted emails, however. If you get
this by mistake, please send a short reply. A real-life human being (!)
will remove you from our mailing list and we'll not bother you again.
Promise.
In this enthralling issue:
1. Tunnel scheme runs out of road
2. Stonehenge - the road ahead?
3. What you can do to help
==========================================================
1. Tunnel scheme runs out of road
It's about six months since we last wrote to you and quite a lot has
happened on the Stonehenge front. Most importantly, the British
government's Department for Transport announced at the end of July 2005 that the
estimated cost of the Stonehenge tunnel scheme has now risen to
approximately 500 million pounds (getting on for 900 million US dollars)...
and is still rising! That whopping figure makes it almost inconceivable
that the tunnel scheme will now go ahead.
In the light of that announcement, plans for a new 57 million pound
(100 million US dollar) visitor centre were also turned down. However, the
plans are likely to be resubmitted soon.
Together, the tunnel highway scheme and the visitor centre plan are
known as The Stonehenge Project. They have been championed
enthusiastically by the Department for Transport's Highways Agency (the UK government
department charged with building and maintaining highways) and English
Heritage (the UK government department supposedly responsible for
protecting such historical places as Stonehenge).
No-one else is supporting the Stonehenge Project with any enthusiasm;
the whole plan is rapidly unravelling.
So what now?
----------------------------------------------------------
2. Stonehenge - the road ahead?
In the light of this confusion, the Highways Agency announced five new
options for Stonehenge at the end of January 2006. On closer
inspection, these are four old options that have previously been rejected, plus a
minor tweaking of the existing road that would increase traffic
pressure for a new road through the World Heritage Site at some point in the
future.
Briefly, the "new" options are:
a) The current tunnel scheme - way out of contention now because of its
high, 500 million pound cost. But many groups (including Save
Stonehenge!) opposed it anyway because of its destructive impact on the overall
World Heritage Site.
b and c) Highways to either the north or the south of the stone circle,
but passing mostly at surface level across the World Heritage Site.
Universally opposed because they would be incredibly intrusive into the
peace of the Stonehenge landscape. There was worldwide press coverage --
from India to Australia -- when the British bird conservation
organization, RSPB, revealed that two of the DfT's old/new options would destroy
nesting and roosting sites of the stone curlew bird, which has only two
UK strongholds. RSPB said these plans would also harm prospects for
more than 25 other bird species and 14 butterfly species.
d) Cut-and-cover tunnel: This would be a crude highway gouged through
the ancient landscape with a roof built on top. Most of you will
remember that this was the original plan for Stonehenge until it was dropped
in 2002. Lord Kennet, former British environment minister and campaigner
for Stonehenge, memorably noted this option would be "Barbaric. No
other country in the world would contemplate treating a site which is a
world icon in such a way." The British government itself conceded that the
cut-and-cover tunnel was massively destructive when it dropped that
plan in December 2002. Now it appears to be considering bringing it back!
e) A "partial solution": This involves upgrading roundabouts on the
current A303 highway at either of the World Heritage Site. There is no
good reason for doing this; it will simply increase pressure to build a
highway (options a-d) through the World Heritage Site at some point in
the future.
Twelve groups representing environmental, archaeological, and transport
interests damned the new proposals within hours of their announcement
(The National Trust, CPRE, RSPB, Friends of the Earth, ICOMOS-UK,
Council for British Archaeology, Rescue - British Archaeological Trust, Pagan
Federation UK, Stonehenge Alliance, Save Stonehenge, Ancient Sacred
Landscapes Network, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural Heritage
Society).
Mike Birkin of Friends of the Earth UK summed up the reactions of
Stonehenge campaigners: "The choices on the table are not new and they are
still not acceptable. The choice seems to be between damaging this
valuable World Heritage Site now or damaging it later."
For more information about what the 12 groups said, see:
http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/ssnr240106.html
Since then, questions asked in the British Parliament by Salisbury MP
(and former roads minister) Robert Key reveal that, between them, the
Highways Agency and English Heritage have squandered a scandalous 23
million pounds of taxpayers' money on their "Stonehenge Project" since 2000
-- with absolutely no visible progress and no public benefit.
----------------------------------------------------------
3. What you can do to help
The British Government has just announced a public consultation on the
five new options for "improving" (i.e. widening) the A303 through
Stonehenge World Heritage Site. We'd like you to write in please expressing
OPPOSITION to these new plans. They still don't deliver a decent future
for Stonehenge and its surrounding landscape.
You can download a detailed leaflet about the new proposals here:
http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/3659.aspx
and read a longer summary of recent developments here:
http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/stonec.html
Please send your oppositions by 24 APRIL 2006 to:
The Stonehenge Project
Highways Agency Zone 2/26-H
Temple Quay House
2 The Square
Temple Quay
BRISTOL
BS1 6HA
UK
You can email to neil.chapman@highways.gsi.gov.uk but a letter is MUCH
better. Please try to keep your letters and emails sane and polite
(rude and loopy letters written in blood or wax crayon don't help anyone!).
Please start letters: "I am writing to object to the five road schemes
proposed for Stonehenge". Your letter can be as long or short as you
wish. There is a short example letter at the bottom of this email that
you can edit as you wish. If you have a particular alternative for
Stonehenge that you would like to be considered instead, please add in
details below.
Thank you as always, so much, for your help.
The fight goes on.
Chris
Save Stonehenge!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a quick sample letter. I'm sure you can write a much better one
in your own words!
Send to:
The Stonehenge Project
Highways Agency Zone 2/26-H
Temple Quay House
2 The Square
Temple Quay
BRISTOL
BS1 6HA
UK
Dear Sir,
Stonehenge Scheme Review - Public Consultation
I am writing to OBJECT to all five of the road schemes proposed in your
new public consultation. None of these options is satisfactory.
The National Trust, the British conservation charity that owns the
landscape around the Stonehenge stone circle, has said: "The five options
outlined in the Review and the consultative process by which the
Government arrived at this decision, focus on transport solutions for
Stonehenge which denigrate its status as a World Heritage Site. These schemes
will not return the world famous stones to the tranquillity they deserve
and threaten to damage valuable archaeology."
We have now wasted many years and twenty-three millions of pounds of
public money pursuing expensive and destructive highway schemes -- and
got nowhere. It's time to stop pretending that the so-called "Stonehenge
Project" has anything to do with improving the setting of Stonehenge;
it's time to concede that it was always a road-widening scheme
pretending to be something else. It's time to stop spending public money,
supposedly intended for protecting our heritage, on road-building schemes
that would do nothing of the sort.
From now on, we should make the importance of the Stonehenge World
Heritage Site our overwhelming priority.
I request that you scrap these road-building options immediately and
investigate realistic, affordable solutions that respect the integrity of
the whole World Heritage Site instead. Start from that premise and you
will surely bring improvements for motorists too. This does not mean we
"do nothing" about Stonehenge: rather that we take effective steps to
improve the site without inflicting any more damage on it.
You could start by closing the A344 road that passes right next to the
stone circle. You could investigate low-cost, low-impact,
quick-to-implement measures to improve traffic congestion and safety near
Stonehenge. When Dorset Police tried similar measures on an 18-mile section of
the A37 between Dorchester and Yeovil, not far from Stonehenge, over the
last few years, they cut accident rates by 75% without a single penny
being spent building highways. You might also look into improved
public-transport links between Salisbury and Amesbury to make the Stonehenge
experience better for visitors. All of these things you could do very
quickly, making an enormous difference to the Stonehenge site, to
visitors, to the local community, and to motorists too--at very little
cost.
Yours faithfully,
[Your name]
From: Save Stonehenge! Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 To: 'Save Stonehenge'
Subject: Summer 2005 campaign update
Dear Fellow Friend of Stonehenge,
This is our occasional update on the campaign to stop the proposed new highway through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in England. Our apologies if you receive this as an unwanted or unsolicited email. We send mail only to people who have requested it, but mistakes do sometimes happen. If you'd like to be removed from our email list, please send a short reply and we promise not to trouble you again.
In this Summer Solstice issue:
1: What's happening -- Quick Summary
2: What's happening -- The longer version
3: Stonehenge tunnel cost increases by another [pounds]30 million
4: Road Block steams ahead
5. Andy's back
6. What you can do
============================================================================
1: What's happening -- Quick Summary
Following last year's public inquiry, a 400-odd page summary of the arguments for and against the road scheme has been prepared and is now with the British government's transport minister, Alistair Darling. Mr Darling has the unenviable job of deciding whether to give the go-ahead for what would surely be one of the most controversial road schemes in British history. (Just how do you order bulldozers to trash the landscape around one of the world's best loved monuments?) In the last few dates, the government has revealed that the projected cost of the tunnel scheme is starting to spiral out of control. Could this be the end of a much-hated highway project and the start of the search for something better? The scheme's supporters, including English Heritage (supposedly responsible for protecting England's heritage, but not in this case), continue to push hard for the highway to be built. The National Trust, the British charity that owns thousands of acres of land around the monument, continues to give off bewilderingly mixed messages - sometimes backing the scheme, sometimes showing reservations. The fence is really no place to sit.
============================================================================
2: What's happening -- The longer version
Kate Fielden of the Stonehenge Alliance kindly put together this update on the campaign as it now stands for the Summer Solstice a couple of weeks ago. Thank you very much, Kate!
"The Stonehenge roads and visitor-centre saga is old news but how many of those who will gather at Stonehenge this week have any idea of exactly what is planned for the surroundings of this monument?
The A303 Inquiry was held last spring. Environmental organisations and archaeologists raised strong objections to the Highways Agency's proposals to dual the A303 with a 2.1km short bored tunnel to bury the road close to Stonehenge. They dismissed English Heritage's claim that this was the best that could be afforded, showing that a blinkered approach towards protection of the World Heritage Site would permit only the central area to be improved. The road scheme would leave dual carriageways across two thirds of the World Heritage Site with long tunnel cuttings deep into the archaeological landscape.
The National Trust, objecting to the road scheme, suggested a slightly longer bored tunnel -- but conservationists argued that this, too, would be hugely damaging and unacceptable in a World Heritage Site designated for the quality and extent of its archaeological remains. Archaeologists pointed out that ancient sites, deliberately located according to the topography, would have had meaning for those who passed through the landscape, seeing them as significant elements of the journey towards Stonehenge. The road proposals would make it impossible to attempt to re-create that experience for present-day visitors.
The A303 Inquiry Inspector's report has been with the Secretary of State for Transport for some months but the only statement from the Department on the A303 so far has been to redesignate the scheme as a regional one -- possibly for financial reasons.
In the absence of a decision to proceed on the A303 scheme, English Heritage has pressed ahead with a planning application for a new Stonehenge visitor-centre close to Amesbury. Objectors are wondering if the exercise may be a waste of time and expense, since the visitor-centre is not viable without the A303 improvements. Access to Stonehenge via visitor-transit buses from the new centre would require some 3.5km of roads newly constructed for the purpose. The new roads and huge, glass-sided bus shelters would be sited within the open countryside of the World Heritage Site, impacting on the settings of key monuments and disrupting views of walkers in the wider landscape.
Before the Government imposed financial restraints on the Stonehenge project, English Heritage and the National Trust were adamant -- as other conservationists still are -- that only the best would do for Stonehenge. If the destructive but "affordable" short tunnel scheme is given the go-ahead, new roads will be driven across the landscape to take visitors to the Stones. Something is obviously seriously wrong with current thinking on Stonehenge and if a halt isn't called soon, damage may be done to the surroundings of the World's most famous monument that can never be put right. New proposals for road travel charging might be one of a number of ways to rethink the potential for a very much better way to rectify, rather than compound this 'national disgrace'."
============================================================================
3: Stonehenge tunnel cost increases by another 30 million pounds
The government has just revealed that the estimated cost of the tunnel is now 223 million pounds -- up 30 million pounds from the last estimate in 2003. Back in 1998, government advisors argued that the road, then estimated to cost 125 million pounds, was of only "marginal economic benefit" (i.e. made no sense to build on purely economic grounds). The Highways Agency, the British government's road-building department, also conceded this point at the public inquiry. Now that the tunnel is almost 100 million pounds more expensive, the entire project is clearly an enormously expensive white elephant -- it's neither a good solution nor a cost-effective one -- and should be abandoned immediately. There are rumours in the British construction press that the scheme has now become baggy and unaffordable, but we wait to see: it has also been revealed that the construction companies (and their gleaming new bulldozers) are all ready to roll at a moment's notice if a decision is given to push ahead with the scheme.
============================================================================
4: Road Block steams ahead
In the few months since we last wrote to you, Britain's new alliance of anti-road campaigns, Road Block, has launched itself and gained impressive momentum. Our congratulations to the tireless Becca Lush and those who have worked so hard on the Road Block project. The point? To show that piecemeal highways built here there and everywhere are no substitute for a decent, long-term transport policy that puts people and their environment first. You can find out more at http://www.roadblock.org.uk
============================================================================
5. Andy's back
Social historian Andy Worthington, author of last year's intriguing book on the history of the Stonehenge counter-culture, has just published a new volume about the Battle of the Beanfield, which happened 20 years ago this May. Find out more about Andy's books at his website: http://www.andyworthington.co.uk
============================================================================
6. What you can do
With growing uncertainty about the Stonehenge scheme, now is once again a good time to fire off a couple of letters. It doesn't matter if you've written before, please do WRITE NOW to Alistair Darling and ask him to drop the scheme, especially if you are outside the UK. There are sample letters you can use on our website at: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/actnow.html but it is much better if you can write your own message, however short. Start your letter with "I am writing to object to the proposed A303 Stonehenge Improvement..." and then improvise freely, politely, and passionately.
Rt. Hon. Alistair Darling MP
Secretary of State
Department for Transport
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DR
United Kingdom.
Tel: From UK: 0207 944 8300 From overseas: +44 207 944 8300
Fax: From UK: 0207 944 6589 From overseas: +44 207 944 6589
Please also write to Britain's National Trust. Point out how very concerned you are about the damage this scheme could do. Express concern that the National Trust may be "bought off" and go along with the current scheme. The Trust seems to be arguing that making the tunnel very slightly longer would sort out all the problems, ignoring all the other issues people have raised about the current proposal. As the owner of the landscape around Stonehenge, the National Trust has the legal power to stop this scheme entirely if it so wishes. We think that's just what it should do. Please write encouraging the Trust to hold out for the very best possible scheme for Stonehenge: quick, cheap, and dirty highway schemes will not do. And, of all places on Earth, Stonehenge is not the one for a sloppy compromise.
Please write to:
Fiona Reynolds
Director General
National Trust
36 Queen Anne's Gate
London SW1H 9AS
United Kingdom
Fax: From UK: 0207-222-5097
From overseas: International code +44 207-222-5097
Email: enquiries@ntrust.org.uk
===========
Thank you all very much for your encouragement, as always, and especially for all the messages we receive from our many friends and supporters in other countries.
Best wishes,
Chris
Save Stonehenge!
Website: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/
Email: info@savestonehenge.org.uk
From: Save Stonehenge!
Date:
Sun, 3 Oct 2004 23:07:25 +0100
To: 'Save Stonehenge'
Subject: Autumn News: Highway decision soon? More developments at Stonehenge
Dear Friend of Stonehenge,
Before
you read on, please note:
1. This is the regular (once every
few months or so) email to people on the
Save Stonehenge! email
list about the campaign to save the Stonehenge World
Heritage Site
from a proposed new 4-lane highway (full details on our
website at
http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk).
2. We're very sorry if you
receive this as an unsolicited or unwanted
email. We absolutely
*never* send out junk ("spam") email and we *fully* respect
your
privacy. If you received this mail by mistake, please simply
send us a
short reply. A warm-blooded human being will remove your
name from your
list and you'll never hear from us again. Ever!
Promise. (Full details of
our mailing list, and the lengths we go
to to protect your privacy, are on
our website
privacy policy page).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In
this Autumn issue:
1. Highway decision soon?
2. More
developments at Stonehenge? No thanks!
---
1. Highway decision soon?
We need your help once again in our
fight for a better future for
Stonehenge. We need you to write a
couple of letters for us please by
Wednesday 27th October.
It won't take a moment!
Just to recap: the story so far: The
British government is attempting to
push through what it calls
"The Stonehenge Project", including a massive
new road
scheme (partly in a tunnel) through the wonderful,
irreplaceable
Stonehenge World Heritage Site near Salisbury in South
West
England. The road plans were examined at a "public inquiry"
(a bit
like a court case) earlier this year. A report of that
inquiry,
summarizing the arguments for and against the road, has
been submitted
(or soon will be submitted) to Alistair Darling,
the British government
minister who will decide the fate of
Stonehenge. It's possible a
decision could be made by the end of
this year. If the road gets the
go-ahead this year, bulldozers
could be moving through the World
Heritage Site by next summer!!
We MUST act now.
What you can do to help!
1. It's
essential we keep up our opposition to the road. Even if you
have
already written about the road, could you please write a short
letter
to Alistair Darling? Begin with the words: "I am
writing to object to
the A303 Stonehenge 'Improvement' and to urge
you not to allow the scheme
to go ahead following the public
inquiry earlier this year" and then add
some words of your
own.
Please send your letters to:
Rt.
Hon. Alistair Darling MP
Secretary of State
Department for
Transport
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London SW1P
4DR
United Kingdom
There are some standard letters you
can copy at
http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/actnow.html
But
it is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better if you write a letter in your
own
words, however short. Remember to say that you object!
-----
2. More developments at Stonehenge? No thanks!
While you're in the mood for writing
letters, could you please help
us with something else?
Another
part of the "Stonehenge Project" is a huge new visitor
centre that
would be built just off the new road but still a
considerable distance
from the famous stone circle monument. It is
certainly true that the
current visitor centre is a "national
disgrace", but the new centre
could turn out to be an
INTERNATIONAL DISGRACE: it would be built on
archaeologically
sensitive land, near an internationally important
river; it would
encourage a vast influx of visitors that Stonehenge
probably
cannot cope with; and, most important of all, it can only
proceed
if the highly destructive road scheme gets built too.
So this
is the basic idea: obliterate part of the World Heritage Site
with
a huge new road, then build a huge new visitor centre nearby.
It's
not appropriate, it's not sensitive, and it's not the right
way forward
for Stonehenge. The new visitor centre and the road
are all part of the
same, short-sighted, penny-pinching plan ("the
Stonehenge Project") to
redevelop Stonehenge and we need to
FIGHT BOTH.
Please WRITE NOW TO OBJECT to the visitor centre
plan. There's a sample
letter below that you can copy. But as
always, it's much, much better if
you write one in your own words.
For a more detailed look at the issues,
please see:
http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/rescuesept04.html
Please
send your objections to: Salisbury District Council, The
Planning
Office, 61 Wyndham Place, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 3AH,
UK
Or you can submit your objection online at:
http://www.salisbury.gov.uk/stonehenge/
The
closing date is Wednesday 27 October 2004
Please send a
copy of your objection letter to:
Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister, 26 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2WH, United Kingdom
Please
also send a copy to:
Government Office for the South West, 2
Rivergate, Temple Quay, Bristol,
BS1 6EH, United Kingdom, asking
for the visitor-centre planning application to be called in
for a
public inquiry so that all of the issues can be fully discussed out
in the open.
Fax: From UK: 0117 900 1900: From outside UK:
+(44) 117 900 1900
As always, thank you for your
support!
Best wishes,
Chris
Save
Stonehenge!
web: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk
email:
info@savestonehenge.org.uk
=========================================================
Sample
letter of objection for Stonehenge Visitor Centre
[Insert your address here
somewhere]
[Put today's date here]
The Planning
Office
61 Wyndham Place
Salisbury
Wiltshire SP1
3AH
UK
Dear Sir,
Stonehenge Visitor Facilities
and Access Scheme: Application Number
S/2004/0001
I am
writing to object to the planning application by English Heritage
for
the new Stonehenge visitor centre (and associated access changes)
on
the following grounds:
* The visitor centre application
assumes that the A303 road will be
widened and tunnelled, as per
the Highways Agency's A303 Stonehenge
"Improvement"
scheme, but no decision has yet been made on the road
scheme. It
is premature to put in an application for a new visitor
centre
until the road issue has been resolved.
* The visitor centre
and road scheme are part of an overall scheme
called the
"Stonehenge Project", yet they are being considered
through
two entirely separate planning processes. There has been
no strategic
environmental assessment of the overall Stonehenge
Project.
* The visitor centre would be constructed immediately
adjacent to the
ecologically sensitive river Avon, designated as a
candidate Special
Area of Conservation (cSAC) and protected by
European law. There has been
no "appropriate assessment"
of the combined effects of the visitor
centre and the proposed new
road on the river, as required by the EU
Habitats Directive.
*
Although it would be constructed outside the World Heritage
Site
boundary, the visitor centre would still be in an
archaeologically
sensitive landscape and would threaten the
integrity of rare early
Anglo-Saxon settlement remains.
*
The visitor centre is located a considerable distance from
the
Stonehenge monument. Too little thought has been given to
whether
visitors, in large numbers, will really want to walk this
distance, in
all weathers, at all times of year. If this turns out
to be the case,
and the visitor centre has already been
constructed, there are no real
options available for modifying
visitor access or solving the problem.
* There is a proposal
to build a road train from the visitor centre to
Stonehenge,
which would involve constructing an intrustive, "mini-highway"
through the archaeologically sensitive landscape. This would
effectively
create a highly unattractive, brand-new "monument"
inside the World
Heritage Site and close to important prehistoric
monuments.
* "The Stonehenge Project" (of which the
Highways Agency's road scheme
and the visitor centre form a part)
are not consistent with all the aims
of the Stonehenge Management
Plan: they focus on the central area, around
the stone circle, at
the expense of conserving the World Heritage Site as a
whole.
*
The new visitor facilities and access scheme could encourage a
very
large increase in visitor numbers. The road improvement
would, in any case,
result in increased road traffic on the A303
as a whole, causing problems
elsewhere on the route and leading
to pressure to upgrade other
environmentally sensitive sections
of the route through areas such as the
Blackdown Hills.
A
strategic environmental assessment is needed to consider issues
such as
this.
* The visitor centre could have a major
adverse effect on the local
community in Amesbury, especially for
those residents living in Countess
Road.
Most of the issues
raised here are of national or international
importance. I would
therefore ask you to request that the Office of the
Deputy Prime
Minister (ODPM) "calls this application in" and holds
a
public inquiry where the issues can be discussed in more
detail.
Yours faithfully,
[Sign here]
[Put
Your name here]
From: Save Stonehenge!
Sent:
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 10:57 PM
Subject: Latest news on the campaign to save Stonehenge
Dear Friend of Stonehenge,
Before you read on, please note:
1. This is the regular (once every few months or so) email to people on the Save Stonehenge! email list about the campaign to save the Stonehenge World Heritage Site from a proposed new 4-lane highway (full details on our website at http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk).
2. Sorry if you receive this as an unsolicited or unwanted email. We absolutely *never* send out junk ("spam") email and we *fully* respect your privacy. If you received this mail by mistake, please simply send us a short reply. A warm-blooded human being will remove your name from your list and you'll never hear from us again. Ever! Promise. (Full details of our mailing list, and the lengths we go to to protect your privacy, are on our website privacy policy page.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this brief Spring issue:
1. Public Inquiry ends
2. What
happens next?
3. The Stonehenge Alliance needs your help again!
4. Stonehenge: book
-------------------------------------------------
1. Public Inquiry ends
It's a few months since we last wrote to you.... and things have been very busy!
A public inquiry into the highway plans began in February. (For those of you outside the UK, a public inquiry is a bit like a court case that major construction projects in this country typically undergo.) The Highways Agency (the road-building wing of the British government and one of the the main-movers behind this scheme) issued thousands of pages of documents about the proposed new highway... and a wide variety of objectors scrutinized them and pointed out the problems. The Inquiry ran for about 12 weeks and finally ended on May 11.
There was worldwide press coverage of the Inquiry. You can read a selection of the articles on our website here: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/stoneh.html
Kate Fielden of the Stonehenge Alliance has written a great summary of the Inquiry (thanks Kate!), which you can find here: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/inquirysummary.html
In its closing statement to the Inquiry, the Stonehenge Alliance summed up many people's grave concerns about the road plan:
"Having followed closely the evidence brought to the Inquiry, the Stonehenge Alliance's view remains unchanged: the Published Scheme would inflict severe and permanent damage on the Stonehenge World Heritage Site [WHS] and ought not to be allowed. This exceptional place has already been much damaged in the past. New 'improvements' at Stonehenge should not include a road scheme that English Heritage describes as no more than 'the best we have on offer' and falls far short of protection and conservation of the WHS.
On the contrary, we believe that the WHS is of such outstanding international importance that only the right thing should be done in terms of roads or anything else - even if that means we must wait until such as this may be achieved.
It is the Alliance's view that the road scheme would be so damaging to the WHS that it should be rejected. Like ICOMOS-UK, we do not feel that we should support the scheme for the benefits it would bring - for those benefits would be gained at too high a price: substantial and irreversible damage to the WHS and its setting. We would prefer to see nothing done rather than the damage the scheme would cause. We would, however, be glad to consider a scheme that would do no further damage to the WHS and aimed to protect and rehabilitate the WHS as a whole.
That is why we are here - to argue against the appalling threat that hangs over this WHS, all the more shocking because those who have responsibility for its protection are those who would damage the place and its setting for ever, apparently through lack of full understanding of the value that is to be placed upon it.
Our message to the Secretary of State is simple. We plead, logically because of the planning framework that should safeguard it, and with heartfelt enthusiasm because of its acknowledged significance to mankind, for the preservation of the Stonehenge WHS for future generations. We respectfully ask for a stay of execution until a better solution may be found and we would naturally be glad to assist in any effort to achieve such a solution."
You can read the Stonehenge Alliance's
closing statements in full here:
http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/allianceclosingstatement.html
-----------
2. What happens next?
The Inquiry inspector (effectively, a kind of judge who hears and sums up the evidence) will now go away and write a lengthy report about the arguments for and against the road scheme. He is expected to send his report to the Secretary of State for Transport, Alistair Darling, by September. Mr Darling, the Minister whose own Highways Agency has been so enthusiastically promoting the road scheme for the last few years, then gets to make the final decision. Far be it from us to point out a certain conflict of interest.
Anyway, Mr Darling loves receiving letters, so now is certainly the time to write to him expressing your views about the proposed highway. If he gets the message that there is massive international outrage about this road, he might just change his mind. Please send your letters as soon as you can. Polite, well-argued, passionate letters are great, but please don't send abusive letters or rants. Start your letter: "I am writing to object to the A303 Stonehenge Improvement..." and give your reasons. (There are some simple standard letters on our website Take Action page, but it's much much better to write something in your own words, however short.)
Rt. Hon. Alistair Darling MP
Secretary
of State Department for Transport
Great Minster House
76
Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DR
United Kingdom.
Please remember one thing: If Mr Darling gives the go-ahead (and he's very likely to do so), bulldozers will be rolling into the Stonehenge World Heritage Site NEXT YEAR. So we must keep the pressure up.
-----------
3. The Stonehenge Alliance needs your help again!
We've been pleased to work alongside the Stonehenge Alliance in its campaign to stop the destructive Stonehenge road scheme over the last few years. The Alliance is the campaign name for a number of British archaeological, environmental, transport, and Pagan organizations who have joined together to oppose the highway plan. The groups include Friends of the Earth, Campaign to Protect Rural England, Transport 2000, RESCUE (the British Archaeological Trust), the Pagan Federation UK, Ancient Sacred Landscapes Network, and the UK Rivers Network.
The Alliance committee have been working incredibly hard over the last few months during the public inquiry. On your behalf, we'd like to express our huge public thanks to everyone at the Alliance for giving up so much time to pursue the case with such passion and determination; special thanks to Kate Fielden, George McDonic, and Denise Carlo for putting such a professional case together for the Alliance.
The Stonehenge Alliance spent 11,000 UK pounds (about 18,700 US dollars) to fight the Inquiry and has so far raised nearly 9,000 pounds (about 15,300 US dollars) to cover its costs. Most of those costs went on paying for expert witnesses to present evidence to the Inquiry. (For example, the Alliance hired Professor Phil Goodwin, one of Britain's leading transport experts, to help demolish the Highways Agency's transport and economic case.) That means the campaign fighting fund now has a shortfall of about 2,000 pounds (about 3,400 US dollars) that has to be made up the Alliance can continue to fight the road scheme in the months and years to come. Save Stonehenge! has been raising money to help the Alliance through our website and email list. As of 25 May 2004, our website had raised about 1,300 pounds (2,200 US dollars) for the Stonehenge Alliance. If we could raise the same amount again in the next few months, we can help the Alliance to keep their campaign going!
Can you please help us reach our target? Even the smallest donation will help us get nearer. If each of our website visitors could spare just ?1 or $1, we'd soon get there! We can accept online donations via credit-card and PayPal or cheques and money orders. All pound, dollar, penny, and cent we raise goes straight to the Stonehenge Alliance campaign fund. No-one takes a salary; no money is wasted.
If you'd like to help, please visit our
online donation page:
http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/donate.html
-----------
4. New Book: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion Those of you interested in the counter-cultural history of Stonehenge might like to take a look at Andy Worthingon's new book, Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion, which tells the alternative story of the place we all love, from the Druid revival of the 18th century up to the current debate over the road plan.
More information (and ordering details)
here:
http://www.hoap.co.uk/alternative.htm#SCAS
-----------
As always, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your supportive emails, donations, letters of objections and the rest. We're not a huge international organization: we're a small group of passionate people working in our spare time on a shoestring budget. And we're up against a British government department with millions of pounds to spend. Your support really does keep us going!
Best wishes,
Chris
Save Stonehenge!
From: Save Stonehenge!
Sent: Sunday,
December 14, 2003 9:17 PM
Subject: An appeal on behalf of the Stonehenge Alliance
Dear Friend of Stonehenge,
Before you read on, please note:
1. This is the regular (once every few months or so) email to people on the Save Stonehenge! email list about the campaign to save the Stonehenge World Heritage Site from a proposed new 4-lane highway (full details on our website at http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk).
2. Sorry if you receive this as an unsolicited or unwanted email. We *never* send out junk ("spam") email and we *fully* respect your privacy. If you received this mail by mistake, please simply send us a short reply. A warm-blooded human being will remove your name from your list and you'll never hear from us again. Ever! Promise. (Full details on our privacy policy page).
----------
In this brief Winter Solstice issue:
1. An appeal on behalf of the Stonehenge Alliance
-----
Much has happened since we last wrote to you in August. You may remember us asking you to object to the British government's plan to drive four lanes of new highway through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. More than 1000 objections were sent in. Thank you so much to everyone who responded to our appeal.
As a result of this huge opposition, there will now be a public inquiry into the scheme (a bit like a court case). The British government will argue that they are going to "improve" Stonehenge by building a massive new highway, partly in a tunnel, through the middle of the World Heritage Site. Opponents will be arguing that their bulldozers will trash a vast area of the internationally important World Heritage Site and the environment all around it.
The public inquiry is due to start in February 2004 -- so now the pressure is really on.
We want to stop this plan.
You want us to stop this plan
But we need your help again to do that.
A number of Britain's best known conservation groups have joined forces to fight the road plans at the public inquiry under the banner of the "Stonehenge Alliance". The groups include Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), Friends of the Earth, Transport 2000, RESCUE (The British Archaeological Trust), Ancient Sacred Landscapes Network (ASLAN), the Pagan Federation, and the UK Rivers Network. The Alliance is chaired by Lord Kennet, who has campaigned for Stonehenge for many years.
Save Stonehenge (a campaign sponsored by the UK Rivers Network) is now helping to raise money on behalf of the Alliance. The more money we raise, the better the case the Stonehenge Alliance can present at the public inquiry.
Wherever you are in the world, can you please help us by making a small donation? All the money raised through this appeal will be put to excellent use at the Inquiry. No money will be wasted. There is no campaign office, no administration costs, and everyone works on the campaign for free. All the money donated to this appeal will go straight to the Stonehenge Alliance campaign where it can have most effect.
If you'd like to donate...
We'll be pleased to accept payments in two different ways:
1. Instant, secure online payments by credit card, debit card, or PayPal via our website. We can accept payments in a variety of different currencies from anywhere in the world. Please go to: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/donate.html Online payments will be collected by the UK Rivers Network and forwarded to the Stonehenge Alliance.
2. Payments by cheque or money order: If you'd prefer not to pay online, the Stonehenge Alliance can also accept cheques and money orders, in POUNDS STERLING ONLY, made payable to STONEHENGE ALLIANCE. Please would you be kind enough to send them directly to:
Stonehenge Alliance (email) PO Box 1962 SALISBURY Wiltshire SP2 9ZU United Kingdom
If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to email us at the address below:
As always, thanks so much for all your support!
Season's Greetings,
Save Stonehenge!
From: Save Stonehenge!
Sent: Monday,
June 16, 2003 2:31 PM
Subject: Urgent: Stonehenge needs YOU!
Dear Friend of Stonehenge,
Before you read on, please note:
1. This is the regular (once every few months or so) email to people on the Save Stonehenge! email list about the campaign to save the Stonehenge World Heritage Site from a proposed new 4-lane road scheme and associated "improvements" (full details at http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk).
2. Our sincere apologies if you receive this as an unsolicited or unwanted email. We *never* send out junk ("spam") email, we have no wish to irritate people with unwanted rubbish, and we *fully* respect your privacy. To be removed from our list, please simply send us a short reply. A warm-blooded human being will remove your name and you'll never hear from us again. Ever! Promise. (Full details of our mailing list and privacy policy are on our website privacy policy page).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this issue:
1. Urgent: Stonehenge needs YOU to stop
massively destructive highway!
2. How you can help ---
1. Urgent: Stonehenge needs YOU to stop massively destructive highway!
It's mid-June 2003 and the Summer Solstice will soon be here. That's normally a time for great celebration at Stonehenge. But this year things will be a little different. The British government has just published the full details of how it plans to bulldoze a new four-lane highway through the world-famous heritage site. British environmental groups, under the banner of the Stonehenge Alliance, have roundly condemned the scheme as "massively destructive". Save Stonehene! urgently needs your help, once again, for the next stage of our campaign. Please read on!
Last time we wrote to you, back in December, the British government had announced it was softening its original plan to bulldoze the road straight through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. The original plan would have sunk the middle part of the road into a so-called "cut-and-cover" tunnel (a very deep bulldozed trench with a roof added on top and grassed over afterwards). Thanks to huge public opposition from people such as you, the cut-and-cover plan is no more.
But what we have now is not very much better.
The shocking details of the new scheme were released on June 3. The British government and its roadbuilding wing, the Highways Agency, is still promoting its plan as an "improvement" for Stonehenge, with glossy artist's impressions of wide open green fields and empty local roads. The mockup of the new tunnel entrance, for example, shows a road with only two carriageways instead of four and absolutely no traffic on the new road whatsoever! It's all highly misleading and very far from the truth. The British government talks about its plan to remove "20th century clutter from Stonehenge"; what it doesn't mention is its determination to replace it with "21st century clutter" that in our view will be even more destructive and intrusive.
The facts are these: The new highway would be 7.7 miles (12.4 km) long. A small part of this new road (1.3 miles or 2.1 km -- about one sixth of it) would be sunk into a tunnel bored (drilled) under the part of the World Heritage Site nearest to the stone circle. But that still leaves over six miles of massively destructive new road being bulldozed at ground level, or in cuttings (deep trenches) through the priceless landscape around Stonehenge. Let's make this totally clear: THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT STILL INTENDS TO BULLDOZE OVER TWO MILES OF BRAND NEW, 4-LANE HIGHWAY AT GROUND LEVEL THROUGH THE INTERNATIONALLY IMPORTANT STONEHENGE WORLD HERITAGE SITE. The new road would also involve massive destructive at Longbarrow Crossroads, the archaeologically sensitive area on the western edge of the World Heritage Site.
Let's not pretend that this new highway is anything to do with protecting Stonehenge. It is being built because the British government wants to create a massive new highway from London to the West Country and Stonehenge, unfortunately, is in the way. Don't be fooled by the glossy new photos of grass and trees. The bottom line is this: The new Stonehenge plan is a Trojan horse that will bulldoze four lanes of massive new road into the Stonehenge World Heritage Site.
Stonehenge needs YOU!
The British government has released its official plan in draft form (the so-called "Draft Orders") for "public consultation". We urgently need hundreds of people to object to this plan BEFORE 4TH SEPTEMBER 2003 so that the government will hold a public inquiry (a bit like a court case at which the merits of the plan can be discussed in detail). What we need you to do is very simple. Please fill in and send off the standard letter of objection attached below to the Stonehenge Project Team, Highways Agency, Zone 2-05/K, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, BRISTOL BS1 6HA, UK. Or you can send it by fax to (from UK) 0117 372 8238; (from overseas) Your international dialling code + 44 117 372 8238. Please DO NOT send emails; they will ignore them. By all means write your own letter or modify ours however you wish, but be sure to make clear that you object to the plan.
You can download the standard objection letter in various wordprocessed formats (plain text TXT, rich-text format RTF, Microsoft Word DOC, or HTML) from our website at http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/actnow.html
2. How you can help
Our website has lots of other ideas on how you can help the campaign. Small donations of money are a huge help and our campaign would have to stop without them. We have no overheads or office costs, no paid staff and everyone works on the campaign for free. Even our website is hosted free. We are extremely cost-effective: every single pound/dollar we raise goes directly toward the campaign to Save Stonehenge! If you'd like to make a secure online donation, please go to http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/donate.html
Thanks as always for your support. Please get writing those objection letters straight away!
Happy Solstice and have a great summer!
Chris
for Save Stonehenge!
Stonehenge standard objection letter:
Please modify as you see fit, fill in the bits in [square brackets] and either mail to the address below or return by fax. (Fax number: From UK 0117 372 8238; From Overseas: International code + 44 117 372 8238). The closing date is 4th September 2003. But please do it straight away!
[Put your address here]
[Put the date here]
Stonehenge Project Team Highways Agency Zone 2-05/K Temple Quay House 2 The Square Temple Quay BRISTOL BS1 6HA United Kingdom
Dear Sir,
A303 Stonehenge "Improvement"
I am writing to object to the draft A303 Trunk Road (Stonehenge Improvement) orders on the following grounds:
* The proposed highway scheme would cause considerable environmental damage to the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and the archaeologically and environmentally important surrounding area. According to the Stonehenge Management Plan, prepared for UNESCO: "The Stonehenge World Heritage Site is internationally recognized as an outstanding archaeological landscape. Inscription on the World Heritage List places Stonehenge, with Avebury and its associated sites, beside other World Heritage Sites of outstanding universal value such as the Pyramids in Egypt, the Taj Mahal in India and the Great Wall of China." People would not accept building a new four-lane highway through the middle of the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, or the Great Wall of China; we will not accept this at Stonehenge either.
* The proposed highway would have negative impacts on the internationally important rivers Till and Avon, noise impacts on Stonehenge and local communities, and a number of other adverse environmental impacts that the Highways Agency's plans do not properly consider or address.
* The proposed highway would be over twice as wide as the existing one. This would encourage traffic growth, causing knock-on safety problems elsewhere along the A303 route and in neighbouring communities.
* The proposed highway contravenes a number of important policies and plans, most notably the Stonehenge World Heritage Site Management Plan, but also planning policy guidance notes.
* A variety of alternative plans for Stonehenge have not been explored, publicized, or costed out. I believe it is contrary to European environmental law to pursue the current highway scheme before other alternatives have been properly considered.
[DELETE, CHANGE, OR ADD MORE IN HERE IF YOU WISH]
I request you to hold a full public inquiry into the plan at which objections can be discussed and alternatives can be explored in detail.
Yours faithfully,
[Sign here]
[Put your name here]
From: Save Stonehenge!
Sent: Friday,
December 13, 2002 9:06 PM
Subject: Stonehenge saved? Not quite!
Dear Friend of Stonehenge,
Before you read on, please note:
1. This is the regular (once every blue moon or so) email to people on the Save Stonehenge! email list about the campaign to save the Stonehenge World Heritage Site from a proposed new 4-lane road scheme and associated "improvements" (full details at http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk).
2. Our sincere apologies if you receive this as an unsolicited or unwanted email. We have no wish to irritate people with junk ("spam") emails and we *fully* respect your privacy. To be removed from our list, please simply send us a short reply. A warm-blooded human being will remove your name and you'll never hear from us again. Ever! Promise. (Full details of our privacy policy are on our website.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this issue:
1. Stonehenge saved? Not quite.
2. What happens next?
3. Would you like to support our campaign?
---
1. Stonehenge saved? Not quite.
Much has happened since we last wrote to you back in September.
As you'll recall, we wrote to ask your help in stopping a four-lane highway from being bulldozed through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. The plan was to create a brand new and very wide road using a method called cut-and-cover: gouge a deep trench, add a roof on top... and ask questions later. We also alerted you to the position of Britain's National Trust, a charity that owns most of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site, which had initially supported the road scheme.
Thanks in part to the many emails and letters you sent, some remarkable things have happened in the last few weeks.
After looking carefully at all the evidence, the National Trust made a very courageous decision to change its position and firmly opposed the cut-and-cover road it had once supported. Opposition also came from ICOMOS-UK, the committee of archaeologists charged with safeguarding the World Heritage Site on behalf of UNESCO. Other groups, notably the Stonehenge Alliance of environmental, archaeological, and transport organizations chaired by Lord Kennet, continued to make a powerfully persuasive case against cut-and-cover.
Well miracles do happen.
On Wednesday of this week, the British's government's Transport and Culture ministries announced that they had changed their minds about the road: it would now be bored underneath the central part of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site instead of arrogantly bulldozed right throught it. Good news indeed for Stonehenge. (You can read more about the announcement in Maev Kennedy's article from the UK newspaper, The Guardian, here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,857552,00.html
But there is a snag.
The new tunnel will be just 1.3 miles (2.1 km) long. That means, outside the tunnel section, huge cuttings will still have to be bulldozed through part of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. Many people -- including Save Stonehenge -- refuse to stomach the idea of bulldozers trashing the World Heritage Site and we simply do not accept that a short, bored tunnel is the best we can do. ICOMOS-UK does not support the short bored tunnel. The National Trust has said it wants to know why the government won't build a longer tunnel (as the owner of the land, it still has the power to veto the road altogether).
Now we don't want to appear ungrateful to the British government: they have, after all, agreed to find an extra 30 million pounds (45 million dollars) on this highway. Thank you British government. But let's be clear about this: The British government is pretending that its main concern is to do Stonehenge a favour. It isn't. The aim of this scheme is to build a new four-lane highway. Stonehenge is, unfortunately, in the way. So the British government is doing the cheapest thing it possibly can to make it politically acceptable to build a new highway through a World Heritage Site.
It's pretending to go out of its way to protect Stonehenge, which has been there for 5000 years, by spending an extra ?30 million pounds. But it has ?5.5 billion to spend on transport. And it spent ?800 million pounds on London's Millennium Dome, an ill-fated, much-hated plastic tent that was only used for a year.
We believe Stonehenge deserves the best possible solution, not the cheapest one. And we will continue to fight to ensure it gets it. Other, longer tunnels need to be considered; new routes have been proposed that take the highway right outside the World Heritage Site; and there are public transportation options too. All these things must be looked at first before we take drastic, irreversible steps.
After all, Stonehenge is 5000 years old; the motor car is about 100 years old. Will we still be driving automobiles in 100, 500, or 1000 years time? Will future generations curse our short-term, blinkered thinking in bulldozing a new road through Stonehenge?
So our campaign to secure the future Stonehenge really deserves will go on. You wouldn't expect any less of us, would you?
----
2. What happens next?
In the Spring of 2003, the British government will publish the official legal documents (known as Draft Orders) that will allow it to proceed with the scheme. Save Stonehenge and a number of other groups will formally oppose these orders. And there will then be a public inquiry -- a cross between a public meeting and a court case where supporters and opponents of the road can argue their cases. We will keep you posted. --- 3. Please support our campaign
Many people have written asking to make donations to our campaign. We're delighted to announce that we've finally set up a secure online donation system on our website, using the PayPal system: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/donate.html
It works in the UK, the US, and hopefully in most other countries too.
Every penny/cent we raise goes straight into the campaign. We have 0% admin and bureacracy costs!
Thanks, as always, for your support and Season's Greetings,
Save Stonehenge!
From: Save Stonehenge!
Sent: Monday,
September 23, 2002 9:43 PM
Subject: URGENT: Is this our last chance to Save Stonehenge?
Dear Friend of Stonehenge,
URGENT: Is this our last chance to Save Stonehenge?
Before you read on, please note:
1. This is the regular (once every few months or so) email to people on the Save Stonehenge! email list about the campaign to save the Stonehenge World Heritage Site from a proposed new 4-lane road scheme and associated "improvements" (full details at http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk).
2. Apologies if you receive this as an unsolicited or unwanted email. We have no wish to irritate people with junk ("spam") emails and we *fully* respect your privacy. To be removed from our list, please simply send us a short reply and you'll never hear from us again. Ever! Promise. (Full details of our privacy policy are on our website.)
3. Sorry if you get this twice. Our email software is on the blink.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ URGENT ACTION NEEDED!
In early October, British government ministers will seal the fate of the world-famous sacred site at Stonehenge by making a decision about what kind of road to bulldoze through it. That's "What kind of road shall we bulldoze?", not "Shall we bulldoze a road or not". Certainly not: "Hang on, should we be building a road here at all?"
Once they make this decision, they are unlikely to change their minds.
Our inside information suggests they will opt either to build a short cut-and-cover tunnel (gouging a huge deep trench through the WHS and then adding a roof) or a short bored tunnel (theoretically not disturbing the surface). Both of these would involve massive construction work *inside* the WHS; both would result in the construction of a massive new four-lane highway passing right through the WHS; both would damage a site held sacred by millions of people and protected under the World Heritage Convention. These are facts, not opinions.
The British government continues to pretend that this is an "exceptional environmental" scheme that will somehow benefit Stonehenge. When the government ministers announce their decision, they will do so in a fanfare of crass publicity. Their spin doctors will attempt to convince the British public and the rest of the world that building four lanes of new road through a World Heritage Site is somehow a benefit. In reality, their plan is an attempt to build a massive new highway around a pesky, troublesome monument that just happens to be in the way. In reality, they don't give a stuff about Stonehenge.
To proceed with this plan, the government vitally needs the support of a British charity called the National Trust that owns the land around Stonehenge. The National Trust gained that land in the 1920s after launching a major public financial appeal: "We have not two Stonehenges, and our generation will be vilified by all posterity if we allow the surroundings of this monument, the frontispiece to English history, to be ruined beyond repair". As we write to you, the National Trust's ruling council and its executive director, Fiona Reynolds, seem likely to approve selling off "their land" -- the very same land that people gave money for them to preserve -- to the roadbuilders. Not for the first time, the National Trust is completely out of touch with public opinion on this issue.
So now we need YOUR help! We need you to DELUGE the British government and FLOOD the National Trust with your letters. Write them from the heart, write them with passion, write them with hope, write them in anger. Write them however you like. You may not get the chance to write them again: their ears will be closed to everything except the sound of traffic. If you need inspiration, take a look at the heartfelt things people have been writing on our message board: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/yoursay.html
You don't need to write pages. Just "I object to your plan to build a new road through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site" on a postcard would do.
Here are the addresses you need. Please write one letter and send copies to the other people.
Rt.Hon. Tessa Jowell MP Secretary of State Department for Culture, Media, and Sport 2-4 Cockspur Street London SW1Y 5DH United Kingdom.
Rt. Hon. Alastair Darling MP Secretary of State for Transport Great Minster House 76 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DR UK
Fiona Reynolds Director General National Trust 36 Queen Anne's Gate London SW1H 9AS United Kingdom Fax: From UK: 0207-222-5097 From overseas: International code +44 207-222-5097
Please don't send emails; they just ignore them!
Please write IMMEDIATELY -- by October 1 if you possibly can.
Any other action you might like to take is up to you :o)
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH for your support!
Save Stonehenge!
From: Save Stonehenge!
Sent: Sunday,
July 14, 2002 9:18 PM
Subject: Campaign update: Summer 2002
Dear Friend of Stonehenge,
1. This is the regular (once every few months or so) email to people on the Save Stonehenge! email list about the campaign to save the Stonehenge World Heritage Site from a proposed new 4-lane road scheme and associated "improvements" (full details at http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk).
2. Apologies if you receive this as an unsolicited or unwanted email. We have no wish to irritate people with junk ("spam") emails and we fully respect your privacy. To be removed from our list, please simply send us a short reply and you'll never hear from us again. Ever! Promise. (Full details of our privacy policy are on our website.)
In this issue: 1. The story so far... 2. What can you do? 3. Help us with a donation 4. New articles on the website
------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----
1. The story so far....goes something like this.
The British government, which gave up building major highways about 4 years ago after massive public opposition, has suddenly changed its mind thanks to pressure from the construction industry and the roads lobby. One of the new projects it has in mind is to widen large sections of a road known as the A303 that runs between London and the west country. Unfortunately, one of these sections goes through the middle of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site near the world-famous ancient monument! Knowing full well that international opinion would never sanction building a road in such a place, Britain's Department of Transport has conceived a roadbuilding scheme that pretends to "improve" the road as an "exceptional environmental scheme". It is, of course, nothing of the sort.
In order to get away with this skullduggery, the Department of Transport has to persuade two other bodies to cooperate. One of them, English Heritage, is supposed to look after Britain's ancient heritage. In fact, it has decided to help fund the scheme. Without EH's involvement, the road would not be happening. The other body is a British charity called the National Trust, which does (for the most part) an excellent job of buying up and preserving old buildings, country houses, and coastline. In the 1920s, the National Trust helped to set up a major financial appeal to buy what is now the Stonehenge World Heritage Site, arguing "We have not two Stonehenges, and our generation will be vilified by all posterity if we allow the surroundings of this monument, the frontispiece to English history, to be ruined beyond repair". Today, the National Trust has become an "equal partner" in a plan that will see a major swathe of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site "ruined beyond repair" by bulldozers ploughing a massive new highway.
Last year, at its Annual General Meeting, the National Trust neatly brushed aside a motion from one of its members requesting a change in policy on the Stonehenge issue. This year, the National Trust is refusing even to hear motions on this subject and, it seems, will be allowing only a stage-managed, token discussion of the issue. Why?
The latest news is that the plan to bulldoze part of the World Heritage Site is firmly on course to succeed. The official legal documents allowing this to happen, known as "draft orders", are expected to be published in December 2002 or early 2003. The Department of Transport recently signed a contract with two roadbuilding companies to try to ensure that the road is built more quickly. (Anticipating a major international outcry, they try to ensure the road is built first, then ask whether that is a good idea afterwards.)
There's some slightly brighter news. According to British newspaper The Times (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-258161,00.html), there are indications that the Department of Transport might be willing to consider bored tunnels (i.e. bored underneath the World Heritage Site without disturbing the surface layers) rather than its preferred option of "cut and cover" (gouge out a deep cutting and then build a roof on top). Either way, from the hundreds of emails we have received via the Save Stonehenge website over the last three years, it is very clear that many people will be outraged if bulldozers roll anywhere near the World Heritage Site. Other transport options, including public transportation improvements and a completely new route that would take the road south of the World Heritage Site, have not even been considered. It is now, to all intents and purposes, too late to consider them. The British government is determined to press on regardless.
You can read a very detailed history of the Stonehenge saga at: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/saga.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. What can you do?
After you finish reading this email, please promise yourself that you will do at least *one* positive thing to help our campaign. What can you do? Our newly redesigned website has a brand new Take Action page that gives you lots of ideas: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/actnow.html
Here are a few suggesitons: * You might like to write some letters to the people behind the scheme. We give you their addresses, fax numbers, and so on on our Take Action page.
* If you are in the UK, you can fax your MP directly from this page.
* You might like to contact FIONA REYNOLDS, head of the National Trust, asking why her organization bought the Stonehenge site in the 1920s to keep it "permanently protected"... only to contemplate selling it to the roadbuilders 80 years later. And just why is the National Trust so reluctant to discuss the issue at its Annual General Meeting? It has a legal duty to protect the lands it owns from development. Why is it allowing this scheme to happen? Please mark your letters/faxes for the PERSONAL attention of FIONA REYNOLDS.
If you are outside the UK, we need your help just as badly. Stonehenge is a *world* heritage site, not a British "please drive a highway through me" site. Please make your feelings known!
Wherever in the world you happen to be, from Algiers to Zanzibar, the best thing you can do for us right now is SPREAD THE WORD! Please link to our website, put the address http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/ on the bottom of your emails, or just tell your friends! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Help us with a donation
We anticipate running up very big bills on this campaign over the next 12 months. We're going to need your help to pay them! If you'd like to make a donation, please check out: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/donate.html
We hope to have a secure credit-card
donation page up and working very soon.
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4. New articles on the website
Our website is absolutely packed with information about this campaign and is promptly and very regularly updated. Some recent additions include:
* Two recent updates on the campaign: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/rescuenews87.html http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/currentplans.html
* A new leaflet from the Stonehenge Alliance that you can print down and give to your friends: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/leaflet.html
You can find a full list of new additions to the site at http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/stonem.html
Thank you so much for your support!
Save Stonehenge! http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/