Friends of the Earth South West: Press Release: 17 November 2003

LAST CHANCE TO SAVE THE STONEHENGE LANDSCAPE?

PRESS RELEASE
Embargo: 00:01 Monday 17th November 2003
STONEHENGE PRE-INQUIRY MEETING MONDAY 17^TH NOVEMBER
 

FIVE YEARS AFTER NEWBURY -- HAS THE HIGHWAYS AGENCY LEARNED ANYTHING?

This Monday, 17^th November, marks the fifth anniversary of the opening of the controversial Newbury bypass. It is also the day when the formal proceedings begin which may eventually result in another huge road scheme slicing through some of Southern England's most precious and supposedly protected landscapes -- the World Heritage Site of Stonehenge and the European designated valley of the River Till.

The Highways Agency is promoting a widening scheme for the A303 trunk road that would entail:

• more than two kilometres of above ground road works, with dual carriageways, deep cuttings and slip roads, through the �most sensitive archaeological site in Europe'

• a 200 metre viaduct over the floodplain of the River Till, part of the River Avon Special Area of Conservation, a site protected for its wildlife value in European law.

The Government proposes to widen the whole A303 to a dual carriageway in order to relieve congestion on a popular holiday route. Yet five years after Newbury opened, traffic in the town centre is believed to be as bad as it was before the bypass was built.

Friends of the Earth Regional Campaigns Coordinator Mike Birkin, said:

"If the Highways Agency has its way, the A303 will become the biggest single human structure in the millennia-old Stonehenge landscape, scarring it forever for the sake of a few short years' relief from traffic jams."

ENDS

ALL MAIN OBJECTORS AND INQUIRY PERSONNEL WILL BE ATTENDING A PRE-INQUIRY MEETING AT THE GUILDHALL, SALISBURY AT 1:30 P.M. ON MONDAY 17^TH NOVEMBER 2003 (The full Inquiry begins in February 2004)

Contact: Mike Birkin