Issues

Last updated: 11 December 2007

These documents offer in-depth analysis of the key issues for students, journalists, and people who want to study the debate in more detail:

"Stonehenge - the saga continues" An article by Elizabeth Young and Wayland Kennet describing the convoluted history of conservation efforts at Stonehenge.
Council for British Archaeology Stonehenge page: A good summary of the history surrounding plans to improve Stonehenge.

"The Stonehenge we deserve" by Dr Peter Stone (a lecturer in archaeology at Newcastle University). This excellent article discusses all the major issues.
"Proposals for a tunnel at Stonehenge: an assessment of the alternatives: A report to the World Archaeological Congress Executive": by Robert Layton and Julian Thomas. Layton and Thomas discuss concerns about the proposed scheme in this briefing prepared for the WAC.

"Friends of the Earth Stonehenge briefing: Stonehenge, the A303 and the South West's "Second Strategic Route": Explains why Stonehenge underpinned ambitions for a major new route from London to the West Country and what can be done at Stonehenge without a major road upgrade. May 2007. (PDF format)
"Friends of the Earth Stonehenge briefing (new)": Written by Mike Birkin, FoE's Regional Campaigns Coordinator for the South West. Introduces the background to the transport issues at Stonehenge.
"Friends of the Earth Stonehenge briefing (old)": Written by Mike Birkin, FoE's Regional Campaigns Coordinator for the South West, this briefing is a particularly good introduction to the transport issues at Stonehenge, but it was written in 1999 so it's not completely applicable anymore.
A303 Stonehenge Improvement: Latest information from the Highways Agency.
"A303 at Stonehenge: Review of English Heritage 2km Tunnel and Comparative Options": by Halcrow & Partners. (Also informally known as "the Halcrow Report".)

Visitors Centre "will never happen": how the Countess Road Residents Group is fighting plans for a huge influx of visitors to Amesbury... and just who is "Lord Stevens of Stonehenge"??
"The One Million and the One Hundred Thousand": by Christopher Chippindale Written by the author of the definitive book on Stonehenge, this paper questions whether the World Heritage Site can handle the massive increase in visitors proposed by the Stonehenge Master Plan.

Ecological impacts: Relatively little information has so far been made available about the ecological impacts of the road.

Current plans for Stonehenge: A farcical situation: Is the Stonehenge Project (formerly known as the Stonehenge Master Plan, the proposed new road and access improvements) compatible with the Stonehenge Management Plan (the overarching plan for managing the World Heritage Site)? Kate Fielden investigates.

"The Stonehenge we don't deserve": Criticisms of the Stonehenge Master Plan by various authors (Ian Baxter, Christopher Chippindale, Kate Fielden, Wayland Kennet, Elizabeth Young)
Statement by ICOMOS-UK: (representing the interests of UNESCO in the UK)

Non-Technical Summary of the Environmental Statement - this is a brief official explanation of the rationale behind the scheme and touches on many of the issues raised above.