Stonehenge Alliance: Letter of objection to Draft Orders, 10 August 2003

The Stonehenge Alliance

The Rt Hon Alistair Darling, MP,
Secretary of State for Transport,
C/O The Stonehenge Project,
The Highways Agency,
Zone 2/05-K, Temple Quay House,
2 The Square, Bristol BS1 6HA.

10 August 2003
 
 

Dear Secretary of State,

A303 (Stonehenge Improvement) Draft Orders 200 and Compulsory Purchase Order 200

The Stonehenge Alliance is a group of organisations that has for some years voiced its opposition to the Government's scheme, which includes only a short tunnel, for widening the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down. We consider that the consensus resolutions of the Highways Agency's A303 Planning Conference in 1995 indicated the right way forward and that they should not have been abandoned in favour of unsatisfactory alternatives.

The Stonehenge Alliance objects to the proposals in the draft road Orders and the CPO for the Highways Agency's A303 (Stonehenge Improvement) scheme.

The road scheme is part of a 'Master Plan' for Stonehenge, about which there has been minimal consultation. We think it misleading to suggest that the scheme is 'an essential first step in securing the aims and objectives of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site Management Plan' ('Introduction', Non-Technical Summary leaflet). The Master Plan (now re-named the 'Stonehenge Project') and the Management Plan for Stonehenge are not in harmony. The Alliance supports the principles of the widely agreed Management Plan which recognises that the whole archaeological and spiritual landscape of the WHS is of outstanding international importance and should be conserved and protected—not just that part nearest to the henge.

The Stonehenge Alliance strongly supports the concerns about the road proposals raised by ICOMOS-UK and the National Trust.

We do not feel that the case for the road proposals has been made in the Environmental Statement—on economic, transport or environmental grounds. Nor do we consider that the case has been made for using 'heritage funding' for a scheme that would not only irretrievably damage the archaeological and landscape heritage but also fund an irrelevant, non-heritage bypass for Winterbourne Stoke. We shall continue to press for alternative solutions based on an holistic approach to protection and sustainable management of the landscape and archaeology of the whole WHS, in line with the aims of the WHS Management Plan and the requirements of the World Heritage Convention.

We ask you to call in this proposal for Public Inquiry and to ensure that all the details of the so-called 'Stonehenge Project', including plans for a visitor-centre and visitor-access to the landscape will be considered together at the same Inquiry.

Yours sincerely,
 

Lord Kennet
Chairman, The Stonehenge Alliance