Stonehenge: "International jubilation" as £540-million road scheme is finally scrapped

News release: For immediate release: 09:00 Thursday 6 December 2007

The British government's decision [1] to scrap a proposed £540-million dual-carriageway through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site (WHS) should be greeted with international jubilation, according to Save Stonehenge!, a pressure group that has opposed the plan for almost a decade [2].

Along with other opponents of the scheme, Save Stonehenge! has consistently argued that any road improvement near Stonehenge must respect the integrity of the entire 6500 acre (2600 hectare) World Heritage Site, not just the stone circle at its centre.

Disingenuously billed as an "exceptional environmental scheme", the proposed road would have been "exceptional" for all the wrong reasons. Less than one fifth (only the central 2.1km/1.3-mile section of the 12.4 km/7.7-mile route) would have been  underground. About 3.4 km (2 miles) of four-lane dual carriageway road would have been bulldozed at ground level or in deep cuttings through the heart of the World Heritage Site and within earshot of the stone circle. Two giant roundabout-interchanges would have scarred the eastern and western approaches to the famous site [3].

Arguments over the road date back almost 20 years to when Stonehenge first became a World Heritage Site in 1986. The current scheme was launched in 1998 as the "Stonehenge Master Plan", jointly promoted by the Highways Agency, English Heritage, and the National Trust. English Heritage found itself increasingly isolated after the National Trust distanced itself and ultimately withdrew its support [4]. Whatever it may claim to the contrary, English Heritage has always privately regarded the tunnel scheme as "a major compromise" [5]. When the original plan for a cut-and-cover tunnel was scrapped in December 2002, chief archaeologist Dr Geoffrey Wainwright confessed: "... the thought of gouging that massive trench across such a precious landscape just brought tears to my eyes." [6]

Today's cancellation of the Stonehenge scheme has been inevitable since January 2006, when the Highways Agency revealed  that the tunnel's estimated construction cost had soared to over half a billion pounds [7]. Five last-ditch options the Agency put forward to salvage the scheme were unanimously rejected by a dozen leading environmental groups, including the National Trust, which owns most of the land around Stonehenge, the Council for the Protection of Rural England, and the Stonehenge Alliance [8]. The new options were even rejected by ICOMOS-UK, UNESCO's adviser on UK world heritage sites, which said they fell "far short of serious consideration of possible alternative schemes that are appropriate for this iconic World Heritage site." [9].

Far from being a lost opportunity, as English Heritage suggests [10], today's decision is the only sensible outcome: a massive road-building project was always the wrong solution in such a sensitive landscape.

Save Stonehenge! has campaigned against the proposed road scheme since 1999. In an informal survey of over 300 written comments posted on its website between 2001 and 2004, Save Stonehenge! found overwhelming opposition to the plan, with 288 people from 18 countries opposing the scheme and only 12 people supporting it [11].

A spokesman for Save Stonehenge said:

"Christmas has come early for Stonehenge. No-one with any sense wanted a tunnel, a flyover, a dual-carriageway, and two whacking great interchanges here. It's just not acceptable to build 1950s-style motorways in places like this anymore."

He added:

"Doing nothing is infinitely better than doing the wrong thing. But the government could substantially improve things at Stonehenge in about 10 minutes flat at no cost at all. It simply has to close the A344 road that runs next to the stone circle. The A303, which is 150 meters away, is much less of a problem."

"It's an absolute scandal that English Heritage has actively campaigned to bulldoze a dual carriageway through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site for almost a decade. With the Highways Agency, it has squandered millions of pounds of public money designing a wholly inappropriate road scheme that would have wrecked this iconic landscape forever. It's good riddance to the road, but serious questions now have to be asked about why English Heritage was trying to destroy a sizeable chunk of England's heritage."

Contacts

Please also see our press contact page: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/press.html

Notes to editors

1. The decision is announced in a letter from Andrew Murray of the DfT: "I am now writing to inform you that following careful consideration of the findings of the review the Secretary of State for Transport has today announced that all the draft orders will be withdrawn with immediate effect and the published scheme cancelled." The letter and supporting documents are available on the DfT website.
2. Save Stonehenge! was established in March 1999 to fight plans to upgrade the A303 road to a dual carriageway through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. We have over 1600 people, who oppose the government's plans, on our mailing list. Our easily searchable website contains over 200 pages of background information about the campaign, including these comprehensive summaries of the campaign's history: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/saga.html and http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/stonec.html
3. A303 Stonehenge Improvement: Explanation of the Scheme and Non-Technical Summary, June 2003. Available online: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/nts.html. The Highways Agency's most recent leaflet describing the various options for Stonehenge is available for download here:
   http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/documents/Stonehenge_Leaflet_web_version.pdf
4. National Trust press statement dated 30th March 2007: "In the Trust's view the Published Scheme, with its 2.1km of tunnel and about 3.4km of surface dual carriageway within the World Heritage Site, fails to meet this vision [to restore much of the tranquillity of the stones and surrounding monuments]"
5. "The scheme is seen as a major compromise by English Heritage and the National Trust." Review of English Heritage 2km Tunnel and Comparative Options. A report by Sir William Halcrow & Partners on behalf of the Highways Agency, June 1998.
   http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/halcrow.html
6. Quoted in "Tunnel to protect Stonehenge but critics say it will not be enough", Guardian, 11 December 2002.
   http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,857552,00.html
7. Published scheme budget quoted as £540 million in statement from Tom Harris MP:
   http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/statements/a303
8. 12 Environmental groups unanimously reject government plans for new roads at Stonehenge, Save Stonehenge! news release, 24 January 2006.
   http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/ssnr240106.html
9. ICOMOS-UK statement, January 2006:
   http://www.icomos-uk.org/pdf/press/stonehenge/options_review_january_2006.pdf
10. Interview with Sir Neil Cossons, English Heritage, Sunday Times, 22 July 2007: "If this road project fails we shall have to wait many more years before there is another solution."
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2116263.ece
11. New survey shows citizens of the world slam proposed Stonehenge road scheme, Save Stonehenge Press Release, 22 October 2004: http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk/ssnr221004.html