<< News >> A Monumental Enquiry for Stonehenge
Submitted by Alun on Wednesday, 07 April 2004 Page Views: 27581
Stonehenge The Highways Agency has started to outline controversial Government plans to reroute roads around Stonehenge. The proposed scheme costing £192 million aims to remove the busy A303 from the World Heritage Site and instead bore a 1.3 mile tunnel underneath Salisbury Plain.Objectors believe the tunnel should be longer to "conserve and enhance" the Neolithic site. The road currently gets clogged with traffic during the tourist season.
Some 200 people packed Salisbury's Guildhall on the first day of the public inquiry into the issue, expected to last until April 30.
Independent Inspector Michael Ellison will decide at the end of the inquiry whether or not to recommend the orders to the secretaries of state with or without modifications.
Opening the Highways Agency's case, barrister Charles Calvert said the plan was "no ordinary road scheme". He told the hearing how the site's current setting had been described as a "national disgrace" and the proposed solution was thanks to an "innovative approach" by the Treasury allowing the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to contribute towards the scheme.
Monument keeper English Heritage supports the project while landowners the National Trust, though in favour of a tunnel, want it to be longer in order to better preserve the area.
Objectors due to give evidence include representatives from the Prehistoric Society, the Council for British Archaeology, the Stonehenge Alliance and the British Druid Order.
Chris Jones, project director for the multi-million pound scheme, told the inquiry that the work would take three and a half years to complete and the earliest possible starting date was spring 2005.
Source: The Telegraph
Note: Blue Badge guide calls for raised dual carriageway instead of tunnel - see comment below.