Stonehenge slated in US magazine list

08 November 2006

Stonehenge is an ‘over-crowded mess’ due to the closeness of the A303 trunk road, cyclists cutting through the world heritage site and over-zealous protection schemes, a report by the National Geographic Traveler magazine has claimed.
The American magazine’s annual list, published last week, ranks Unesco World Heritage sites according to a number of criteria including historic preservation and tourism management, but is scathing of the current state of Stonehenge.
The Salisbury Plain monument is, according to the report, suffering ongoing damage not only physically but also aesthetically from the closeness of the busy A303.
Traffic thundering past was set to become a thing of the past as far back as 1999 when the Department for Transport approved a then £130M scheme to re-route the A303 through a tunnel, claiming work would start in six years after public consultations.
Since then, according to the Conservatives, an estimated £26.5M has been spent preparing improvement schemes; with no certainty any project will ever be given the green light.
The current plan is to build a covered tunnel over the road so it will no longer impact on the site, but environmental groups including the National Trust favoured a longer 2.9km tunnel and other options taking traffic away from the site entirely, all of which have been ruled out as too expensive.
The magazine marked the site 56 out of 100 across world sites, making several comments about the poor management of the monument and the impact of the A303. The article says ‘visual sightlines are disrupted, aesthetic qualities compromised by existing road and adjacent development.’ The area would be improved ‘if something is done to the surrounding landscape.’
The ~Highways Agency~ said a decision on the future of the scheme rested with ministers at the Department for Transport who said they planned to make an announcement ‘early next year,’ following the news that the scheme was not being given a start date as the costs had increased well beyond original estimates.

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Stonehenge slated in US magazine list

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