No resolution is in sight to the conflict between the planned A303 improvement and the setting of the Stonehenge world heritage site, after an alliance of conservation groups condemned all five road options put forward by the ~Highways Agency~ in its scheme review.
Nine bodies, including the National Trust, the British Archaeological Trust and ~Transport 2000~ have unanimously rejected four ‘new’ options – all of which were considered, but discarded, in the public inquiry – as ‘lacking a long-term vision that respects the significance of Stonehenge as a world heritage site’.
The National Trust’s Wessex region director, Brendan McCarthy, said: ‘We don’t like any of the options the Government is now promoting. They all have flaws. And, of course, they all involve our land.’ The trust owns 810 hectares around the stones. Conservation groups agree there could be grounds for a legal challenge should the Government decide to approve it – potentially over the way the inspector discounted the case for a longer 2.9km tunnel.
The alliance wants the HA to examine yet more options, including tunnels that avoid disrupting the world heritage site, and above-ground solutions further north and south. One possibility, said McCarthy, was a route leaving the existing A303 further east at the new Solstice junction, and running as far north as Larkhill.
Smaller-scale interim improvements, such as closing the A344/A303 junction, should also be explored.
The groups were already opposed to the published 2.1km tunnel scheme recommended by the inspector and still on the table, despite ministers’ anxiety over the £510M cost. But Wiltshire environmental services director, George Batten, said 50 route options had been discussed at the inquiry, and it was time to decide which would best enhance the world heritage site, while also providing a high-quality second route into the Southwest. ‘We really have to concentrate on what’s on the table now rather than think another route will magically appear,’ he said.
Wiltshire’s cabinet is expected next week to endorse the published tunnel option and, as a less costly second choice, a cut-and-cover tunnel on the same line.
The HA consultation, which also features a northern and southern option and a partial solution, closes on 24 April, and a government decision is expected in the summer.