The battle for the future of Stonehenge
Who’d have an iconic structure in their planning back yard……
The current proposal, to widen and sink the road into a tunnel running for almost two miles, mostly about 600 metres south of the stones, was announced in 2014, although the basic idea goes right back to the 1990s. The main difficulty is the cost: the government has allocated £1.7bn, which is not enough for a passage sufficiently long to avoid the world heritage site. That means tunnel portals would be bored, and dual carriageways built, through an ancient landscape unique in the world. This protected area is home to traces of a mesolithic settlement long predating Stonehenge, the ancient “Avenue” linking the monument and the river Avon, and hundreds of bronze-age burial mounds, or barrows.
But the long planning process is entering its endgame. Later this year, a panel of inspectors will meet in Wiltshire and, over a period of six months, examine the evidence for and against the scheme. They will have three months to make their recommendation to the transport secretary, Chris Grayling. He will have a further three months to decide whether or not to accept it. Construction could start in 2021.