This came from a member of the BritArch email list - may be of interest:
The plan looks pretty much of a muchness.
With the WHS designation not having much in the way of teeth the Management Team seem more to be a Steering Party.
I would propose that the Government goes one step further and designate an area encompassing Avebury AND Stonehenge within a National Park context.
I admit that NP status is on the whole granted for the areas natural beauty but I cannot see why such a designation could not be awarded to an area of
cultural heritage.
Perhaps making a NP on heritage grounds may be innapropriate with regard to the congruency of management within other NPs.
So could there be a possibility of a designation such as of a 'National Heritage Park' (NHP)?
This NHP could be managed by The County and District Councils under the umbrella of EH with of course the cooperation and support of private landowners.
Furthermore in the same vain as the management of individual NPs there would be full-time NHP staff that manage the park on a daily basis.
Perhaps the 'new' visitor centre for Stonehenge could also encompass a NHP Visitor Centre housing management and administration offices. A base for field wardens who 'police' the park as happens with NPs and even perhaps a 'field laboratory' housing an element of EH's Centre for Archaeology.
Perhaps you could move the whole of CfE to the NHP which would make it far more centralised, closer to Swindon and far more accessible.
