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Stonehenge — Avebury WHS Management Plan

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tjj T
tjj Jan 23, 2015 19:58:22
Replying to tjj

tjj wrote:
There is a public consultation meeting with Wiltshire Co-ordination Unit at Swindon Central Library on Friday 23 January 2015 ...
Consultation ends 1st March 2015
This took place at Swindon Central Library this afternoon with Sarah Simmonds, Avebury WHS Officer and Beth Thomas, Stonehenge WHS Coordinator on hand to answer questions.
I picked up a copy of the 2014 Megalith Newsletter which is worth getting hold of. Something I had missed last year is that there is now an Interpretation Board with William Stukeley’s field notes and drawings over by Avebury’s Longstones.
Also available was an A4 sized information sheet with a summary of Management Plan Priorities for the period 2015 – 2021, which are:

1. Protect buried archaeology from ploughing and enhance the setting of sites and monuments by maintaining and extending permanent wildlife-rich grassland and managing woodland and scrub.
2. Protect monuments from damage from burrowing animals.
3. Reduce the dominance and negative impact of roads and traffic and ensure any improvements to the A303 support this.*
4. Improve the interpretation and enhance the visitor experience of the wider landscape.
5. Ensure any development is consistent with the protection and where appropriate enhancement of the monuments and their settings and wider WHS landscape and its setting.
6. Spread the economic benefits related to the WHS to the community and wider county.
7. Encourage local community engagement with the WHS.
8. Continue to encourage sustainable archaeological research and education to improve and communicate our understanding of the WHS.

The information sheet also contained eight Management Plan Aims which I will not reproduce here as they used deliberate over-arching language which would be difficult to argue with or challenge.

*I asked a few questions about roads, specifically the A303 and possible tunnel. Before any commitment is made to a tunnel (or its length) there will an ICOMOS Historic Impact Assessment process to evaluate impacts on the ‘Outstanding Universal Value’ of the WHS.

I also asked about the roads around Avebury specifically the fast A4 past the Overton Barrows, the Sanctuary and Silbury. One option is to narrow the road along this stretch which may have the psychological of making drivers slow down. The other road being looked at it is the road from Avebury to the A4 alongside West Kennet Avenue – the possibility of closing this to traffic and restricting its use to pedestrians and cyclists is being considered (subject to consultation with Avebury residents).

T thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 23, 2015 20:05:54
Replying to tjj

Thanks for the update June, all very interesting stuff. Do they have timescales for any decisions?

D drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jan 23, 2015 22:06:35
Replying to tjj

Thanks for the update :-) Interesting times.

N nigelswift
nigelswift Jan 24, 2015 09:49:29
Replying to tjj

"3. Reduce the dominance and negative impact of roads and traffic and ensure any improvements to the A303 support this.
4. Improve the interpretation and enhance the visitor experience of the wider landscape."

Both of those look to have been carefully designed to provide ticks if they succeed in achieving a short tunnel.

"5. Ensure any development is consistent with the protection and where appropriate enhancement of the monuments and their settings and wider WHS landscape and its setting."

... and that looks like a further attempt to provide scope for another tick, but IMO it can only be earned by spinning the reality. Affecting or destroying features is unavoidable if you're going to build massive entrance trenches inside the WHS so you're going to have to tell the public it's worth it as it'll enhance the rest. I don't think that's either true or within their remit but they're being forced to do it to help the Tories win the election.