Once again it has come down to money. Government officials, it has been reported, have reached the decision that burrying the A303 at Stonehenge
under a tunnel is now far too expensive, as a result it is almost definate
the the tunnel option will b scrapped indefinately in favour of a bypass
to the North (the northern route) past Larkhill, leading to the
destruction of areas of outstanding natural beauty and archaeological sites.
Here is the article in full as it appeared in the Western Daily Press
Yesterday:
"NOW PLANS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE BURIED THAN ROAD
BY BARRY LEIGHTON [email protected]
08:00 - 23 July 2007
Long-running moves to bury one of the West's busiest trunk roads
out of sight of Stonehenge look set to collapse amid massively
spiralling costs.Two years ago the project to hide the A303 from the
4,500-year-old monument in a 1.3-mile tunnel was put on ice after
the price rocketed from about £130 million to £510m.
The scheme has since re-emerged as the preferred option and has
been seen by many as vital to preserving the status of Stonehenge
as a World Heritage Site.
After more than 20 years of wrangling a Government decision on the Stonehenge issue is expected later this year. However, it was yesterday reported that the tunnel would be ditched as it was considered by senior government officials to be simply far too expensive.
Instead it would be replaced by much cheaper and previously rejected
scheme to redirect the A303, which passes close to the south of the
stone circle, well to the north.
The cost of the Northern Route was last year put at £283m and would
require the consent of the Ministry of Defence as it would run through
Army land at Larkhill.
Among its most vociferous opponents was the Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds which said it would devastate a wildlife-rich corner of Salisbury Plain.
Salisbury District Council last year attacked the Northern Route because, although it would take the A303 away from the stones, the road would
still be clearly seen from the World Heritage Site
AS such it would not achieve one of the key objectives of the
Stonehenge/A303 Improvement Scheme, to return Britain's
best-loved prehistoric monument to its natural setting.
English Heritage, which manages Stonehenge and proposed the tunnel
option, has spent 20 years and a reported £25m on the project.
A decision to scrap the tunnel would be a massive blow to Sir Neil
Cossons, the body's outgoing chairman who for virtually his
entire tenure had led the campaign for the tunnel.
Speaking at the weekend, he said: "If this road project fails we
shall have to wait many more years before there is another solution.
"The new tunnel, the closure of other roads in the area around
Stonehenge and the visitor centre should have been ready for 2012.
It was timed for the Olympics.
"After all, an image of Stonehenge was used in the video that in 2005
helped us to win the Games."
The tunnel scheme is also linked to the creation of a stunning £100m
visitor centre 1.7 miles away at Countess East, from where people
would use a land train to reach the stones.
It was unclear yesterday how a Northern Route would link up with the
proposed visitor centre. The costs of the tunnel scheme almost
quadrupled after it was discovered the chalk was weaker and
softer than previously thought, and would require greater support
for the roof." (Western Daily Press 23rd July 2007)
copius-freakus-2
