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Stonehenge and its Environs

Highways England Consultation — A303/Stonehenge

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nigelswift N
nigelswift Feb 21, 2017 17:54:18
Replying to jonmor

jonmor wrote:
If you agree with that viewpoint, then it is not unreasonable to ask how much value (or otherwise) this or that has to both us and to future generations. Value can then be compared against the options to see which option (for development) generates the most benefit.
That doesn't work with heritage for under it it might not be worth wrecking the setting of Oswestry Hillfort to build 50 houses but it might be more so to build 250, which is clearly not sensible for the fate of the heritage would depend not on its own merits and value but the size of the proposed development. Salop Council might well want to apply such cost benefit analysis but the country is more civilised than that, surely?

J jonmor
jonmor Feb 21, 2017 18:54:27
Replying to nigelswift

nigelswift wrote:
That doesn't work with heritage....
Some old hands in the industry might perhaps comment that every special interest group says that environmental considerations should not apply to them for some reason or the other. There was a review of this, particularly as it applies to the perceived special leeway given to archaeology, in a review published over a decade ago (I forget the reference now)

But you may be right: The consultation will provide an acid test of that idea (especially if no work on the newer methods of determining value are looked at by interested parties).