303 TUNNEL DECISION STATEMENT

English Heritage welcomes the Transport Secretary's decision for a 2.1 km bored tunnel on the A303 adjacent to Stonehenge.

Today's news is an important moment in Stonehenge's 5,000 year history. It means that Stonehenge gets the dignified setting it so justly
deserves, the roads are made safer and the core area of the WHS landscape is reunited.

Placing the A303 in a tunnel has been the Highways Agency's intention since1999. At that time it was proposed that the tunnel would be
constructed using cut and cover techniques. Today's announcement is a huge improvement on that option.

We do recognise there were other bored tunnel length options, but this is a solution that meets the objectives of the Stonehenge World
Heritage Site Management Plan and removes the A303 road from the sight of Stonehenge.

Intensive work will take place between English Heritage, the National Trust, the Highways Agency and local authorities before the publication
of Draft Orders in the Spring to ensure the tunnel's detailed design is of the highest standards.

The road scheme, which also includes building a bypass at Winterbourne Stoke, a new junction at Long Barrow Crossroads and a flyover at
Countess Road, is central to the Stonehenge Project.

10 December 2002