Longest running heritage farce continues

[Gareth Hughes]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/7130666.stm

No A303 tunnel at Stonehenge (after decades of everyone agreeing it's needed) :x

 

[Nemesis]

Well I think all agree something needs to be done, but the details of how seem to be the problem - disagreements between various bodies etc.

Oh well.

 

[biffvernon]

I guess it was all those details that added up to a half billion pound cost.

 

[Flyfisher]

Our family holidays tended to be in the west country and my father would always leave early for the seemingly epic drive (from Hertfordshire!) in our red Ford Anglia, timing things to arrive at Stonehenge for a picnic breakfast by about 8am.

Access was completely open back then and my sister and I would run off our breakfast amongst the stones. I don't remember there ever being anyone else there, just an empty and quite bleak landscape - but that could be selective memory. Of course, there were far fewer cars on the roads 40 years ago.

I thought the road tunnel idea was quite a good way of improving/preserving the isolation and 'mystery' of the site, but the projected cost did seem to spiral out of control. Still, the stones have been standing for around 4000 years so I guess they can wait a bit longer.

 

[Nemesis]

There's a statement on the Soc of Antiquaries website:

http://www.sal.org.uk/

and some background:

http://www.sal.org.uk/policyandconsultations/stonehengeroadsscheme/

CBA site has a major amount of background

http://www.britarch.ac.uk/stonehenge/index.html


and is now updated with this statement:

2007
6 December The Council for British Archaeology welcomes today's announcement by the Government that plans for 2.1km tunnel through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site have been withdrawn.The details announced by Tom Harris, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, are at http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/statements/a303.
CBA have consistently opposed the proposed 'short tunnel' scheme for tunnelling and cutting through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site landscape. We urged the Government to use the review of options for road improvements at Stonehenge to seek a longer term, more sustainable solution. Today's announcement means there is now real scope to look seriously at alternatives.
CBA Director Dr Mike Heyworth said,

"We want to support all interested parties to work positively now with the National Trust and English Heritage in the knowledge that a tunnelled solution is not an option. We need to act decisively to reach agreement on achievable improvements. The priorities must be to improve facilities for people to enjoy this extraordinary prehistoric monument in its landscape, and to achieve some small-scale road improvements in the short term (such as the closure of the junction of the A344 / A303) while a truly environmentally sustainable solution for traffic management is developed for the World Heritage Site."

 

[Penners]

Access was completely open back then

I can also remember wandering on my own around the stones without any let or hindrance. The place was incredibly atmospheric.

I bet you can never visit them nowadays without crowds of others being there.

 

[Penners]

If they're not going to dig a tunnel, then perhaps....?

 

[Cloudscape]

:shock:

 

[Flyfisher]

Noooooo . . . don't give them ideas!