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Government decision to scrap Stonehenge road welcomed

Dec 6 2007

Today's decision by Transport Minister Tom Harris to scrap the planned dualling of the A303 trunk road through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site [1] has been welcomed by Friends of the Earth.

The environmental campaign group said that the abandonment of the A303 widening at Stonehenge fatally undermines the long term plan for the creation of a "Second Strategic Route" to the South West, via the A303 to link to the M5 at Taunton [2].

The Stonehenge scheme would have included a 2 km tunnel, but more than half of the road widening across the protected site would have been above ground. If it had been built the road would have been the largest ever human construction in a unique archaeological landscape dating back thousands of years. The scheme has effectively been sunk by the high cost of the tunnel.

Friends of the Earth has long opposed the scheme and, as part of the Stonehenge Alliance of environment and archaeology groups, objected at the Public Inquiry in 2004.

Friends of the Earth's South West campaigner Mike Birkin, said:

"This is great news for the future of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. This road would have encouraged more traffic on to our roads and damaged one of the most precious archaeological sites on the planet. Hopefully today's decision will also kill off plans to dual the A303 along its entire length. We must invest in low-carbon, sustainable alternatives to the nation's transport problems. The £1 billion saved should be spent on sustainable transport projects for the South West more suited to a low carbon future, such as an upgrade of the Exeter to Waterloo railway line."

Notes

1. www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/statements/a303

2. See Friends of the Earth's briefing, Stonehenge, the A303 and the South West's "Second Strategic Route":
www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefing_notes/stonehenge_may_070.pdf (PDF†)

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.

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