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All project updates

14 July 2023

The Secretary of State has granted development consent for this application.

For further information please refer to the following decision documentation:

Late Representations and other correspondence received during the redetermination period, which have been taken into account by the Secretary of State in re-determining the application, will be published as soon as possible.

14 July 2023

Decision made by the Secretary of State

14 October 2022

The responses to the Secretary of State’s consultation letter of 14 September 2022 (PDF, 116 KB) have been published

14 September 2022

The Secretary of State has issued a letter inviting Interested Parties (PDF, 116KB) to provide comments on the Applicant’s response (PDF, 371KB) to his letter of 26 August 2022

The Deadline for responses is 28 September 2022

14 September 2022

The Applicant's response (PDF, 370KB) to the Secretary of State's letter of 26 August has been published. A response to the Secretary of State's consultation of 13 July 2022 from Avebury Parish Council, (PDF, 311KB) has also been published

26 August 2022

The Secretary of State acknowledges the responses to his letter of 13 July 2022, and has now issued a letter inviting the Applicant (PDF, 229 KB) to provide comments on the Final Report on the joint World Heritage Centre / ICOMOS / ICCROM Advisory Mission to Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites (c.373bis), 19-21 April 2022 (PDF, 3 MB) by the deadline of 23:59 on 9 September 2022.

Following this, the Secretary of State will invite Interested Parties to provide comments on the Applicant’s response and the World Heritage Centre / ICOMOS / ICCROM report. The deadline for any such response will be confirmed here in due course.

25 August 2022

The responses to the Secretary of State’s consultation letter of 13 July 2022 (PDF, 229 KB) have been published.

13 July 2022

The Secretary of State acknowledges the responses to the questions in his letter of 20 June 2022 and has now issued a letter inviting Interested Parties (PDF, 229KB) to provide comments on the information provided by the Applicant. The deadline for any response to this matter only is 3 August 2022.

23 June 2022

Following a request from National Highways, the Secretary of State has agreed to extend the deadline for National Highways to respond to their most recent consultation letter from Monday 27 June 2022 to Monday 11 July 2022.

20 June 2022

The Secretary of State acknowledges the responses to his consultation letter of 29 April 2022 and has now issued a letter requesting further comments from the Applicant (PDF, 118 KB).

The deadline for any response is Monday 27 June 2022.

17 June 2022

The responses to the Secretary of State’s consultation letter of 29 April 2022 (PDF, 183 KB) have been published.

29 April 2022

The Secretary of State acknowledges the responses to his consultation letter of 24 February 2022 and has now issued a letter (PDF, 183 KB)  inviting Interested Parties to provide comments on the Applicant’s update to section 4 (PDF, 742 KB) of their response to the Statement of Matters (PDF, 472 KB) on carbon.

The deadline for any response to this matter only is 10 June 2022.

26 April 2022

24 February 2022

The Applicant has issued a notice on 24 February 2022 (PDF, 130KB). The Secretary notes the Applicant is treating all of the information it has provided in response to the Secretary of State’s (SoS) Statement of Matters dated 30 November 2021 as if it were 'further information' as defined by the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017. Responses to the notice will be sent to the Secretary of State in due course.

Please note that the SoS’s letter (PDF, 188KB) dated 23 February 2022 has been updated.

23 February 2022

The Applicant has made a second submission following its original response to the Secretary of State’s (SoS) Statement of Matters of 30 November 2021 (PDF, 162 KB). This information has been published alongside the Applicant’s original response.

The SoS has now issued a letter (PDF, 188KB) inviting Interested Parties to provide comments on the SoS’s Statement of Matters of 30 November 2021 (PDF, 162 KB), the Applicant’s response to the Statement of Matters, and all other representations. The SoS also invites the Applicant to update its response to the Statement of Matters on carbon.

The deadline for any response is Monday 4 April 2022.

26 January 2022

The Applicant has provided a response to the Statement of Matters. In their response, the Applicant undertakes to provide in due course further relevant information regarding the environment for this scheme.  The Secretary of State will invite Interested Parties to submit representations on the Applicant’s response and all other matters in this Statement of Matters once this further information has been received from the Applicant.

Responses received so far from Interested Parties have been published.

24 January 2022

The Applicant has provided a response to the Statement of Matters (PDF, 162KB). In their response, the Applicant undertakes to provide in due course further relevant information regarding the environment for this scheme.  The Secretary of State will invite Interested Parties to submit representations on the Applicant’s response and all other matters in this Statement of Matters once this further information has been received from the Applicant.

30 November 2021

Following the High Court’s Order dated 30 July 2021 quashing the decision to grant development consent for the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down, the Secretary of State has issued his Statement of Matters (PDF, 162KB) and invites the Applicant to make further representations for the purposes of the re-determination of the application by 23:59 on 11 January 2022.

Following this, the Secretary of State will invite Interested Parties to submit further representations on the Applicant’s response and on all other matters in this Statement of Matters. The deadline for any such response will be confirmed here in due course.

10 August 2021

Following an Order of the High Court made on 30 July 2021 the decision of the Secretary of State dated 12 November 2020 to grant the application by Highways England for development consent for the proposed A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down has been quashed. The Secretary of State must now re-determine that application.

Further details on the re-determination process will be published here in due course.

30 March 2021

The Secretary of State has made a Correction Order (PDF, 127 KB) affecting the A303 (Amesbury to Berwick Down) Development Consent Order 2020.

A Correction Notice (PDF, 324 KB) was issued on 30 March 2021. The corrections to the Order are applied following a request from the Applicant dated 21 December 2020 (PDF, 415 KB).

12 November 2020

The Secretary of State for Transport has today granted development consent for the project. For further information please refer to the following documents:

Notification of Decision Letter (PDF, 123 KB)
Secretary of State Decision Letter (PDF, 737 KB)
Development Consent Order as made by the Secretary of State (PDF, 1 MB)
Examining Authority’s Recommendation Report (PDF, 3 MB)
Examining Authority’s Recommendation Report Appendices (PDF, 3 MB)
Post Examination Correspondence Log (PDF, 111 MB)
Regulation 31 Notice (PDF, 63 KB)
Habitats Regulations Assessment (PDF, 929 KB)

1 October 2020

In the Secretary of State for Transport’s letter of 20 August 2020, parties were invited to provide final comments on the representations received in response to his consultation letter of 16 July 2020 and the other information in relation to the Environmental Statement produced by the Applicant.

The responses have been published.

16 July 2020

The Secretary of State for Transport has set a new deadline for the decision for this application which is 13 November 2020.

The Secretary of State for Transport has asked for comments and further information in relation to the recent archaeological find within the World Heritage Site by 13 August 2020.

29 April 2020

A Statement has been laid in Parliament setting a new deadline of 17 July 2020 to enable further work to be carried out before the application is determined by the Secretary of State.

2 January 2020

Recommendations given by the Planning Inspectorate

3 October 2019

The examination closed at 23:59 on Wednesday 2nd October 2019.

26 September 2019

The submissions to Deadline 9 have now been published. The Examination Library will be updated as soon as practicable.

23 September 2019

The submissions to Deadline 8a have now been published. The Examination Library will be updated as soon as practicable.

9 September 2019

The submissions to Deadline 8 have now been published. The Examination Library will be updated as soon as practicable.

4 September 2019

3 September 2019

12 August 2019

The submissions to Deadline 7 have now been published. The Examination Library will be updated as soon as practicable

8 August 2019

The Examining Authority has issued a Procedural Decision to vary the Examination Timetable.

29 July 2019

The submissions to Deadline 6 have now been published. The Examination Library will be updated as soon as practicable.

23 July 2019

The submissions to Deadline 5 have now been published.

The Examination Library has been updated.

9 July 2019

The submissions to Deadline 4a have now been published.

The Examination Library has been updated.

5 July 2019

1 July 2019

The agenda for Compulsory Acquisition Hearing 1 has now been published.

25 June 2019

The submissions to Deadline 4 have now been published.

19 June 2019

The Examining Authority has issued a Procedural Decision to vary the Examination Timetable.

3 June 2019

31 May 2019

29 May 2019

The agendas for Issue Specific Hearing 1, 2 and 3 have now been published.

14 May 2019

The submissions to Deadline 2a have now been published. The Examination Library will be updated as soon as practicable.

7 May 2019

The submissions to Deadline 2 have now been published. The Examination Library will be updated as soon as practicable.

A letter giving notice of Examination events in June, July and August 2019 has been issued to Interested Parties.

11 April 2019

The Examination Timetable (Rule 8 letter) has been sent to Interested Parties.

Procedural decision following Preliminary Meeting.

2 April 2019

Preliminary Meeting takes place

2 April 2019

Examination begins

21 March 2019

The Planning Inspectorate has received the following information from Highways England in respect of two bespoke bus services it has decided to provide for Interested Parties to travel to and from the Preliminary Meeting on 2 April 2019. For further details please contact Highways England at A303Stonehenge@highwaysengland.co.uk.

Transport to the Preliminary Hearing on the 2 April 2019:

Amesbury  – Salisbury - Salisbury Racecourse*
08:50 - from Amesbury (Central car park (directly off ‘The Centre’ road). Salisbury Rd, Amesbury, Salisbury SP4 7JE)
09:15 - Salisbury Bus Station
09:20 - Salisbury Train Station
09.40 - Arrive at Salisbury Racecourse

Winterbourne Stoke – Wilton – Salisbury Racecourse*
09:00 -  Winterbourne Stoke (Layby off the A303, next to Manor Barn (red telephone box). 1 High Street, SP3 4SZ
09:15 - Wilton, (Layby off the A36 (Salisbury Road), immediately after Wilton House Garden Centre, before the roundabout. Wilton, Salisbury SP2 0AQ
09.30 - Arrive at Salisbury Racecourse

*Return journeys will be provided at the lunch break and at the end of the meeting.

4 March 2019

The notification of Preliminary Meeting (Rule 6 letter) has been sent.

The letter also includes the draft Examination Timetable and Initial Assessment of Principal Issues.

25 January 2019

Relevant representations published on the website

11 January 2019

Registration of interested parties closes

8 December 2018

Registration of interested parties begins

16 November 2018

The application has been accepted for examination

26 October 2018

This application was received by the Planning Inspectorate on 19 October 2018.

The Applicant has agreed that all application documents can be published as soon as practicable upon submission to help everyone become familiar with the detail of what is being proposed in this application.

This provision is solely for the purpose of allowing more time to all those who wish to become familiar with the detail of what is being proposed ahead of the Relevant Representation stage, without lengthening the overall time required for the application process. There will be no opportunity at this stage to make comments on the application. However, if the application is accepted anyone interested in the application will be able to register and express their views during the Relevant Representation stage and the subsequent Examination.

19 October 2018

Application received by the Planning Inspectorate