Representation by Simon Banton
- Date submitted
- 8 December 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Project violates Article 4 and Article 6.3 of the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention
The OUV of the WHS cannot be taken in parts. Damage in one area cannot be offset by improvements elsewhere.
Creation of a new 1km+ stretch of expressway from the western portal to the A360 junction goes against the advice of ICOMOS.
The project will not solve the problem of traffic on the A303, as it will attract new traffic from the existing M4/5 corridor route.
No plans are in place indicating what will happen to the tunnel and road at the end of its projected life.
The removal of the view of Stonehenge from the casual gaze of passers-by erects a cordon sanitaire around the monument and gives a monopoly of access to English Heritage.
Untruths about improved access to the reunited landscape have been promulgated by the project team and its major stakeholders. There will not be access to the entire length of the Avenue, nor will there be unfettered access to the southern half of the WHS, as a result of this scheme.
Claims of no damage to Blick Mead as a result of the project are shown to be false by the damage caused already through borehole drilling in the wrong place. Further damage is inevitable.
The a priori removal of option F10 prevented the consultation process from allowing the public to express a view as to whether a tunnel or a surface route was more desirable.
The actual problem of traffic delays is self-solving, through the eventual introduction of autonomous vehicles in the next 20-30 years, and the argument about visual intrusion into the landscape fails to understand that Stonehenge has been alongside a "major highway" of one kind or another for its entire 5000 year existence. Its relationship to the paths, roads and people is fundamental to the OUV of the WHS.