Representation by Lord Kennet
- Date submitted
- 11 December 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
As Lord Kennet, I am privileged to be a long standing supporter of the Stonehenge Alliance, it´s positions and it´s policies regarding the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site.
My family are longstanding residents on a National Trust Property - Lockeridge Dene - which my grandfather presented to the NT upon its inception. Sarsen stones from Lockeridge may have been transported to Stonehenge for incorporation into the monument.
Throughout my long family association with these monuments and with their WHS status, it has been very clear - obvious, even - that minimum-to-no intervention at the sites is in their best interests.
There is a widely held belief that the WHS site is seen as a cash cow to support Historic England, English Heritage and the National Trust in their "stewardship" of the sites. This is against the intentions of the original donors of Stonehenge to the nation, one hundred years ago, and remains contrary to common sense and any understanding or appreciation of amenity value or the "intrinsic" nature of a WHS listing.
The Stonehenge Alliance has consistently denounced and warned against any engineering interventions at the sites - calls which have fallen on self-deafened ears.
Sensible plans to address the issues of traffic management have been rejected before being considered. In particular, the Ministry of Defence stands accused for not permitting MoD land to be considered for a simple northern by-pass of the henge site, outside the WHS zone.
As funding departments, the Department of Transport and the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs must also take their share of the responsibility for permitting this travesty and tragedy to continue to eat at the soul of Stonehenge for so long.
The desecration in December 2018 of the platform at Blick Mead is a shameful proof that even by Highways England´s own perverse standards of conservation and investigation, the agency is unwilling or incapable of observing any known standards, even for this type of "exploratory" engineering, even at a hero site. Scientific consensus exists that the proposed tunnel will permanently and irreversibly alter the water table and other hydrological metrics at the site, so destroying unique artefactsootprints, ancient constructions and other evidence.
A complete halt to the profoundly misguided and dangerous programme under review must be imposed immediately. No further interventions in the site may occur. The damaged Blick Mead must be put in the hands of academic archaeologists, independent of HE and supported by all legitimate interest groups. There must be a clear brief to protect the remains to the best of their ability, and for their reports and recommendations to be accepted fully by HE and others when considering any work at all, including remedial work and management of the existing damage at Blick Mead, in or around the WHS.
An alternative policy and strategy must be presented to allow the present destructive policies to be retired without further incident or damage to the site.
Failure to do so will bring further shame and humiliation on the agencies involved and named above, as well as upon our nation. Failure to act now to protect the most famous and beloved of all World Heritage Sites will demonstrate the hypocrisy, the misplaced profiteering and the contempt for civic societal norms for which the agencies are, regrettably, becoming known.
Lord Kennet San Antonio, Texas - home of the threatened Alamo and San Antonio Missions WHS 12 December 2018