Representation by Barry Garwood
- Date submitted
- 10 January 2019
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
“Couldn't find the freeway, had to take a backstreet called the M5.”
US Tourist explaining why they had arrived late for dinner in the Waldorf Salad episode of the classic comedy series Fawlty Towers (BBC 1979).
For many years the A303 east of Amesbury has been a bottle-neck for traffic, as the road reduces to a single carriageway past Stonehenge and through the village of Winterbourne Stoke.
Winterbourne Stoke urgently needs a bypass, but the proposal to tunnel through the Chalk aquifer under Stonehenge, with tunnel portals within the World Heritage Site, is cause for considerable concern.
Stonehenge, as we know it today, was built as a twentieth century tourist attraction by English Heritage and predecessor organisations, from a pile of old stones found lying in a field beside the A303.
However, the original stone circle dates back over four thousand years, with the wider area showing signs of continuous habitation, uniquely in this country, for as at least as long again before that.
There is considerable risk of damage to archaeology, both directly through the construction and indirectly through potential changes to the hydrogeology of the Chalk aquifer on which the Stonehenge site sits.
There is also the loss of fine views of Stonehenge from the A303, and potential loss of interconnectivity in the local Public Rights of Way network to consider.
The main advantages would be decreased journey times and increased revenues to the heritage industry and those companies awarded construction contracts. There would also be less traffic at the Stonehenge site.
The consultation documents are weighted towards concepts such as opening a 'mile-a-minute' South-West Freeway, which might suit business travellers and visitors of the kind portrayed in the classic comedy Fawlty Towers, yet are vague on concepts such as preservation of archaeology and cultural heritage, with disadvantages largely glossed over.
Our understanding of the wider historical context of the site is still in infancy and it is probable that there is more to be discovered in future. The proposals seem more likely to destroy culture and archaeology than preserve it.
The tunnel portals and approach roads will seriously impede on the wider setting of Stonehenge and along with changes to the Chalk aquifer, which includes Phosphatic Chalk at Stonehenge Bottom, may lead to loss, or damage of as yet undiscovered archaeology.
Alternative routes could be considered, including a bypass to the north of the World Heritage Site along similar lines to the proposed high-vehicle route via Larkhill, connecting with the Winterbourne Stoke northern bypass, perhaps combined with remodelling of the Countess and Longbarrow roundabouts to improve traffic flow along the existing A303.
Stonehenge and its wider setting can reasonably be regarded as the cradle of English civilisation. It is too important to be treated as an afterthought to a road improvement scheme.
Barry Garwood