Representation by Peak District Green Lanes Alliance (Peak District Green Lanes Alliance)
- Date submitted
- 10 January 2019
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The Peak District Green Lanes Alliance is a co-ordinating body for groups and individuals concerned about the problems posed by using off-road vehicles on unsealed and unsurfaced tracks in the countryside. Our main focus is the Peak District but our interests extend to major landscape features throughout the country, such as National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Trails. We regard the Stonehenge World Heritage Site (WHS) as a similar feature requiring protection from recreational use of off-road vehicles.
The main points we will cover in our written representation are:-
1 We acknowledge the significant efforts Highways England has made to adapt the A303 upgrade to encompass community, environmental and heritage considerations.
2 However we agree with the third ICOMOS/UNESCO Advisory Mission that the scheme does not adequately protect the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the WHS and are concerned that Highways England has ignored the Mission’s recommendation that the scheme should not go ahead in its current form. We agree with the Mission that ideally an upgraded A303 should avoid the WHS completely.
3 We do not feel that a suitable surface route can be found either to the north or south. We therefore feel a tunnel is unavoidable.
4 Again ideally such a tunnel should traverse the whole of the WHS. We can see the practical difficulties of extending it at the eastern end under the Avon valley. We do however feel it should be extended at the western end to start before the WHS boundary. We share the Mission’s concern about how intrusive the cutting would be approaching the western portal.
5 We believe Highways England has imposed a limit on the tunnel length because of an arbitrary budget constraint which requires them to make each phase of the total A303/A358 upgrade show a positive payback. This means that any phase which is particularly difficult will end up with a less than optimum solution. In this case the unique circumstances surrounding Stonehenge are being ignored and possible alternative funding sources (such as the lottery) are not being explored.
6 We are concerned that the scheme does not go far enough in supporting the WHS Management Plan in avoiding the detrimental impact of motor vehicles and encouraging exploration of the whole WHS on foot. We therefore feel advantage should be taken of essential changes to the network of Byways Open to All Traffic by extending them to exclude all recreational motor vehicle use within the WHS. Thus: 6.1 Byway 11 should be stopped up at its source rather than creating a cul-de-sac route ending at the A303. 6.2 Byway 12 should be stopped up over its whole length because it passes through so many heritage features. 6.3 We agree with the dropping of the proposal to link these two Byways. 6.4 If left unaltered, both these Byways will encourage vehicular approach to Stonehenge itself and the concomitant parking and unofficial camping. 6.5 We are aware that Wiltshire County Council wanted to impose experimental traffic regulation orders on these two routes but made mistakes in procedure leading to the process being stopped by the High Court. We think this scheme could achieve the same end in a most expedient manner.
7 We support downgrading the existing surface route of the A303 to restricted byway.
8 We do not feel the scheme should be supporting the creation of any new Byways Open to All Traffic, such as BSJA3, whether within the WHS or without.