Representation by Dr C.A. Shell
- Date submitted
- 11 January 2019
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Colin A. Shell MA M.Met PhD FSA Senior Fellow, McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. Member of the Highways England (HE) A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down Project Scientific Committee. Representative of the Avebury and Stonehenge Archaeological and Historical Research Group (ASAHRG) on the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site (SA WHS) Partnership Panel and the WHS Stonehenge and Avebury Steering Committees.
This is a personal submission. It has been informed however by discussions from time to time with members of ASAHRG. I have a long standing interest in the Neolithic and Bronze Age landscape aspects of the Stonehenge and Avebury WHS and the monument dispositions within and around it, particularly in advancing the application of remote sensing techniques such as lidar survey in their study. The following are some of the reasons why the DCO application for the Stonehenge section of the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down scheme should be rejected. The direct physical impact of the proposed cutting and associated features extending westward from the western tunnel portal on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the WHS is unacceptable in terms both of impact on the immediate setting of the major monuments close to it and the landscape inter-connectivity of these monuments. The monuments chart the history of the World Heritage Site from the beginning of the Neolithic to the end of the Early Bronze Age that encompasses the chronological range defining the WHS OUV. It include specifically a cluster of neolithic long barrows, unique in this country, which have associated burials that extend in time into the the Early Bronze Age. There is increasing evidence too of related contemporary occupation of the area directly traversed by the cutting. The importance of these monuments and their setting has not been fully accepted in the Heritage Impact Assessment, and relevant advice given at the HE Scientific Committee not taken up. It is a fallacious argument in terms of the Outstanding Universal Value of the WHS than a perceived improvement from the scheme in the setting of monuments in the centre of the World Heritage Site can offset a major irreversible negative impact of the proposed deep cutting from the western tunnel portal to the boundary of the WHS and beyond, on the monuments and landscape setting in this area. In its assessment for its preferred route Highways England failed to adequately consider a southern on-surface route for the A303, in terms int. al. of its much reduced economic cost to the Exchequer, marginal impact on the WHS and its setting, and the potential benefits to local traffic needs. It is to be expected if the DCO application is approved that Stonehenge and Avebury will be placed on the WHS sites at risk list, and if construction commences its World Heritage Site status will be withdrawn.