(TAN): The UK government has cleared the road for a controversial road tunnel under Stonehenge, as campaigners vowed to continue the battle to oppose it, media reports said.
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, overruled the recommendation of planning inspectors and approved a development consent order that will allow the nearby A303 to be turned into a dual-carriageway tunnel under the ancient site.
Green campaigners and archaeologists are unhappy with the decision.
The GBP 1.7 billion (USD 2.24 billion) road scheme, aimed at tackling traffic bottlenecks on a major route to south-west England, has divided opinion. Historic England and the National Trust argue that diverting the road underground would enhance the site.
The inspectors’ report, which reportedly recommended withholding consent, was delivered in January but not made public until now. The inspectors had acknowledged potential “substantial harm” to the cultural heritage, landscape and visual impact around Stonehenge, according to media reports.
English Heritage welcomed the decision as a “landmark day for Stonehenge”. Its chief executive, Kate Mavor, was quoted as saying by the Guardian, “Placing the noisy and intrusive A303 within a tunnel will reunite Stonehenge with the surrounding prehistoric landscape and help future generations to better understand and appreciate this wonder of the world.”
Highways England said it would build an eight-mile stretch of dual carriageway, including the two-mile tunnel under the UNESCO World Heritage Site, about 50 metres further away from the stones than the existing A303 route.
It said the works would avoid important archaeological sites and not intrude on winter solstice sunset views.
Derek Parody, Highways England’s project director for the scheme, said it would “conserve and enhance” the site, and that road builders were working closely with English Heritage, National Trust, Historic England and the independent A303 scientific committee.
However, according to reports, at least one member of the Highways England’s committee for the project has warned that half a million artefacts could be lost in building the tunnel, whose portals are within the overall heritage site.
Campaigners have six weeks to seek a judicial review of the decision in the high court.
Tom Holland, the president of the Stonehenge Alliance, which launched a petition that has attracted 125,000 signatures to block the scheme, has said to the media that they will continue to oppose it because according to them “this is a calamitous decision for millennia”.
According to Prof David Jacques, who heads the Blick Mead archaeological project, said the decision was an international scandal.
Experts at Blick Mead have made finds that help to tell the story of how ancient humans lived at the Stonehenge site since the ice age. Finds have included perfectly preserved hoofprints of wild cattle, known as aurochs, a mile and a half from the stone circle.
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Jacques said hugely important material would be lost. “It’s a head-bangingly stupid decision. It will have consequences not just for the UK but for the whole of the world. It’s not just about Stonehenge, it’s about understanding how prehistoric people lived. This is an international scandal. People should be hanging their heads in shame,” he was quoted as saying by the media.
Mark Bush, a lawyer who has advised opponents of the scheme believes that the decision places the UK in substantial breach of its obligations under an international treaty, the World Heritage Convention.
“This is an extraordinary step to take. The decision is inevitably going to be the subject of a judicial review,” Bush was quoted as saying by the media.
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