After years of decline of archaeologists and heritage groups, the UK government has approved plans to build an underground highway near Stonehenge. The project was estimated at £1.7 billion ($2.2 billion). Preparatory work could start in 2024.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper will go ahead with plans to divert the A303 road, which runs through the south of England and passes right by the prehistoric monument, into a two-lane tunnel that would cut traffic of sight. Its old route will become a public pedestrian road and a cycle path.
Several state agencies have warned against the project. The government agency Planning Inspectorate said it could cause ‘permanent and irreversible damage’ and UNESCO threatened to strip the monument of its World Heritage Site status and place it on its danger list if the plan goes ahead. materialized.
As alternatives, UNESCO advised either to lengthen the tunnel, which would improve the landscape by covering more of the new carriageway at greater public cost, or to reroute the A303 completely around Stonehenge. He believes that the current plan for a shorter and cheaper tunnel risks removing some of the surrounding archaeological features of Stonehenge and, by interrupting the landscape, harming the integrity of the site.
“The boundaries of the property capture the attributes which together convey Outstanding Universal Value to Stonehenge and Avebury,” the organization said on its website (“Outstanding Universal Value” is a term used by UNESCO to denote significant cultural or natural that is of common importance to humanity). The statement adds that these sites “are extensive, both measuring approximately 25 square kilometers (10 square miles), and capture the relationship between the monuments as well as their landscape setting.”
In a report justifying his decision, Harper said he considered these concerns, but concluded that “the tunnel’s damage to spatial, visual and parameter relationships is less than substantial and must be weighed against public benefits”.
Historian and documentary presenter Tom Holland, chairman of anti-tunnel lobby group Stonehenge Alliance, commented on Twitter: “At best it would be a farcical decision, but at a time when the country is facing so many of invoices. , such a financial loss, this desecration of a World Heritage Site is the height of folly – an act of vandalism that brings shame to Britain.
Stonehenge is overseen by the charity English Heritage, which supports government plans, as do Historic England and the National Trust. “Tens of thousands of vehicles pass Stonehenge on the A303 every day,” English Heritage said in a public statement. “Heavy traffic and constant road noise compromise our enjoyment and understanding of the monument and the road cuts through the stones of much of the surrounding ancient landscape.”
The tunnel was previously approved in November 2020 by former British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, but a The High Court ruled against the project in 2021.
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