The decision this month by the government to grant planning permission for a lengthy tunnel to take a re-routed A303 underground as it passes Stonehenge marks another staging post in a long-running row over how best to preserve the heritage of this historic site – and the project is still not guaranteed to go ahead, as it can still be legally challenged.
Highways England conceived the £1.7 billion plan as a means of increasing the capacity of the A303 while also making the site more unspoiled and peaceful; instead of the noisy road that runs close to the famous stone circle now, the traffic would be out of sight and earshot. In the meantime, the current road will become a bridleway.
The idea has had some significant backing from major conservation and heritage bodies. English Heritage, which looks after the Stonehenge UNESCO World Heritage Site, was joined by the National Trust and Historic England supporting the plans, with the tunnel running not under the stone circle as some claimed, but further from it than the existing road.
However, others were less impressed. The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), plus many environmentalists and archaeologists, were opposed to the plan and the decision by then transport secretary Grant Shapps to approve the scheme in 2020 was overturned in a court case, because he had not fully considered alternatives.
However, in 2021 Mr Shapp issued a “statement of matters” that invited the whole project to be reconsidered.
While that meant tunnelling firms lined up for contracts and those providing supporting equipment for the project were left in a state of uncertainty, it also meant there was every chance that it would be approved at the next time of asking.
However, now this has taken place, it does not mean the matter is a done deal, as there is a six-week window for another legal challenge to be launched. MP for Salisbury John Glen said: “I’m pretty confident there will be another legal challenge because if you are impeccably opposed to it you will find a reason, and that is what happened last year.”
However, added the MP, who supports the scheme, this would be the final possible hurdle for the project.
It is not hard to see from whom a challenge could come. Local campaign group the Stonehenge Alliance (which has been backed by CPRE) condemned the decision by current transport secretary Mark Harper, claiming the tunnels would be “gouged through the unique landscape”.
The organisation also cited the disapproval of UNESCO, in contrast with the main English conservation bodies, and the possibility this could see Stonehenge placed in its ‘in danger’ list of World Heritage sites.
If that were to occur it would not be an idle response, given the way Liverpool’s Maritime Mercantile City lost its World Heritage status after UNESCO took a dim view of the way the docklands were being redeveloped.
So far there has not been any announcement by the Stonehenge Alliance of plans of a new challenge. Few, however, would be surprised if there is one. But if that fails, the battle will be over and long-awaited tunnel excavation work can then get underway at last.
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