Experts condemn Stonehenge road tunnel plan

ARCHAEOLOGISTS responsible for many of the recent discoveries in the Stonehenge landscape have hit out at plans for a road tunnel past the monument.

The 22 experts, who have carried out research within the World Heritage Site in the past 10 years, warned plans to put the A303 into a tunnel where it passes the stones would destroy important archaeological remains.

It would also damage the integrity of the World Heritage Site, which covers a much larger area than the stone circle, experts led by Professor Mike Parker-Pearson, of University College London, warn in a submission to the consultation on the plans.

The tunnel, part of the £1.6bn upgrade of the A303, aims to restore the tranquil setting of the famous stone circle, by removing sight and sound of the road, and reconnect the World Heritage landscape.

Under initial designs for the scheme, outlined by Highways England in February, a new dual carriageway’s route would closely follow the existing A303, with tunnel entrances within the World Heritage Site. But the experts, who include academics from leading UK universities, said the creation of new sections of dual carriageway and slip roads at each end of the tunnel would set a dangerous precedent by allowing large-scale destructive development within the World Heritage Site.

A spokesman from Highways England said: “The preferred route has been carefully chosen to avoid monuments and barrow groups, and our modified plans also included moving the position of the western entrance to the tunnel to avoid conflicting with the Winter Solstice alignment.”