The Stonehenge Alliance took legal action against the Stonehenge highway tunnel planned by highways england – and won.
The British government has been campaigning for several years to tunnel under the Stonehenge Stone Age monument. It argues that there will be less noise, less congestion and a better quality of life for residents in the surrounding villages. However, the opponents of the mega project are not impressed by this. They formed the Stonehenge Alliance and took legal action against the construction project – and were proven right.
Many stories and myths surround the Neolithic monument Stonehenge, which attracts thousands of visitors every year. Many of them arrive via the A303 highway, which passes within sight and, above all, within earshot of the monument. There is no question of mystical, romantic seclusion there.
Highways England, the state-owned company that looks after England’s freeways, wanted to do something about this. Its aim is to improve the A303, which connects England’s southwest with the southeast. At Stonehenge, the single-lane section is to be widened to two lanes. But that’s not all: a tunnel is planned right next to the Neolithic monument, which would take traffic out of sight of the landmark.
However, the planned reconstruction is not just for cosmetic reasons. According to highways england, it currently takes an hour or more – depending on the time of day – to pass Stonehenge on the highway. The expansion aims to reduce this time to eight minutes.
Two tunnels more than three kilometers long – one for each direction of travel – will run 200 meters underground next to Stonehenge, reconnecting the landscape on the surface for visitors, horse riders, cyclists and, of course, flora and fauna. Several new junctions will also prevent drivers from clogging up the surrounding villages to avoid traffic jams. Highways England planned to start the first phase of the mega project in 2023.
However, this will not happen for the time being. This is because a group of NGOs and individuals have come together under the name The Stonehenge Alliance to protect the World Heritage Site. The Stonehenge Alliance was formed back in 2001 to prevent the expansion of the highway in the World Heritage Site. In the end, this was actually put on hold – whether this result can be attributed solely to the Alliance remains unclear.
Today, the Stonehenge Alliance is speaking out against highways england’s mega-project with its Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site campaign. Their argument: the expansion and conversion would severely damage the landscape, which is considered one of the most archaeologically significant land areas in Europe. Among other things, the campaign criticizes the fact that highways england has not considered any alternatives, that previously undiscovered archaeological finds could be damaged and that local animals would be permanently disturbed by the construction work. Furthermore, too few clarifications had been made regarding flood risk, groundwater protection, geology and land contamination, as the subsoil is a unique limestone rock whose reaction to the planned measures is not certain.
Stonehenge ruling as a wake-up call for the government
In addition, the planned construction work violates the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and ignores UNESCO’s recommendations on the plans. This could lead to Stonehenge ending up on the red list of World Heritage in Danger. According to UNESCO, inscription on the red list is linked to specific requirements for remedying or averting the threat, a program for remedial measures and increased monitoring through annual reports on the state of conservation.
The Stonehenge Alliance’s objections have borne fruit. At the end of July, the High Court ruled that the British Transport Minister had acted unlawfully. He had not considered less harmful alternatives. For these reasons, the judge overturned the consent order issued by the British Transport Minister. According to the British news site BBC, the project will now be put on hold until the government has decided on its next steps.
John Adams, head of the Stonehenge Alliance, expressed his delight at the ruling in a press release: “Now that we are facing a climate emergency, it is all the more important that this ruling is a wake-up call for the government. It should re-examine its roads program and take action to reduce road traffic and remove the need to build new and wider roads that threaten the environment as well as our cultural heritage.”
That Stonehenge forms a large part of the UK’s cultural heritage is clear. Not only is it one of Britain’s most famous landmarks, it is also a masterpiece of engineering. It is located in England, between Bournemouth and Bristol, and is part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site. The structure was built over a period of several hundred years – even before the invention of the wheel or before people started working with metal. Construction began as early as 3,000 BC, with the first of several stages.
The first monument – the first stage – consisted mainly of earthworks and was used for cremation burials. It was not until around 2,500 to 2,000 BC that the typical stones were added in further stages. Stonehenge as we know it today was created from huge sarsen stones weighing several tons and smaller bluestones. However, this required enormous efforts – moving this mass (and without using wheels!) would have required the manpower of hundreds of workers at the time. Not to mention the planning and organization. In total, the construction of Stonehenge took over 1,000 years.
So what was the fun for? There are several theories and myths surrounding the Neolithic monument, but no one can say for sure what the exact purpose behind it was. This is despite the fact that researchers have been studying it for decades. But Stonehenge is so old that there is no longer any collective memory that can recall its original purpose. There are no exact records that have survived the last 4,500 years – although there are of course some theories. These include, for example, that Stonehenge was a place for ceremonies, a sacrificial site or an observatory. The latter refers to the alignment of the STEINs, which are arranged according to the solstice and equinox.
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