An Inquiry has been announced into proposed Stopping Up Orders for the A344, from its dangerous junction with the A303 at Stonehenge Bottom, and for part of the B3086 so that it might be diverted slightly to the west at Airman’s Corner where it is intended to construct a new roundabout to improve road safety and facilitate access to the new visitor centre in the fields close by.
The Inquiry will begin on 22 June this year and will run alongside an Inquiry into proposed Traffic Regulation Orders for restricting vehicular traffic on byways within the World Heritage Site. The Stonehenge Alliance, of which RESCUE is a member-organisation,will present a case for objection to the proposed Road Stopping Up Orders, on the grounds that they are not to be undertaken independently of implementation of the new visitor centre scheme. It is with some reluctance that the decision to object was taken, since closure of the A344, which runs alongside the henge, was promised by the Government at designation of the World Heritage Site in 1986 and is widely agreed to be desirable.
The Alliance considers that the A344 beside Stonehenge should be closed to general road traffic in any event and that it should not be linked to a visitor centre scheme that would seriously damage the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site.
Kate Fielden, Stonehenge Alliance
