To: The Secretaries of State for Transport, and Culture, Media and Sport to the UK Government

Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site

No further damage should be done to the archaeological landscape of Stonehenge.
Future generations would be appalled at those who decided that road widening should be at the expense of England’s most iconic World Heritage Site.
If A303 widening at Stonehenge is felt to be essential it should be done by means of a deep bored tunnel at least 4.5km long. Anything shorter would cause irreparable damage to this landscape, in breach of the World Heritage Convention.

Why is this important?

The Government proposes to widen the A303 trunk road to the south west. This road crosses the iconic Stonehenge World Heritage Site (WHS), which has been called “the most archaeologically significant land surface in Europe”. The whole site, extending to beyond the horizons around the famous stones themselves, is c. 5.4 km across. All of it makes up a “huge ancient complex” that holds many secrets yet to be discovered.

The proposal is to put the road into a tunnel where it passes the stones, but the tunnel would be at most only 2.9 km long. This would result in at least 1.6 km of above-ground 21st-century road engineering within the WHS, consisting of new dual carriageway descending in massive trenches to the tunnel portals and possibly a new underpass with slip roads on the western WHS boundary.
Archaeology in the construction zones would be destroyed and the A303 would become the largest ever human intervention in an area fashioned and revered by over a hundred generations of our ancestors.

The whole Stonehenge landscape has an outstanding universal value that is of immense significance for all people for all time, and this transcends any consideration of sorting out a 21st century part-time traffic jam.

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International visitors who want to support the campaign, please visit the campaign website here: http://stonehengealliance.org.uk/our-campaign/petition/ where you will find the running total.
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The photograph of Stonehenge in its landscape setting is courtesy of Jon Westra

How it will be delivered

We plan to deliver the petition to the Secretary of State for Transport before a FINAL decision is made about the A303 Stonehenge Expressway.

Links

Campaign Facebook Page Campaign Website

Updates

2016-04-09 14:06:05 +0100

20,000 signatures reached

2016-03-06 12:17:08 +0000

HAVE MINISTERS MADE THEIR MINDS UP BEFORE CONSULTATION?

Highways England are at the "optioneering phase" to identify solutions that "satisfy the scheme requirements; take account of environmental, physical and finanacial constraints; and are worthy of consideration as part of a public consultation" for early 2017. Nevertheless the Roads Minister stated that he is committed to a "1.8 mile tunnel".
Have ministers made their minds up before consultation? Key quotes from last week's Westminster debate on roads to the South West in our latest blog: http://stonehengealliance.org.uk/stonehenge-and-the-a303-westminster-speaks/
Carry on signing and sharing our petition!

2016-02-23 02:48:13 +0000

A drop-in 'information event' in Amesbury was organised by Highways England last Thursday to seek your views. No plans were available at this stage. It was confirmed that all options for upgrading the A303 are being considered. One display panel showed a "Key Benefit" of any scheme being "Conserve and enhance the Stonehenge World Heritage Site". A 2.9km tunnel would fall short of this. It would be very helpful if you could let Highways England know your views in their short survey here especially Question 10. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MF9LSFZ

To view photographs of the eight panels please link here https://www.facebook.com/stonehengealliance/posts/1736942806540418
Thank you!

2016-01-03 14:31:02 +0000

Government are proceeding with scheme design for a twin bore short tunnel for consultation this year. Extract from Highways England's update:
"Subject to the outcome of a consultation on options, the announced scheme includes the construction of a twin-bored tunnel of at least 1.8 miles in length on the A303 as it passes Stonehenge, a bypass for Winterbourne Stoke and junctions with the A358 and the A360. Provided that the necessary statutory approvals are secured and the scheme continues to demonstrate value for public money, we expect to start construction by April 2020."
It will irreparably damage our premier prehistoric landscape. Please share our petition widely whilst there is still a chance of saving our World Heritage Site from the bulldozer. http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/road-projects/a303-amesbury-to-berwick-down/#formBuilderCSSIDRoad_Project_Feedback

2015-07-28 12:59:28 +0100

STONEHENGE LANDSCAPE STILL AT RISK FROM ROAD SCHEME

The new Government's resolve to proceed with the A303 Expressway with a 2.9km tunnel and portals inserted in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site remains undimmed, despite massive cuts to other public services.

Although the Secretary of State, John Whittingdale, states that 2.9km is to be considered as the tunnel's minimum length, there is no increased budget to pay for a longer tunnel.

Please can you recruit friends, family and colleagues to sign our petition? https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-stonehenge-world-heritage-site

You can follow our blog http://stonehengealliance.org.uk/

Our Campaign Twitter is here: https://twitter.com/savestonehenge

If you have time please write to UNESCO and the National Trust. Sample letters here: http://stonehengealliance.org.uk/act-now/

Thanks again for getting behind our campaign.

Best wishes,

Mike Birkin on behalf of Stonehenge Alliance

2014-12-23 08:04:35 +0000

If your address is not in the UK you can sign the identical petition here http://goo.gl/zBGOF7

2014-12-04 23:54:48 +0000

Dear Supporter

PLEASE HELP CARRY US TO 20,000

Hello and a big thank you to Debbie W, who has just become the 10,000th person to sign our Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site petition!

Progress has been amazing since the government’s roads announcement on Monday. But clearly we have a fight on our hands and every extra voice counts. If every one of you can get one friend to sign we’ll hit 20,000 overnight!

You can follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/SaveStonehenge
and on facebook https://www.facebook.com/stonehengealliance

And we have some high level support too… the UK branch of ICOMOS, one of the bodies that looks after World Heritage Sites, has written to the UK government to express its concern over the short tunnel. http://bbc.in/1ykSAdN

Thanks again for your support, please help spread the word about Stonehenge World Heritage Site under threat

Best wishes

Mike Birkin on behalf of Stonehenge Alliance

2014-12-04 23:01:51 +0000

10,000 signatures reached

2014-12-01 19:35:21 +0000

5,000 signatures reached

2014-10-30 09:45:36 +0000

1,000 signatures reached

2014-10-29 17:24:40 +0000

500 signatures reached

2014-10-29 10:33:04 +0000

100 signatures reached

2014-10-29 09:26:41 +0000

50 signatures reached

2014-10-29 08:33:20 +0000

25 signatures reached

2014-10-29 07:42:33 +0000

10 signatures reached

* A portion of the signature total has been collected offline and has not yet been verified by 38 Degrees.