It's Time for Action - apparently......

So this lot are at it again....telling the voting public what they should do, as if we don't have a mind of our own.....well maybe that's a mute point where their followers are concerned and they need to be led by the nose.....here's what they're saying......   

" It's time to take action! Tell your MP/ parliamentary candidates, that YOU WILL ONLY VOTE FOR THEM IF THEY STOP WASTING £3bn++ ON THE STONEHENGE ROAD SCHEME (and £bns on other big damaging road schemes which are making things worse). They should commit to spending on climate friendly transport instead. WHAT TO SAY? 

 https://stonehengealliance.org.uk/act-now/write-to-your-mp/"

Where they've calculated £3bn (if true) means they say the cost has doubled in just over 2 years....is down to them slowing the whole process up using money from around the world from people who don't even know where Stonehenge is to be found or the World Heritage Site for that matter.

When will someone other than STAG take them on, right now Stonehenge Alliance, seem to have the platform to themselves....we had a flurry of interest from the archaeologist's back in December last, see here: https://staga303.blogspot.com/2023/12/at-last-support.html but now they appear to have gone quiet...this is what they said to encourage more support back then..."archaeologists themselves have been overwhelmingly absent from the discourse. While a number of public figures have shared their views on the project, many of the individual archaeologists and heritage specialists who are best-informed on the subject are unable to comment due to factors which include their professional obligations. Meanwhile, many major organisations representing UK archaeology have distanced themselves from the heart of this politicised and polarised debate.   Into the vacuum has stepped the Stonehenge Alliance, whose increasingly divisive and populist rhetoric directly risks the public understanding of archaeology in the UK for many years to come. Rather than being presented with diverse, informed perspectives, the tone of the matter has been steered, almost single-handedly, by this campaign group and its backers.   The role of archaeological intervention in mitigating impact on heritage has been consistently distorted and misrepresented by the Stonehenge Alliance campaign in spite of persistent requests by archaeologists to tone down their rhetoric."   Hello!...where are you now?

More hyperbole on their Facebook page where they talk about campaigning for 3 generations....I work this out to be at least 66 years...Stonehenge Alliance.....your campaign is not that old - on research I see your group were constituded in 2001 and my calcs say that's just 22 years!!!  

Then we have to come back around to the main subject of traffic and the A303 causing rat runs through local villages....here is our take on this on their F/b page: 

"Do any of the present 9 who have 'liked' this post, actually live anywhere near the problem? I assume NOT!! The A303 at Stonehenge needs to be fixed by what ever means....it's not fit for purpose causing huge rat runs through local villages on roads as narrow as 6 meters wide with no pavements or street lighting. As for increasing the rail network....an you lot seem to have costed this out?? How many homes/villages would have to be compulsory purchased to achieve this...presumably not in your costings!!!"

See this comment : " our infrastructure and roads need investment also. This stretch is dangerous, overburdened by traffic it was never designed for, and as a result causes misery and enhanced emissions for both users of the road and the villages who are used to avoid the traffic. The project should have been started in 2019, the inflationary increase in costs is directly attributed to this farce of an organisation who have forced delay.

I'll be happy to see Stonehenge return to it's grassy landscape, without standstill traffic parked next to it, whilst also benefiting from a road that can handle the volume of traffic required to use it.

This country needs to progress it's transport links, it can't stay how it is." and further discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/search/posts?q=stonehenge%20alliance&filters=eyJyZWNlbnRfcG9zdHM6MCI6IntcIm5hbWVcIjpcInJlY2VudF9wb3N0c1wiLFwiYXJnc1wiOlwiXCJ9In0%3D

My thanks for permission to allow to this comment from SHA's Facebook page:Isn't it about time some people started getting annoyed about the vexacious stuff like this that Stonehenge Alliance persist in attempting to ram down our throats. You've now finally got prominent archaeologists up in arms about the litany of falsehoods perpetuated by this organisation which is nothing but a quango. The current MP, and the electorate he represents should be allowed to make their own minds up, and not be swayed by these kind of threats. Take note: the Stonehenge WHS didn't come into existence until 1986, when the trunk road that passes East/West across the area had been in existence for 8 decades and more. All alternative plans for this section of the A303 have been comprehensively examined for more than 30 years, and what is proposed is perhaps imperfect, but this £3 billion figure (if correct-which I doubt) would be considerably less if Stonehenge Alliance had been willing to enter meaningful discussions with Government Agencies, but chose not because they stated "we have NO common ground".

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A360 Road Closure for the Stonehenge Area

Have requested that we get this information out to as many people/groups as possible and that means around the world which is why I've posted it here! 

This week, is the first week of the temporary closure of the A360 southbound from Longbarrow roundabout to its junction with The Avenue from April till July.   We thought that whether as a business or tourist traveller, you'd like to have a copy of what was sent to the area local to the A360 and this closure, in case you find it useful when planning your onward journey in the Stonehenge area and on to Salisbury etc.,  We know that this will have an impact on local communities, so we wanted to reach out with a reminder of sources of information that you might find useful and so a copy of the map showing the diversion route is here!....

The reason behind this closure, which is approximately a 4 mile section of the main route from Devizes to Salisbury, will enable Scottish and Southern Electricity Network (SSEN) to lay off carriageway underground cabling to power the infrastructure sites needed during the construction of the Amesbury to Berwick Down (Stonehenge) A303 Scheme.   Closure for up to 4 months was considered preferable to partial closure with traffic controls which could have taken almost a year with significant traffic congestion.

Throughout the project, you can contact the team by phone or email. You can also sign up for email updates via the website.  

 We have already updated lots more FAQs onto the website, so this is the best place to go to check. We'll continue to update this throughout the project.

Email: info@a360temporaryclosure.co.uk
Tel: 03301 755 675
Website: a360temporaryclosure.co.uk

 

SSWHS looking for yet more money....eye watering amounts too!!!

This "press release" is the same old hyperbole we've come to expect from this shower...so nothing new there but take a look at the money they need, to raise an appeal!!

Stonehenge Alliance Press Release

Judgement threatens Stonehenge World Heritage Site For Immediate Release: 

Monday 19 February, 2024

Today Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS) 

[1] learnt that its judicial review of the Government’s decision to approve a highly damaging, £2.5bn road scheme through Stonehenge World Heritage Site, for a second time [2], had been unsuccessful. Mr Justice Holgate in handing down his judgement today dismissed the application [3]. SSWHS have said that they intend to appeal the decision. 

The judgement comes after a 3 day hearing in the High Court in December [4]. UNESCO [5], five planning inspectors [6] and over 236,000 people [7] were all opposed to National Highways’ highly damaging plans. Save Stonehenge WHS’s legal action had been the only thing stopping the giant earth movers from entering this 5,000-year-old landscape. 

John Adams, chair of the Stonehenge Alliance [8] and one of the 3 directors of SSWHS, said: 

“In the face of Government indifference to the harm this road will cause the World Heritage Site, we had no choice but to bring this legal action. While this judgement is a huge blow and exposes the site to National Highway’s state sponsored vandalism, we will continue the fight. In the dying days of this Conservative Government, which has inflicted so much damage on the country, we cannot let it destroy our heritage as well.” 

Tom Holland, historian and president of the Stonehenge Alliance, said: 

“This is a devastating loss, not just for everyone who has campaigned against the Government’s pig-headed plans for the Stonehenge landscape, but for Britain, for the world, and for subsequent generations.” 

SSWHS successfully raised over £80,000 to bring this action. SSWHS will now have to raise a further £15,000 in order to apply for permission to appeal at the Court of Appeal. If a hearing is granted, a further £40,000 could be required 

- ENDS -

Notes to editors:

[1] Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site is a limited company set up by three individuals closely associated with the Stonehenge Alliance to specifically challenge the original Government decision on 12 November 2020 to approve National Highways’ damaging scheme. SSWHS applied for a judicial review of the Government’s second approval of the scheme on 14 July, 2023 (six days before the Somerset and Frome by-election). 

[2] The first judicial review was held 23-25 June 2021, with the judgement being handed down by Mr Justice Holgate on 30 July 2021, quashing the Development Consent Order. 

[3] Mr Justice Holgate’s judgement While he dismissed SSWHS’s application, one of the grounds (The Secretary of State’s approach in relation to the cumulative effect of greenhouse gas emissions) is stayed subject to the outcome of Andrew Boswell’s hearing in the Appeal Court (Norfolk A47). However, SSWHS still need to apply for permission to appeal now and cannot wait for the judgement on Andrew Boswell’s case. 

[4] The three day hearing was held on 12-14 December at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. SSWHS was represented by Leigh Day and barristers David Wolfe KC (Matrix), Victoria Hutton and Stephanie David (39 Essex). It is argued that the grant of development consent was unlawful on the following grounds: ● Given recent developments and key new evidence, it was procedurally unfair for the Secretary of State not to subject the re-determination to a full public re-examination ● It was irrational for the Secretary of State to give no weight to the risk that the scheme would result in Stonehenge having its World Heritage Status removed ● The Secretary of State failed to take certain obviously material considerations into account, including by failing to consider diverting the road around the Stonehenge site, despite such an alternative having a far lower impact in heritage terms ● The Secretary of State failed to properly assess the scheme’s climate change impact, owing to: ● applying roads policy which pre-dated the Net Zero target ● treating the draft new roads policy as immaterial ● ignoring the new national net zero strategy ● assessing emissions from this scheme alone, without factoring in the emission from the whole A303/A358 corridor upgrade in the south west peninsular 

[5] See UNESCO World Heritage Committee decision from its September 2023 committee meeting in Riyadh. 

[6] The Examination Report, dated 2 January, 2020 recommended that the application be refused. It was published on 12 November, 2020, when the Secretary of State made his first decision to approve the scheme. 

[7] The Stonehenge Alliance has two petitions, one for residents in the UK (38 Degrees) and one for people outside the UK (Change.org). The combined total stands at over 236,000 with signatures from at least 147 countries worldwide. 

[8] The Stonehenge Alliance supporter-organisations are: Ancient Sacred Landscape Network; Campaign to Protect Rural England; Friends of the Earth; Rescue, the British Archaeological Trust; and Transport Action Network.

  [9] The Crowd Justice page has a new interim target of £100,000. This is to raise the additional funds needed to make an application for permission to appeal (at the Court of Appeal). If a hearing is granted, the Crowd Justice target is likely to need to rise to around £140,000