As the year comes to an end we’ve been trying to find a quote that sums up what’s happening at Stonehenge. We think we’ve found it, and it came early in the year on 17th January 2017 from Simon Banton (in reply to an article by Mike Pitts). It’s power lies in the fact that a year later nothing has changed. Let’s hope there’s still a possibility, with continuing pressure from the public, archaeologists and UNESCO that it will.

“The “at least 2.9km” mantra has turned out to be “2.9km”, so the hope that perhaps sense might prevail and the long tunnel of 4.5km would be given serious consideration has been dashed. When it’s spelled out that the difference is a mere £600M (or 1/8 the cost of refurbishing Parliament) then you have to wonder why the 4.5km option was ruled out in the initial sift……. All this destruction of landscape within the World Heritage Site to save £600M of ersatz “money” that can be generated by quantitative easing on a whim when politicians feel like it.

Come clean, please ….. you and the other short tunnel supporters are in the camp of “it’s this tunnel or nothing, and we’d rather take this tunnel at almost any cost to the wider WHS than lose the chance of removing the A303 from the landscape” aren’t you? That’s truly sad. If the heritage that we hold in trust for the future can’t even count on being defended by the organisations and people charged with looking after and explaining it, what hope is there?

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