The Stonehenge numbers fallacy: The Heritage Journal writes to Icomos-UK

To
Peter Marsden,
Chair of the International Council on Monuments and Sites UK (Icomos-UK)

Dear Mr Marsden,

We hope you will agree with us that there’s a fundamental fallacy in the British Government’s case for a short tunnel at Stonehenge:.

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Jesse Norman Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport) has just told Parliament:
“A principal aim of the scheme is to remove the roads and heavy traffic, with their associated noise and disturbance from the vicinity of the stones and to reunite Stonehenge with its surrounding monuments in their natural chalk downland setting. This involves removing the road and its traffic completely from within sight of the stones”

Whereas Sir Simon Jenkins, ex National Trust chairman and no longer in thrall to the Government, has just said:
“Most people who enjoy the stones do so from vehicles on the A303. The stones look magnificent from this distance. They have no need of close inspection. They can be appreciated at a glimpse, without need of visitor centres, car parks, coaches and multimillion-pound tunnels. Why should the overwhelming majority of those who enjoy Stonehenge be deprived of this pleasure at vast public expense…. ?

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So, despite accepting UNESCO’s designation of Stonehenge as of outstanding universal value the Government intends to “improve” the experience of it for a mere 1.5 million paying visitors a year by removing the road from sight of the stones while hiding them forever from many millions of travellers. We thank Icomos-UK for its common sense response to the scheme and hope it will continue to show that in this way and others it is fundamentally flawed.

Kind regards,

The Heritage Journal
https://heritageaction.wordpress.com/

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