Stonehenge at the risk of losing its WHS status?

The High Court in the UK rejects campaigners’ case against renewed plans to build a road near Stonehenge. The proposed project threatens Stonehenge’s prestigious World Heritage Site (WHS) tag.

Proposed tunnel

In 2014 a plan was proposed to build a road tunnel on the A303 road near Stonehenge. According to the UK’s National Highways Agency, the tunnel was proposed to ease congestion on the traffic-choked A3o3 road and reduce travel time.

The A303 passes by Stonehenge and is one of the main arteries between London, Devon and Cornwall. One of the reasons cited for the periodic traffic on A303 is the visibility of Stonehenge from the road, which causes vehicles to slow down to enjoy the view and click pictures of the monoliths. The proposed tunnel will help solve this issue.

Proposed road tunnel plan. Image credit : National Highways UK

The proposed tunnel plan received the green light in November 2020. The then British transport secretary, Grant Shapps approved a £1.7bn scheme, however, with rising inflation the costs have now £2.5bn.

Legal Battle

Within days of the Shapps’ decision, campaigners including archaeologists, environmental groups and the druids who regard Stonehenge as a sacred site called for a judicial review. Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS) filed a petition in court against the proposed tunnel.

Following this judicial review, the High Court stayed the project in 2021 based on environmental concerns posed by SSWHS’ plea.

However, last year in July the Department for Transport (DfT) again approved the plan to overhaul eight miles of the A303, including building the 2km tunnel. In December, campaigners filed a second bid in the High Court in London to challenge the decision to reapprove the plan.

Earlier in February this year, Justice Holgate dismissed their claim, finding most parts of their case were “unarguable”. In his ruling, Holgate said ministers had “rightly focused on the relevant policies” and that the campaigners’ evidence “provides no basis for undermining that conclusion”.

SSWHS claimed the approved scheme would destroy around seven hectares of the heritage site. According to them, this could lead to being de-listed by UNESCO.

UNESCO’s reaction

At a meeting in Baku, in 2019, UNESCO condemned the proposed tunnel plan and urged the UK government not to allow the construction of the road tunnel. They stated that the proposed tunnel significantly encroaches on the surrounding area of the WHS, most of which unexcavated archaeological landscape.

Further, they threatened to place Stonehenge on the World Heritage in Danger list, which is the first step towards being delisted as a WHS.

However, the project has received a positive reaction from English Heritage, the charity that manages Stonehenge and over 400 other historic properties in England. It is one of the multiple big heritage institutions in favour of the tunnel.

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, said the charity was pleased the court had upheld the Secretary of State’s decision. “We firmly believe that putting much of the busy, noisy and intrusive A303 road into a tunnel past Stonehenge is right for the World Heritage Site,” he said.

Experts’ concerns

Experts have raised grave concerns about the tangible consequences of constructing a tunnel through a World Heritage site.

Professor Mike Parker Pearson, an archaeologist at University College London and a leading authority on Stonehenge, expressed his concerns from an archaeological point of view, “The area which the tunnel will go through was part of a very dense and large settlement dating from the later period in which Stonehenge was built; quite possibly where the builders themselves would have actually lived.”

The excavation of the tunnel will lead to the removal of over half a million artefacts. Archaeologists and heritage experts are worried these will be displaced from their original site without proper documentation. Pearson added, “It’s not only a great loss for us in the present, but it’s misleading for any archaeologists who might dig this stuff up in the future.”

Further, environmentalist groups such as Friends of the Earth are concerned about the significant damage the project will cause to wildlife and their habitats.

In the past members of the Pagan community have also expressed their grievances. The community believes the site is scared and fears the tunnel could descrate the landscape. In his letter to the British government, Archdruid Lois Lloyd wrote, “[The] loss of harmony, energy connections and tranquillity will affect and inhibit peaceful enjoyment of communing in a sacred manner and expressing reverence, respect and honouring of Higher Spirits and ancestors,”