Stonehenge campaigners take legal action

Campaigners in opposition to a proposed road tunnel near Stonehenge have secured a hearing to scrutinise the projects planning approval.

 

The £1.7 billion improvements to the A303 were pushed through last year by the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, against the recommendations of independent planning officials. The Planning Inspectorate recommended that Mr Shapps withhold consent for the tunnel plans, stating that the project would cause "permanent, irreversible harm" to the Unesco World Heritage site.

 

However, the Department for Transport stated that the "development, together with the other benefits identified, outweigh any harm".

 

Now, Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS), which raised £50,000 for a legal challenge, has been granted a High Court hearing to decide whether the approval should face judicial review.

 

SSWHS is part of the Stonehenge Alliance, which is a coalition of campaigners who have argued that a two-mile tunnel running through the ancient landscape will damage an area of archaeological and cultural significance.

 

The President of the alliance, historian Tom Holland, told a national newspaper: "To inflict this act of vandalism on this landscape seems unbelievable to me, it seems unconscionable. It's right and proper that we should consider not just the damage we are doing to this primordial landscape, but the legacy our generation will leave for future generations."

 

Mr Holland added: "We are committed to fighting this every step of the way, in every way we can. At the moment the battlefield is a legal one. Hopefully, we will prevail."

 

If a judge decides to begin a judicial review of the approval, and if it is found to have been unlawful, it could force a major rethink of the project.

 

A solicitor for SSWHS, Rowan Smith, said: "There is clearly a huge level of public outrage against what is in effect an existential threat to one of the most treasured symbols of British history. This  decision means that our client's case and the Government's decision-making process will now be fully scrutinised by the courts."

 

Whitestone Solicitors

Rochdale