- My thanks to Paul Timlett for posting this on Facebook....
- We need your vote AGAINST this resolution!! Go to www.ersvotes.com/nt17 you will need your membership card handy.....
- "ARE YOU A NATIONAL TRUST MEMBER? IF SO PLEASE READ ON
The National Trust AGM takes place on 21 October 2017. A handful of members have tabled a resolution to de-rail the construction of the A303 Stonehenge Tunnel. They have secured 50 supporters which means the resolution must be debated and voted upon at the AGM.
The Board of the National Trust recommends that members vote against this resolution.
This group of members has consistently misused data to suggest that traffic is reducing in the area. They even admit that the statistics are spurious.
They claim that congestion on the A303 leading to rat-running through local communities only occurs during holidays and weekends. This is patently untrue as anyone who actually lives here will tell you.See more....click here and "Like" our Facebook Page many thanks
They have argued that certain areas of archaeology will be damaged as a result of the works, something the Trust's own archaeologists have denied. They want the Government to either a) find another £600m to extend the tunnel (the Trust says a longer tunnel will damage archaeology outside the World Heritage Site), or b) explore other options. We have spent 30 years exploring other options, all of which have been rejected.
This is the first time in the 25 years I have lived here that there is consensus around a solution - the tunnel as proposed by Government. The consensus includes English Heritage, Historic England, National Trust, Wiltshire Council, leading archaeologists and the majority of local residents. If this resolution succeeds there will never be a solution to the current situation. It will result in the continuing blight of the World Heritage Site by traffic on the existing A303 and condemn local communities to generations of misery and threat to our lives as ever increasing volumes of traffic uses the villages to avoid the daily congestion on the A303. It will cause economic damage to the immediate area as well as further to the South West.
This handful of people and their celebrity chums (who don't even know where our villages are yet still claim that the traffic is a minor inconvenience) risk de-railing everything we have worked for over decades through their use of misinformation and sensationalism. We had hope that our lives would be made better but these misguided people seem determined to remove that hope.
So if you are a member of National Trust please back the Board and vote AGAINST this resolution. You must do this by Friday 13 October either using the voting forms you have been sent or online at www.ersvotes.com/nt17
Please help us and the World Heritage Site. Thanks for reading this".
Friday 29 September 2017
National Trust Members read this.....
Friday 22 September 2017
Poet's Corner
This little poem caught my eye in The Salisbury Journal this week: http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/ and my thanks are due to one D Barnett of Laverstock who I trust will not mind me telling the world:
SOMEBODY knocked on the door of my Barrow;
We're building a tunnel he said.
Collect your grave goods, we'll help you move
Must show respect for the dead.
There's a real nice spot over the way, quite close to the
stones of the Henge
Getting a little crowded now,
but we'll find you a good place to stay,
And there your poor bones can rest....
Well until they decide...a motorways best!!
Tuesday 12 September 2017
The preferred route for the A303 at Stonehenge
And so it's confirmed!
The announcement today by the Government, confirming the preferred route for the A303 just south of Stonehenge and the dual carriageway aligning the present A303, means progress and at last the powers that be are listening!
The arrangement will not suit everyone of course, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time and we do need to get a balance between the living and the dead!
The tunnel will be constructed UNDER the A303 AT Stonehenge..... please note, we say "under the A303" and not as some campaigning groups would have it.....our friends at:
http://stonehengealliance.org.uk/alliance-shocked-by-highways-englands-indifference-to-unescos-advice/ who say the tunnel will be "under the monument"....all they are doing is scaremongering and muddying the waters....!!! But then, we also have it in writing from them that "the traffic on the A303 has not increased significantly since 2004".......I rest my case!
During these adjustments, Highways England have addressed the problem raised at the consultations regarding the alignment of headlights approaching the western portal, which would have affected the view of the sunset at the Winter Solstice - they just moved the portal.....Simples! Therefore, at this stage, nothing is set in stone or spade!
The announcement today by the Government, confirming the preferred route for the A303 just south of Stonehenge and the dual carriageway aligning the present A303, means progress and at last the powers that be are listening!
The tunnel will be constructed UNDER the A303 AT Stonehenge..... please note, we say "under the A303" and not as some campaigning groups would have it.....our friends at:
http://stonehengealliance.org.uk/alliance-shocked-by-highways-englands-indifference-to-unescos-advice/ who say the tunnel will be "under the monument"....all they are doing is scaremongering and muddying the waters....!!! But then, we also have it in writing from them that "the traffic on the A303 has not increased significantly since 2004".......I rest my case!
Highways England along with the National Trust: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ have been working tirelessly to iron out a lot of the points raised in the recent consultations which took place during January and February this year. This is when we all had our chance to "have our say". So! if you live local to Stonehenge and didn't attend one of the 10 consultations.....that was an opportunity missed. You can read the progress here:
http://roads.highways.gov.uk/projects/a303-stonehenge-amesbury-and-berwick-down/
This also shows the time line from 1989 - 2021
This also shows the time line from 1989 - 2021
During these adjustments, Highways England have addressed the problem raised at the consultations regarding the alignment of headlights approaching the western portal, which would have affected the view of the sunset at the Winter Solstice - they just moved the portal.....Simples! Therefore, at this stage, nothing is set in stone or spade!
This announcement is what local people who live and work close to the A303, have been waiting years to hear and naturally, there is some scepticism as to whether it will in fact happen. Winterbourne Stoke will get their By Pass to the north and this will also be preferred by the people of Berwick St.James to the south.
The people who live and work in Shrewton, suffer day in day out with rat run traffic, as drivers divert out of the queue on the over capacitated A303 so local people must surely see “light at the end of the Tunnel” albeit having to wait until at least 2025 with Highways England and The National Trust working with us to this end!!
Traffic in Shrewton has increased immeasurably over the past months and when I have elderly ladies telling me they feel safer taking their car to the surgery, rather than walk the 100 or so yards…... something needs fixed.
Here are some facts.....As a Community Speed Watch Volunteer, we regularly register 52 mph
within the 30 mph village confines. Also, in a three week period in June
this year i.e. NOT during the school holidays, our S.I.D: (Speed Indicator Device) showed 47,000 vehicles
west bound and 41,000 east bound. The SID during that period, also
registered a vehicle leaving the village at 82 mph still within the
30 limit!!!! The 3.5 tonne weight limit in our High Street is regularly contravened, Shrewton has narrow roads and very few pavements and as a
result of the traffic, cob cottages in the High Street could be
structurally damaged. It's extremely scary for people living on
London Road to venture down into the village for schools and doctors. These are just some of the reasons this news today is progress and is just another step in a long process, but I'm told by those involved for a much longer time than I.....decades in some cases, that this "feels different" and that it may just happen!
The people who live and work in Shrewton, suffer day in day out with rat run traffic, as drivers divert out of the queue on the over capacitated A303 so local people must surely see “light at the end of the Tunnel” albeit having to wait until at least 2025 with Highways England and The National Trust working with us to this end!!
Traffic in Shrewton has increased immeasurably over the past months and when I have elderly ladies telling me they feel safer taking their car to the surgery, rather than walk the 100 or so yards…... something needs fixed.
Here are some facts.....As a Community Speed Watch Volunteer, we regularly register 52 mph
within the 30 mph village confines. Also, in a three week period in June
this year i.e. NOT during the school holidays, our S.I.D: (Speed Indicator Device) showed 47,000 vehicles
west bound and 41,000 east bound. The SID during that period, also
registered a vehicle leaving the village at 82 mph still within the
30 limit!!!! The 3.5 tonne weight limit in our High Street is regularly contravened, Shrewton has narrow roads and very few pavements and as a
result of the traffic, cob cottages in the High Street could be
structurally damaged. It's extremely scary for people living on
London Road to venture down into the village for schools and doctors. These are just some of the reasons this news today is progress and is just another step in a long process, but I'm told by those involved for a much longer time than I.....decades in some cases, that this "feels different" and that it may just happen!
I give the final word to our Salisbury MP John Glen, who as usual, provides a balanced view on today's announcement and the way forward:
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