Presentation to Planning Inspectorate

https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/…/a303…/…

So Dave and I made two presentations at the National Infrastructure Open Floor Hearing last evening - me for STAG and Dave for Shrewton Parish Council. The panel of inspectors were 5 including
Madam Chair Wendy McKay, all of whom kept the expected "poker faces" not allowing opinion either way to show!!
This is what I said:
"Good evening Madam Chair, gentlemen of the panel,
My name is Janice Hassett and I am the Founder of Stonehenge Traffic Action Group – STAG for short.
The campaign was set up in 2013 to fix the Stonehenge section of the A303 which is now over capacity by 84%. This increase has caused traffic to Rat Run through local villages as drivers follow sat navs to avoid the continued queues – and who can blame them….I wouldn’t want to sit in that queue for sometimes upwards of 1 and a half hours over 7 miles.
I presented a petition to Parliament in July 2014 because arguably, our village of Shrewton which lies to the west just outside the World Heritage Site, and 2 miles from the monument, suffers most from this Rat Run traffic. Our Speed Watch team regularly register upwards of 40 mph. During Easter, a Speed Indicator Device (smiley face) was installed in both directions on London Road from 9th April - 24th April. It registered 78 mph within the 30 mph confines of the village at 22.25 hrs on the 15th April. The speed device is situated at just one of the four entries to our village and the figures make interesting reading….in just 15 days it told us that 67,030 vehicles used the London Road entry point and that equates to 4403 per day average, on just one of our roads!!! All of the traffic has to use either our High Street or Tanners Lane neither of which are suitable for this continued traffic. Cob cottages are suffering as a result and there is a paucity of pavements in the village. We have elderly, mothers with children, dog walkers, cyclists and horse riders all trying to go about their daily lives and having to avoid nose to tail traffic, aggressiveness, poor air quality and litter thrown from vehicles.
Madam Chair, may I point out that the majority of the people objecting to this project, don’t live in our village and very often live 80 plus miles from the problem….some even live in other countries or even other continents. Here are some of my own facts for the naysayers:
Firstly: The tunnel - will be some 400 meters south of the monument and IS NOT GOING UNDER THE MONUMENT! as has been suggested.
Secondly: The tunnel roof will be some 22 meters from ground surface - that's the height of two normal sized 2 story houses built on top of one another.
Thirdly: Yes during construction, there will very likely be some disturbance to archaeology at the portals east and west but the tunnel will be 50 meters underground....As I have said many times - I'm not aware that we have ever buried our dead that deep!!!
Whilst we appreciate fixing the A303 around Stonehenge will create disruption for us all, and in fact will probably unearth further archaeology, would this be a bad thing, since there is undiscovered archaeology all over the UK. Life must evolve and finding new artifacts may well be to the good. I’m certain that archaeologists from Highways England, work closely with National Trust archaeologists and Heritage England, have come together to find common ground and the changes will be carried out appropriately and in a sympathetic manner, opening up the route to assist the economy of the West country, whilst returning the land to nature and wild life and….giving us back our village. Putting the A303 into a tunnel will achieve all of this and there is no reason why there cannot be a balance between the living and the dead!"

Anyone who is still saying...."we don't want a tunnel", well we are where we are and if this is what's on the table etc.....The Inspectorate have 5 months left with further Hearings in the pipeline, to decide the way forward and the result will be with us October 31st when the process then proceeds to Chris Grayling MP for Transport and he will take a further 3 months to give us his decision.
STAG: working for the people of this village!

National Audit Office update?

I do wonder on reading this article from the NAO if they have: 

1) Updated their information from that of 2007 both on the finances and the technical evolution of constructional detail?

2)  Have they indeed taken into account the improvement to the World Heritage Site that by removing the A303 from sight of the monument for all to enjoy therefore improving tourism and restoring surrounding villages to a more tranquil life.

and 3) Upgrading the A303 past Stonehenge, will open up the economy to the West Country providing jobs and tourism, which will in turn help the maintenance costs they talk about - 2016 prices of the said road over 60 years.

The negativity of the report in parts, does not appear to take all this into account and do we therefore have to hope that the Chancellor has something extra in his piggy bank or Chris Grayling MP https://www.gov.uk/government/people/chris-grayling Secretary of State for Transport has a bit tucked under the mattress when the time comes to pay up!!!

Improving the A303 report.pdf

on Monday | 20 | May 2019

HC 2104 | 2017-19

Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General

Improving the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down

The full report can be accessed via the link at the top of this email

The Amesbury and Berwick Down project – which involves building a tunnel beneath the Stonehenge World Heritage Site – is at an early stage but there are risks and uncertainty around it being delivered on time and achieving the benefits government hopes it will bring, according to today’s report by the National Audit Office.

The project forms part of the A303 and A358 road corridor which links the South East and South West of England. The Department for Transport (the Department) aims to upgrade the entire A303/A358 to dual carriageway over the 14 years to 2029 through eight individual projects and allow mile a minute journey speeds along the corridor.

The Amesbury and Berwick Down project involves building a tunnel of 3.3km beneath the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. The Department and Highways England expect the tunnel to reduce congestion, support economic growth and improve the setting of the World Heritage Site. It is forecast to cost between £1.5 billion and £2.4 billion, subject to funding approval from HM Treasury and the outcome of commercial negotiations with contractors, with a likely cost of around £1.9 billion (including VAT), and to open to traffic by December 2026.

The project is only estimated to deliver £1.15 in benefits for every £1 spent, in part due to the high cost of building a tunnel. 73% of total benefits are cultural heritage benefits from removing much of the surface road from the World Heritage Site. However, these benefits are based on asking the public how much they would pay to have the road removed from the World Heritage Site and as such are inherently uncertain.¹

Highways England believes there are significant additional benefits if all eight projects, covering the entire road corridor, are completed and that this will maximise its return on investment on the Amesbury to Berwick Down project. The Department intends to approve each project on its own business case and has committed to start two other projects alongside the Amesbury to Berwick Down project by March 2020. However, it considers the remaining five projects to be low to poor value for money. Highways England may therefore struggle to justify future investment if they are assessed on an individual basis. If it does not upgrade the whole corridor, it will not be able to help unlock the full growth potential in the South West.

The Amesbury to Berwick Down project has been delayed because of decisions about how it will be funded. It was initially going to be publicly financed, but in October 2016 HM Treasury instructed the Department to use private finance, delaying the planned start of construction from March 2020 to December 2021. In October 2018, the Chancellor of the Exchequer cancelled future private finance deals, which included the Amesbury to Berwick Down project. At February 2019, Highways England had spent £53 million on the project. HM Treasury has granted it a further £21.5 million of funding for pre-construction works. The government says it remains committed to the project, but it is not clear how the project will be funded. 

There are risks that Highways England and the Department will need to manage to ensure the project has a realistic chance of delivering value to taxpayers. Highways England is still working to an open date of December 2026 despite delays to the project, resulting in a very tight construction timetable. There are also geological and archaeological risks.² While Highways England is working to lessen these risks, it also needs to make sure it can support the project throughout its life; the operation, maintenance and renewal costs are expected to be £524 million (2016 prices) over 60 years.

Previous attempts to construct a tunnel have been cancelled due to escalating costs and disagreements between stakeholders. Highways England has managed to gain agreement in principle from key stakeholders such as the National Trust and Historic England but other bodies, including the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, have raised concerns.

The NAO recommends that Highways England and the Department keep in view the open to traffic date of December 2026 to ensure it remains realistic. They should also engage effectively with other government departments and stakeholders to ensure all the expected benefits of the project are delivered.

Amyas Morse, the head of the NAO, said today:

“The tunnel at Stonehenge is currently only just value for money by the Department’s own business case. Based on experience, project costs tend to grow rather than fall, at least in the early years. It will take a very special effort by the Department to protect public value up to completion.”

- ENDS    - 

Key facts

£1.5 to £2.4bn estimated cost range (2016 prices) to build Amesbury to Berwick Down project (including a tunnel under Stonehenge)

£524m estimated maintenance costs (2016 prices) of Amesbury to Berwick Down project over 60 years

3.3km  current length of proposed tunnel under Stonehenge

73%	the cultural heritage benefits as a percentage of total monetised project benefits
1.15:1	latest benefit-cost ratio for Amesbury to Berwick Down project
December 2026	estimated date for the Amesbury to Berwick down project to be open to traffic
8	number of projects needed to complete the A303/A358 road corridor works
2029	intended completion date for all eight projects along the A303/A358 road corridor

Notes for Editors

1.       Highways England estimated the value of heritage benefits by asking respondents in a survey how much they would be willing to pay to remove the road from the World Heritage Site. While it followed HM Treasury guidance in arriving at this estimate, these benefits are uncertain because they are based on a hypothetical situation and are difficult to measure. The Department questioned whether people might have responded with a higher value than they would have done in a real-life decision-making scenario and advised decision makers to treat them cautiously.

2.       Highways England has undertaken archaeological surveys to avoid disturbing archaeological sites. However, there remains a risk that unidentified sites may be discovered during construction, which may cause delays and increase costs. In 2007, the government cancelled the planned tunnel project at Stonehenge because of unforeseen difficulties in the construction work. These included the presence of phosphatic chalk, which can be difficult to drill through and dispose of, which increased expected costs. Highways England has undertaken preliminary ground investigations, but it remains possible that there are further phosphatic chalk deposits or unstable cavities, which are unlikely to be identified before construction begins. See paragraph 3.11

3.       Press notices and reports are available from the date of publication on the. Hard copies can be obtained by using the relevant links on our website.

4.       The National Audit Office scrutinises public spending for Parliament and is independent of government. The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), Sir Amyas Morse KCB, is an Officer of the House of Commons and leads the NAO, which employs some 785 people. The C&AG certifies the accounts of all government departments and many other public sector bodies. He has statutory authority to examine and report to Parliament on whether departments and the bodies they fund have used their resources efficiently, effectively, and with economy. Our studies evaluate the value for money of public spending, nationally and locally. Our recommendations and reports on good practice help government improve public services. Our work led to audited savings of £741 million in 2017.

Press Notice 29/19

All enquiries to the NAO press office:

will.pollard@nao.org.uk

020 7798 7348 / 07940 311 694

pressoffice@nao.org.uk / 020 7798 7400

 

Myth or Mythlead - Blick Mead and other archaeology

I've said in other posts that there are certainly those who would like to "derail the project" to fix the A303 past Stonehenge and we read a lot on-line and on other web sites from those who spout about the seriousness of unearthing or disturbing undisturbed archaeology and yes, we should be concerned about this.....but! we need to get the detail into perspective!
On the written representations on Deadline 2 of the Infrastructure Planning Inspectorate process, relating to the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down (Stonehenge ) Scheme, a significant number relate to Blick Mead, and what is being described as the disastrous consequences of going ahead with the Scheme citing effects on the water table, permanent damage to what is described as, e.g. 'the most important Mesolithic site in the country' etc.  This clutch of representations appear to emanate from a body of archaeologists who collectively call themselves the Consortium of Stonehenge Experts, and also seem to have attracted to themselves other individuals purporting to be 'experts'.  Quite why this motley crew believe themselves to be the definitive authority on Blick Mead, (as well as other aspects relating to the Stonehenge World Heritage Site is open to conjecture) yet they present themselves as such; however the subliminal message they are presenting is that nothing should be done, i.e. abandon the Scheme. 
However, as the phrase “all that glisters is not gold” suggests, one can easily be misled, so it is with a degree of relief that a real gem sits among the written representations, that being the veritable epistle from Mike Pitts FSA.   This is an astoundingly good, reasoned and erudite 14 pager and Mike speaks a lot of sense with regard to the truth about Blick Mead, putting everything into perspective and cutting through the hyperbole.
You are encouraged to read it, and draw your own conclusions.....it can be found here by putting Mike Pitts into the search bar:
https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-west/a303-stonehenge/?ipcsection=docs   and a link to Mike's web site:

https://mikepitts.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/what-did-the-world-heritage-site-mean-to-people-who-built-stonehenge-nothing/

Here are some of my own facts for the naysayers: 
Firstly: The tunnel - IS NOT GOING UNDER THE MONUMENT! as has been suggested by certain anti doing anything groups!
Secondly: The Tunnel will be some 400 meters south of the monument and the roof of the tunnel will be some 22 meters from ground surface - that's the height of two normal sized 2 story houses built on top of one another
Thirdly:  Yes during construction, there will very likely be some disturbance to archaeology at the portals east and west but the tunnel will be 50 meters underground....and not as the scaremongers at http://stonehengealliance.org.uk/ would like us to believe.   As I have said many times - I'm not aware that we have ever buried our dead that deep!!!

Easter Traffic Stats on London Road Shrewton 67,030!!!!

OK! we're aware that figures are boring - for some anyway, and certainly these don't make good reading!!   Here are the stats from our Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs) for the 15 days during Easter.   So, let me break it down for you.......The figures are in both directions admittedly, and on just one of the four entry/exits to our village of Shrewton......67,030 vehicles used London Road and for the accountants among us, they will have already worked out that's an average of 4403.4 vehicles per day with a max speed of 78 mph on the 15th April!!!!!!!    People are living on this stretch of our village and have no pavement or safe way of walking down into the village including a left hand bend, just to shop get to the doctor and other services!   Fortunately, the school was closed during this period otherwise, there could have been carnage!



















And......there are those who would want to derail the project to fix the A303 past Stonehenge - for fear of disturbing "hitherto undiscovered archaeology" but.....what about us, the living who are subjected to these increasing traffic figures on a daily basis.....the proof is here and it doesn't need to be dug up!!

Sadly, we've had a little look at the figures again for 30th April, and have to report a max speed of
83 mph east bound (going out of the village) - passing the houses on the right and a max speed of 52 mph west bound (coming into the village)