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Saturday 13 February 2016

And now here's the alternative to Mr Andy Rhind Tutt's cockeyed idea......

You will recall my previous posting headed "Cock Womble" etc., on 22.01.16 ...... well here's a balance to set the records straight providing an alternative to that of Mr Rhind Tutt and as
Cllr Ian West told Highways England, it's the most popular among local people, and I say, the majority of those reading this blog on a regular basis.
My thanks in this instance to Tristan Cork - again, and the story, as one would expect, has been covered by Alex Rennie at www.salisburyjournal.co.uk and by www.bbc.co.uk/southtoday last Wednesday lunch time.
The A303 currently runs right past Stonehenge
A local councillor near Stonehenge has said local people were so fed up with the A303 bottleneck - and rat running through local villages, that they were prepared to lose the UNESCO World Heritage Status for the stones if it meant a good solution to the road problem.
Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Bypass-Stonehenge-lose-World-Heritage-Status-say/story-28717785-detail/story.html#ixzz40475BO6M
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Ian West, who represents the villages closest to the west of Stonehenge, spoke out as the Government launched a series of consultation meetings all along the length of the A303 in Wiltshire and Somerset, starting the long process that looks set to see a £2 billion tunnel dug under the stones.
He likened the plight of the people of Amesbury and its surrounding villages to that of Dresden – whose people demanded and got a new bridge built to alleviate traffic problems in the city centre, even though it meant UNESCO withdrew the prestigious World Heritage Status from the ancient German city.
Mr West formally submitted his idea to solve the A303 bottleneck, which occurs when the dual carriageway A303 passes close to Stonehenge and narrows to one lane. English Heritage have long demanded the road be moved or a tunnel built, and late in 2014, the Prime Minister pledged that a tunnel would be built.
The local Lib Dem councillor originally made his proposal ten years ago, at a time when Tony Blair's Government were wrestling with spiralling costs and controversy of their attempt to dig a Stonehenge tunnel.
He proposes a new open dual carriageway dug into a cutting slightly further to the south of Stonehenge, which could be landscaped to not be visible from the stones.
That would be significantly cheaper than a tunnel, but Mr West admitted it would mean some archaeology on the huge World Heritage Site around Stonehenge is damaged. Those fighting a 'short tunnel' plan oppose it because the eastern entrance would be dug within the WHS area too.
"The dual carriageway could be built into a beautifully landscaped cutting thereby putting the road out of sight of Stonehenge," he said. "If built sensitively, high-sided vehicles would not be seen and traffic not heard by visitors to the stones.
"Over the last 23 years or so that I have represented this area on the council, this scheme has been suggested by many residents to me and I believe it has a great deal of local support and merit.
"It is perhaps interesting to note that when Dresden in Germany needed to build a bypass round the city more than half the local population were content to lose their UNESCO status in order to have the much cheaper and more pragmatic solution of a bridge rather than a tunnel to relieve the congestion in the city.   "Perhaps the Stonehenge problem is similar in many ways to that of Dresden. The local people have lived with the A303 problem long enough," he added.
So! If we're comparing our problem with that of Dresden in Germany, why don't we hold a vote one way or another as to whether we stick with the UNESCO label probably pulling forward all those stick-in-the-muds who will cry out in aghastment (sic) !!! or lose it and move on.....after all.....Stonehenge is not going anywhere and neither is Dresden since it was rebuilt after WW2!!!



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