Total Pageviews

Translate

Thursday 6 July 2017

So what's changed since January 2005?

Sometimes, Watch Bustard.....mentioned in previous posts, feels the need to tidy up his nest ("and about time too"..says The Mrs) and on having a bit of a clear-out, chanced upon this Newspaper cutting from 2005 about......The Stonehenge Tunnel!!   As he re-read the article, responded..."deja-vu isn't what it's cracked up to be"!
Actually things don't seem to have changed much in 12 years.....Dragnet......for those of you old enough to remember the opening line "the facts you're about to hear are true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent".....No innocents here!!
So, what has changed?   The government in place, the A344 was closed by www.english-heritage.org.uk -  to accomodate a ghastly new Visitor's Centre that is a blot on the landscape, it comes complete with a car park that reminds one of a car boot sale!!  The traffic on the A303 has increased, Rat Running through local villages has also increased, many millions of tax payers money has been spent on deliberations, meetings, consultations, visits by Government officials, and bickering archaeologists continue to put the cart before the horse.....and the road is still visible through the Trilithon today!

Piranha teeth....Jocelyn Stevens, Chairman of EH 1992-2000  who apparently, delighted in firing rather than hiring, set his edict about the A303 tunnel 'solution', which still remains implacably in place.  Yet the arch villain of the piece, writing in 1997 as a forward to the book: "Stonehenge Revealed" said this:-
"There will be free access for all!   Visitors will be able to enjoy fully, the isolation, the ancient atmosphere and the awesomeness of Stonehenge's prehistoric environment".   Yet the author of the book - David Souden, proposes a theme park setting, a view cheerfully endorsed by Jocelyn Stevens.....
Watch Bustard is now musing..."must go on
You Tube and watch Ground Hog Day again!!!

Saturday 1 July 2017

Is it all up in the air or down below?!

On the 5th of November 2015 I posted a blog: "Meeting with ICOMOS and UNESCO".  (Both of these groups look after our monuments and world heritage sites)  You can go there if you like but here's basically what I was saying...... On that morning we were provided a 20 minute slot to bring our case to the representatives from ICOMOS and UNESCO as to the reasons for "doing something about the A303 around Stonehenge to stop ran running through our village".   They were there to understand the effects of living near or within the WHS and what effect it has on the A303 since the closure of the A344 to accommodate the Stonehenge Visitor's Centre.   Having come from various places around the world....as I recall, one from Australia and two people from France, thanks to English Heritage the nice folks from these two groups were issued with a map of our area....excellent! I hear you say!   Prior preparation...and all that!!!   Unfortunately the map solely covered The World Heritage Site!!!    As if the county of Wiltshire only exists within the WHS and no "living life" exists outside of it!!!    So! there we all were with the map spread across the table and pointing to Shrewton - over the edge in mid air and Winterborne Stoke is just here also in mid air!!!!    Good old English Heritage!
Anyway, no doubt there have been many meetings since - to which, some we have been invited and some not, and we now have the report from ICOMOS and UNESCO of suggestions of how we get around our problem - all 101 pages of it!  I did consider providing a little taster of what's in the report and got as far as page 28 then thinks?....let some other bright spark read this through and I'll take my lead from that!)   So! in true form, Salisbury Journal come out first with their take on it and you can read that here:  http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/15378122.Stonehenge_bypass_better_than_tunnel__say_heritage_experts/?ref=eb
Stonehenge Alliance having reared their ugly head again - they who either want nothing done about the A303 (none of whom live in this area!) or would perhaps accept a longer tunnel, but they don't say who will pay for the extra 1.5 miles.   Core to their argument is that the "short" tunnel would ruin the archaeology in the WHS, but their longer one wouldn't?!!!  But then of course, according to one of their archaeologists at a meeting 2 weeks ago, and I quote "the traffic around Stonehenge has NOT significantly increased since 2004" ......WHAAAAAT? planet are these people on?!!!   But of course, if that is genuinely the case, why do we need a tunnel or even a road amendment if their idea is the unvarnished truth?.....Shades of Groucho Marx me thinks!    It does appear that ICOMOS and UNESCO in their deliberations, have listened to them in favour of us, and are suggesting a longer tunnel - or - Highways England need to take a look at some other options to fix the A303.   The 101 page report even asks that they reconsider a surface road, numbered F10 on the consultation booklet you would have received if you were able to attend one of the Consultations back in January/February.   Highways England must now take into account anomalies such as: in the case of the tunnel, the portals in relation to Blicks Mead settlement, setting sun, local people, the economy in the West Country and hordes of other stuff to keep everyone happy.....and I say a compromise is what's needed and....best of luck to the guys at H E!!!