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Sunday 26 January 2020

Stonehenge Alliance to Grant Shapps MP

http://stonehengealliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-21-Stonehenge-Alliance-PR-no-contacts.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0r2q5HR154yHpNnqf6xYGMk-6oUiely9lR87qPxpLER99eMVkSmfChxN0

This is our response to Stonehenge Alliance's open letter to Grant Shapps MP


26th January 2020

The Rt. Hon. Grant Shapps MP
Secretary of State for Transport
Department for Transport
Great Minster House,
33 Horseferry Road,
London SW1P 4D

Dear Mr Shapps,
You will have received an “open letter” from a group calling themselves “The Stonehenge Alliance” dated 20th January 2020 and I should like if I may, to make our response to this letter as the Founder of :
STAG: Stonehenge Traffic Action Group There has been a blog running for our action group since 2013: https://staga303.blogspot.com

I appreciate, this is not an easy decision for you to make I grant you, but the people of Stonehenge Alliance don’t live where we live, in fact some of their supporters live 80 miles plus from the monument, some even live in other countries or other continents. They therefore, know nothing about the traffic in our village of Shrewton caused by the now over capacity Stonehenge section of the A303. The people at Stonehenge Alliance insist that traffic on the A303 has not increased since 2004 vis their submission to the Inspectorate in 2019. We can disprove this statement from vehicle numbers registered on our Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs) which show what we as local residents to the monument have to put up with. I would urge you to take a look at the figures posted up on the blog because over 169,000 vehicles during the month of August, is just not acceptable and nor is 55,593 over the 17 days of the recent Festive period. I would point out that our SIDs are installed on just one of the 4 entry points to our village and this road is a mere 9 meters across and 6 meters in places. We have elderly, mothers with children, horse riders and cyclists all having to go about their daily routines but having to look out for all this traffic just to stay safe.
Please will you take our plight into consideration when making your decision as to whether the Stonehenge stretch of the A303 should be fixed or….left as is….Stonehenge Alliance’s preference is a longer tunnel which will delay matters for a further 10 years and add to the already costly project. Leaving the A303 as it presently is, will have a detrimental effect on the economy to the West Country, leave the World Heritage Site with a main arterial route from London To Cornwall running through it and local people with continued danger and poor air quality.

Kind regards



Janice Hassett (Mrs)
Founder: STAG Stonehenge Traffic Action Group

Wednesday 22 January 2020

What is the role of Chair at the A303 Stonehenge Community Forum?

What is the A303 Stonehenge Community Forum all about?

John Glen MP on Twitter today


Image result for spire fm logoThis just in from www.spirefm.co.uk -
John Glen MP
Image result for john glen mp salisburyhttps://www.johnglen.org.uk/
puts us in the picture following the story in Sunday 19th Financial Times:

https://www.spirefm.co.uk/blogs/john-glen-salisbury-mp-diary/

Blogs > John Glen Salisbury MP Diary

John Glen Salisbury MP Diary



It already seems like a long time ago that Her Majesty came to deliver The Queen’s Speech, setting out the new government’s priorities and legislative programme.

Yet the Queen’s Speech debate has been going on all this time, focusing in turn on different policy areas.
On Monday, the spotlight was on the economy and jobs, so, alongside fellow members of the Treasury team, I spent much of the day in the Chamber listening to backbench colleagues’ contributions.
There has been a lot of speculation in the media in the past week concerning the future of the A303 Improvements around Stonehenge.

Houses of Parliament


Highways England's artists impression of how the A303 could look over Countess roundabout

Highways England A303 Stonehenge Tunnel February 2018 2 (Highways England)There is no doubt that meeting the needs of road users and communities along the route while also respecting the special heritage of the area, calls for a unique solution. The repeated studies and rejection of alternative routes and overland solutions over many years tell us as much.   It is only right that major undertakings receive careful scrutiny – and that is what is happening.   As Salisbury people, it is easy to forget that the Stonehenge section, while a unique challenge, is just one part of a much larger strategic route, linking London and the South West.A303 Stonehenge - Western tunnel portal
Both I and MP's from further west will continue to collectively make the case for better links to the south west and all the economic benefits that will bring – but not to the detriment of lobbying for investment in local roads.   

Sunday 19 January 2020

Do your research before going to print - Journalists!

This story appeared in today's Financial Times:


Treasury pushes for £2bn Stonehenge tunnel to be axed

https://www.ft.com/content/dc5dd91a-3943-11ea-a6d3-9a26f8c3cba4
I've printed it here just in case you can't open the link without having to pay FT a subscription......
I do wish these journalists would do more thorough research before going to print....THE TUNNEL IS NOT GOING UNDER STONEHENGE.....read this blog to find out more!

 "A £2bn tunnel under Stonehenge, one of Britain’s most expensive and controversial road projects, is the subject of a fierce Whitehall struggle, as the Treasury increases pressure for the scheme to be axed. Grant Shapps, transport secretary, is committed to the project, which aims to remove a notorious bottleneck on the A303, a key arterial route from London to the south-west, but is facing strong Treasury resistance. Senior figures in the Treasury say the project is not value-for-money, especially as motorists heading for the west country — including tourists who regularly get stuck in jams at the World Heritage site — could use the M4 and M5 motorways instead. One minister admitted the Treasury was sceptical towards the scheme: “They aren’t very keen. It’s genuinely hard to say how this is going to go.” A government review of strategic roads is currently under way. Sajid Javid, chancellor, declined to comment on “rumours” and told the Financial Times last week: “Wait until my national infrastructure strategy, which will be published alongside the Budget.” Mr Shapps is hoping that Boris Johnson will take his side; the prime minister has publicly committed to upgrading the A303, which provides the most direct link between London and the Tory heartlands of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. “We will do extraordinary things with infrastructure — the A303, you name it — to improve road and rail transport to Cornwall,” Mr Johnson told the House of Commons this week. The Stonehenge tunnel is one of a series of dual carriageway schemes proposed for the route. Recommended Visual Arts Snapshot: ‘Your Stonehenge: 150 Years of Personal Photos’ Stonehenge has long been the venue for Britain’s most scenic traffic jam, as a westbound dual carriageway narrows to a single lane and motorists slow down to take in the view of the prehistoric monument. Mr Johnson has committed to improving transport links and Sajid Javid, chancellor, has yet to allocate £80bn in infrastructure investment spread over five years. Parts of the south-west remain relatively poor and suffer from poor transport connections. But the cost of the two-mile tunnel — the equivalent of the £2bn allocated to Northern Ireland to underpin the political process in the region last week — has caused anxiety in the Treasury. The project was originally going to be funded via the private finance initiative and was not included in Highways England’s draft £25bn Road Investment Strategy 2 spending programme. However Philip Hammond, the former chancellor, halted the PFI funding in his 2018 Budget. The project has been forced to wait, with several recommended deadlines missed, as to how it will be funded. The department for transport would not comment on the plans, saying only that Mr Shapps had until the beginning of April to respond to a six month examination of a Highways England planning application for the project.


In response to the story, our local friend Mr Andy Rhind Tutt has had his say again about his beloved "Southern Bypass" route..... which will tramp over wetland, villages, SSSI's (Site of Special Scientific Interest) AONB's (Areas of outstanding natural beauty) Ministry of Defense land and would add 32 miles to any journey to the West Country eventually causing traffic to revert to their original route along the A303 because he doesn't say what would happen to the A303 using his scheme Route G here:
https://twitter.com/AndyRT/status/1218804581381165056

Andy Rhind Tutt says.....
"A Southern bypass is needed, giving North South connectivity from the second largest dock in the UK - Southampton, providing a route around Salisbury, an alternative route for freight eliminating the need for a tunnel. The savings will fund the rest of the A303 improvements needed"
This from Highways England consultation booklet - January 2017
"All schemes were investigated and this route was rejected at phase 2 "Route corridor G:
Any route to the south of Salisbury would be a long diversion for A303 traffic, resulting in extensive adverse impacts on both the environment and communities.   Although it would offer improved access to Salisbury, the option would fail to reduce journey times for users of the A303 and would not deliver the economic and transport objectives sought for the scheme."

Friday 17 January 2020

OK! it's those SID figures again!

I know this is boring for a number of you but not for us here in Shrewton in Wiltshire, who have to put up with the on going traffic exiting the A303 queue and using the village as a rat run.   This makes our lives a misery and the village a very unsafe place to live....so here are the figures for December provided by our Parish Council Chair.....and in particular the 17 days over the Festive period:

SID data for the whole of December 2019 was 123,584 vehicles transited London Road.
The recorded traffic volume for the "holiday season"....(hate using that terminology) of                 20th December 2019 to 5th January 2020 was 55,593 vehicles which equates to 3270 per day....
and certain Wiltshire Councillors http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/  insist that "it's only locals who rat run"!!!   

 Please bear in mind that London Road is no more than 9 meters wide and in places only 6 meters.   There are residents who have to walk down into our village for schools, doctor and shops.   They have no safe pavement to do so or street lighting, and also have to negotiate a left hand bend.....think about this....getting home after dark....scary!

And as a foot note....Of approximately 6 homes at the village end of London Road, I see 3 more have gone up for sale.....I wonder why??!

Friday 3 January 2020

e-mail to Boris......


boris.johnson.mp@parliament.uk; shappsg@parliament.uk; GLEN, John; Paul Clifton; dtnews@telegraph.co.uk; stnews@telegraph.co.uk newsdesk@salisburyjournal.co.uk; Daniels, Marcia; GLEN, John; trader@amesburyprinting.co.uk; Sally Arrowhead; news@warminsterjournal.co.uk; Dan O'Brien; wdnews@bepp.co.uk https://staga303.blogspot.com/…/a303-setting-records-straig…

Friends....on the 22/12/19 I wrote this to all of the above, just to keep them on their toes and to show we're not letting this one fall by the wayside...
"Dear Sir/Madam,
A final government decision as to whether the Project to dual the A303 past Stonehenge into a tunnel is drawing very close and we still have the naysayers who don’t think anything should be done on this over capacity road. I wonder if you could include the link to my blog on your web site or include an article taken from the blog in the hard copy. The blog has had almost 52,500 visits since it’s inception in 2013 and majors on “something must be done to fix the A303 at Stonehenge due to rat running through local villages”. This is the link to my latest posting and I would very much appreciate if you can spare the space". Many thanks etc., etc.

So, it does appear that the Planning Inspectorate have deliberated and cogitated and we have now reached the next stage of the "Time Line"......Image result for fingers crossed emoji

https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-west/a303-stonehenge/

What happens next


02/04/2020 - Deadline for Secretary of State to make decision
The Examining Authority issued a Recommendation Report to the Secretary of State on 
02 January 2020. The Secretary of State has three months in which to issue a decision. The decision letter and Recommendation Report will be published on this project page once a decision has been made.  
and remember my post of 28th September titled: "Stonehenge Alliance....and their experts" and all the gobble de gook and hyperbole...read more on the Salisbury Journal here from Professor PP: https://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/18136073.final-decision-a303-tunnel-expected-within-three-months/?ref=eb 
Clearly they would like to derail the whole project!!