UNESCO...... an "Advisory Mission to Stonehenge" plus a German Film maker

So, it's been a busy week for the writer of the STAG blog.....what with a visit from UNESCO then following that, an email from a German filming company....no less.   I do wonder how these folks get to find STAG and why they're interested in our argument.

It would certainly have been nice to get a little more notice than just a few hours from the government body: DCMS to prepare our case to UNESCO for fixing the A303 at Stonehenge and being able to tell the panel of 3 of our local problem of Rat Running through our village of Shrewton and..... that there is more to life than the monument itself and the surrounding World Heritage Site.   Mind you, I've been up in front of these folks in the past and one of the panel even recognized me!!!    One never really knows where the information goes following these "interviews".....which were apparently meant to be relaxed and informal.   We were given a 20 minute slot as was King Arthur Uther Pendragon head of the Druids and local farmers were also accorded 20 minutes.

This is the email from DCMS 3 days before the visit.....

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	Urgent: Opportunity to meet UNESCO as part of Advisory Mission to Stonehenge - Wednesday 20 April

"Good afternoon,

 My name is Henry I am a policy adviser in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

UNESCO will be visiting Stonehenge and the surrounding landscape next week on an Advisory Mission, chiefly to discuss the latest status of the A303 scheme and the current and potential future impact on the Stonehenge part of the 'Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites' World Heritage Site. Please visit the site's page on the World Heritage Centre's website for more information about the site and the recent considerations made by UNESCO: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/373/

As part of their visit, UNESCO would like to meet with representatives from Civil Society / Non Government Organisations (NGOs). However, the time allowed is limited and we have not been afforded much notice to arrange the programme.   With this in mind, I would like to invite you to meet with UNESCO as part of the following session:

Conversation with representatives from the local community

Date: Wednesday 20th April 2022

Time: 15:35-15:50 (15 mins)

Location: Antrobus House, 39 Salisbury Rd, Amesbury, Salisbury SP4 7HH

People invited: Janice Hassett.....that's me, Dave Hassett, Robert Yuill, Roger Fisher, Andy Shuttleworth, Kathi Sharp, Durrington Town Council representative, Shrewton Parish Council representative

Kind regards,

Senior International Policy Adviser, Cultural Diplomacy, 4th Floor, 100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ"

So I arrived at the due time above, which was delayed till 15:50 to be told the panel were running late and our 20 minute slot would now not be until 16:40 but at least DCMS provided copious quantities of coffee, tea or water and we sat around chatting about the A303....how exciting!!

For me, this was more of an update of my previous presentation to UNESCO in 2019 but this time, I did not beat about the bush, telling them, whilst our village was not actually within the World Heritage Site, we were very much affected by the A303 traffic problem.....problems that https://stonehengealliance.org.uk/ would prefer to sweep under the carpet or do I mean tar mac?? continually saying "nothing needs to be done about the A303 traffic....it's..... not that bad" and here's one of the CEO John Adam's latest Tweets: 

@JohnAdamsEbble

·

29 Mar

I’ve driven along this stretch of road, at different times of day, on seven occasions in the last month, on every journey the traffic was free flowing.

@PINSgov

said this road will cause, permanent and irreversible harm to the

@UNESCO

World Heritage Site.

@AndyRT

@ashtreex

2

10

19

My reply to him: Replying to

@JohnAdamsEbble

@A303Stonehenge

and 4 others

John Adams..... Obviously, we don't know what time of day or which day of the week you were travelling on the A303!!! Just you wait till Easter and try again because from then on, you will have to wait, every day through out the summer!!!

I pointed out to the panel.....Stonehenge Alliance can spout all this rubbish but they don't live where we live and having to plan the timing of journeys just to visit the supermarket or the dentist in town!!!!   That the A303 is over capacity by 83% and needs to be fixed. They did appear to know this already by the look on their faces....which are usually deadpan and expressionless, not giving anything away.    Although I had NO notes for the presentation, I was able to call it all up from stuff imprinted on my brain and provide true traffic figures of rat running through Shrewton taken from the Speed Indicator Devices around the village.  I was able to quote the 169,000 vehicles registered during August of 2019 down London Road which is a mere 8 meters wide and 6 meters in places!!   I also told them about the 57,800 vehicles that accessed that same road during the 15 days of Christmas and New Year of that year.....then it all went - quiet!   Covid having taken over everyone's life in some format.....nodding dog syndrome.   The Chair concluded the meeting, sounding more positive about our plight here in Shrewton, when in previous meetings, they have not conceded that there is a life outside Stonehenge and the World Heritage Site who may be affected, probably due to all the hyperbole that comes from Stonehenge Alliance or Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS).....as they like to be known now.

Earlier, I mentioned a German film company.... Marie e-mailed me on Thursday asking if I would talk to her on the phone in the first instance and that they wanted to make a 32 minute film about the A303 problem/tunnel and it's connection with the World Heritage Site.    You can access some of their work here: : https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/RC-013956/re-european-stories/

She duly called me from Germany on Friday and we had a 40 minute conversation.   The film company want to come to Shrewton sometime in June and film our daily lives living with the rat run problem, taking in the Summer Solstice - she's never been before.   They will also include other groups to keep the argument neutral....but the chat with Marie was very positive with lots of ideas discussed.   She now has the difficult job of researching the subject from all the differing sides and  pulling everyone together into the diary .....a job I don't envy....so we wait to see what happens.