It's Time for Action - apparently......

So this lot are at it again....telling the voting public what they should do, as if we don't have a mind of our own.....well maybe that's a mute point where their followers are concerned and they need to be led by the nose.....here's what they're saying......   

" It's time to take action! Tell your MP/ parliamentary candidates, that YOU WILL ONLY VOTE FOR THEM IF THEY STOP WASTING £3bn++ ON THE STONEHENGE ROAD SCHEME (and £bns on other big damaging road schemes which are making things worse). They should commit to spending on climate friendly transport instead. WHAT TO SAY? 

 https://stonehengealliance.org.uk/act-now/write-to-your-mp/"

Where they've calculated £3bn (if true) means they say the cost has doubled in just over 2 years....is down to them slowing the whole process up using money from around the world from people who don't even know where Stonehenge is to be found or the World Heritage Site for that matter.

When will someone other than STAG take them on, right now Stonehenge Alliance, seem to have the platform to themselves....we had a flurry of interest from the archaeologist's back in December last, see here: https://staga303.blogspot.com/2023/12/at-last-support.html but now they appear to have gone quiet...this is what they said to encourage more support back then..."archaeologists themselves have been overwhelmingly absent from the discourse. While a number of public figures have shared their views on the project, many of the individual archaeologists and heritage specialists who are best-informed on the subject are unable to comment due to factors which include their professional obligations. Meanwhile, many major organisations representing UK archaeology have distanced themselves from the heart of this politicised and polarised debate.   Into the vacuum has stepped the Stonehenge Alliance, whose increasingly divisive and populist rhetoric directly risks the public understanding of archaeology in the UK for many years to come. Rather than being presented with diverse, informed perspectives, the tone of the matter has been steered, almost single-handedly, by this campaign group and its backers.   The role of archaeological intervention in mitigating impact on heritage has been consistently distorted and misrepresented by the Stonehenge Alliance campaign in spite of persistent requests by archaeologists to tone down their rhetoric."   Hello!...where are you now?

More hyperbole on their Facebook page where they talk about campaigning for 3 generations....I work this out to be at least 66 years...Stonehenge Alliance.....your campaign is not that old - on research I see your group were constituded in 2001 and my calcs say that's just 22 years!!!  

Then we have to come back around to the main subject of traffic and the A303 causing rat runs through local villages....here is our take on this on their F/b page: 

"Do any of the present 9 who have 'liked' this post, actually live anywhere near the problem? I assume NOT!! The A303 at Stonehenge needs to be fixed by what ever means....it's not fit for purpose causing huge rat runs through local villages on roads as narrow as 6 meters wide with no pavements or street lighting. As for increasing the rail network....an you lot seem to have costed this out?? How many homes/villages would have to be compulsory purchased to achieve this...presumably not in your costings!!!"

See this comment : " our infrastructure and roads need investment also. This stretch is dangerous, overburdened by traffic it was never designed for, and as a result causes misery and enhanced emissions for both users of the road and the villages who are used to avoid the traffic. The project should have been started in 2019, the inflationary increase in costs is directly attributed to this farce of an organisation who have forced delay.

I'll be happy to see Stonehenge return to it's grassy landscape, without standstill traffic parked next to it, whilst also benefiting from a road that can handle the volume of traffic required to use it.

This country needs to progress it's transport links, it can't stay how it is." and further discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/search/posts?q=stonehenge%20alliance&filters=eyJyZWNlbnRfcG9zdHM6MCI6IntcIm5hbWVcIjpcInJlY2VudF9wb3N0c1wiLFwiYXJnc1wiOlwiXCJ9In0%3D

My thanks for permission to allow to this comment from SHA's Facebook page:Isn't it about time some people started getting annoyed about the vexacious stuff like this that Stonehenge Alliance persist in attempting to ram down our throats. You've now finally got prominent archaeologists up in arms about the litany of falsehoods perpetuated by this organisation which is nothing but a quango. The current MP, and the electorate he represents should be allowed to make their own minds up, and not be swayed by these kind of threats. Take note: the Stonehenge WHS didn't come into existence until 1986, when the trunk road that passes East/West across the area had been in existence for 8 decades and more. All alternative plans for this section of the A303 have been comprehensively examined for more than 30 years, and what is proposed is perhaps imperfect, but this £3 billion figure (if correct-which I doubt) would be considerably less if Stonehenge Alliance had been willing to enter meaningful discussions with Government Agencies, but chose not because they stated "we have NO common ground".

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