That Feasibility Study again...an up date!

If you're one who follows my posts, you will already have read....Meetings - B - Meetings from October last year which has had 54 hits......and we're still attending meetings even now, about what to do with the A303, how much will it cost, which section will be started first etc etc....
The latest Feasibility Study has been in progress since January 2014 with meetings held in Taunton on two occasions but without representation from anyone locally, including STAG....our Man on the ground having been put off in January when Dft promised to keep us up to speed with progress.   Another meeting took place on 24th May and we have to thank our MP John Glen johnglenmp.com for providing the relevant detail discussed.   This comes in the form of short slides allowing you to pick and choose those you may wish to query with Department of Transport's [mailto:Deborah.Lewis@dft.gsi.gov.uk]
All in all, very encouraging and this time, they have taken into account traffic flow on the A303 that has been missed on previous studies - i.e. the peaks at weekends and around public holidays and school holiday.

We at STAG have written to Dft as we had a few queries with some of the information on a few of the slides:

1) "CURRENT SUMMER MONTH STRESS"
we feel that the section of green line east of Amesbury should have been yellow.  We as locals know that the stress on this section of the A303 can go back as far as the A338 at peak times during the summer months.

2) "JOURNEY TIME RELIABILITY"
Since the closure of the A344 at Stonehenge, in our opinion, the whole measurement is well out for the section of A303 from A338 to Berwick Down.  Check out this blog for further knowledge of the area now.

3) "FATAL AND SERIO0US ACCIDENT LOCATIONS - UNIMPROVED SECTIONS:
Looking at the section in light blue for Stonehenge - Amesbury to Berwick Down, the graph appears percentage wise, to show that this 
section of the A303 on the face of it, is "safer" since the slice is narrower, perhaps giving the impression that....all's well and no need to do anything.   Everyone who has used this bit of the A303 during recent years, know that the traffic is either slow or stopped and therefore, accidents are less likely.

4) "CURRENT AVERAGE DAILY TRAFFIC FLOWS (October 2013)
We trust that whilst calculating the traffic flows on the A303, Dft will take into account "knock on effects" on local villages and towns.   "Rat Running" through this area to avoid the hold ups on the Stonehenge section of A303, could "muddy the figures".   The increased traffic causes extra "stress" in and around this area and
should be taken into account.  I quote here from my learn-ed colleague at STAG: "Clearly, use of these diversionary routes have an impact on the perceived congestion and stress on the A303 - effectively underestimating it.   They will also have an impact, social and financial, on the economic case that is being studied in the next phase of the study, and if they are ignored, risk underestimating the cost benefit of dualling the A303 along its entire length.

May Bank Holiday - West bound - on the A303!!

 Come rain or shine, nothing keeps the tourists from driving miles from their cosy little abodes....to the West Country and Stonehenge!   They may have made good progress along the way, hoping to reach their destination before night fall.....but....
English Heritage www.english-heritage.org.uk have put paid to that!!!    The notorious bottleneck on the A303 around Stonehenge is where it all comes to a GRINDING HALT!!

So!....in an effort to get more signatures on our petition at: www.sh2.co.uk to improve the A303 west from Stonehenge and on past Winterbourne Stoke, a wee drop of rain - stair rods actually, doesn't keep wife of Watch Bustard from making good use of the standing traffic to hand out flyers.....by the time you reached West Amesbury where the A303 filters into single carriageway for Stonehenge Bottom, you'd all been in the queue for over 45 minutes from Beacon Hill......We understand that the queue on both Friday and Saturday afternoon around 3pm went back as far as Parkhouse junction.  Whatever the mileage between the two points, we work out the average speed to have been 6 mph....i.e. a brisk walk!!   There was even time for one nice lady to get out of her car past "strawberry layby", walk back and buy a punnet, then walk back to her car, which had moved barely 100 yards, and how kind of them to offer us a couple too....thanks!
The reason for all this .....to accommodate the new visitor's centre.   English Heritage, the custodians of  The World Heritage Site (WHS) that is......OUR Stonehenge used a STOPPING UP ORDER or SUO in June 2013 to close the A344 past Stonehenge.   This means that all traffic which would have headed to villages and towns to the north of the county, or to the WHS, now has to remain on the A303 to Longbarrow Roundabout - and that means us locals too!!!    Where's the logic and forethought I ask you?.....It also means you cannot just pitch up at the WHS and take a quick photo through the fence and get on your way.......you must now remain in the queue and enter via Airmans Corner, pay the money - £14.90 and.....what must seem very strange to some, because in passing along the A303, you already saw Stonehenge .....you now have to use the Noddy Train to reach the Stone Circle.    And there in lies another problem.....photographing The Stones from the A303 where traffic slows down and speeds up...... causes yet more hold ups!!!......See the results from these photos taken on Friday around midday and no points for spotting the wee yellow jacket!! They didn't think it out did they?

A303 Progress or Politics?

We at STAG hope that a very small story on page 2 of the Western Daily Press this morning, can be considered some sort of progress regarding A303 matters:
http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Government-cash-A303-plans/story-21103426-detail/story.html

A303 upgrade in Devon and Somerset to get 'degree of success' as part of infrastructure review alongside A358 and A30 in Cornwall

By Western Daily Press | Posted: May 16, 2014

"The Government has given its strongest signal yet that it will find the money to end some of the traffic nightmare on the A303.
Roads Minister Robert Goodwill told MPs all six major road upgrades being audited by Whitehall officials – including the A303, A30 and A358 corridor – will enjoy a "degree of success" when Chancellor George Osborne unveils his autumn budget.
Most believed they would be competing with each other for funds.
Last month, the Department for Transport unveiled the scope of its study into upgrading the second main road connecting London and the South West.
If the entire 110-mile road, which is often single carriageway and stretches from near Exeter in Devon to near Andover in Hampshire, was upgraded, it would cost around £1.2 billion.
Nine blackspots on the highway will be given special attention by civil servants, notably a  road tunnel under Stonehenge – a notorious section of the road that often gets snarled up."

 

Please read my letter to Under Secretary of State Robert Goodwill MP last month:

Please can you sign our petition to improve the A303 past Stonehenge and beyond at: www.sh2.co.uk
Thankyou!

Free Passes for Stonehenge - get it now!

Please forgive me for using a paragraph from "Hands off our Byways" because of an experience yesterday while out on my daily walk, which happened to be on byway 12......

"For those not familiar with the term "Byway" these are unmade tracks around the WHS which have been in place for Milena, and Byway 12 is one of these, and possibly considered by EH to be too close to Stonehenge, thus allowing the public to view the Stone Circle without going through, what they consider to be the "proper channels" and pay £14.90 entrance fee."
My walk took me down the north side of Byway 12 from Fargo Road in Larkhill to the Stone circle site and on arrival, having crossed over the now defunct A344, I was met by the "Yellow Jacket"....all 6'3" of him.  I wouldn't mind, but he was standing upsides from my 4'11" peering down at me.   He had clearly clocked that I had not alighted from the "noddy train" along with all the Japanese visitors and so the conversation went like this:.....
YJ: have you a ticket?
ME: NO! I don't need one
YJ: why not?
ME: because the monument belongs to the Nation and we're entitled to view it for free!
YJ: I'm not sure about that!
ME: in any case, I live local and there are 30,000 of us who are entitled to free passes!
YJ: OH! I'm not sure about that either!

ME: Well, if you visit Amesbury Library, you can find out all about free passes for local people.....and they look like this:

It could be said that he was only doing his job and perhaps further training on the part of
www.english-heritage.org.uk might be good advice......but then, that would be letting too many people know of this local freebie from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Chubb

Traffic count to compare with 2011

The term "RAT RUNNING" could be considered mildly insulting to some.   It's what drivers do to avoid the queues on the A303 past Stonehenge and is obvious to us who live in villages around Stonehenge, that drivers are either "rat running" by habit because they do it even when the A303 is flowing well, or they follow the warning of "queue ahead" on the sat nav and end up in our villages of Larkhill, Bulford, Shrewton then Chittern, before re joining the A303 further on......and, dare I say, once they've clocked this cut through.....it becomes the norm for regular comuters using the A303 and who can blame them!!    This can be east or west bound on most days but is worse during the weekend, and of course much worse at holiday times.   In our village of Shrewton on Salisbury Plain, the increased traffic makes our narrow High Street dangerous for local people to go about their daily lives since there are little or no pavements.   We have mothers with children, cyclists, walkers, riders and the elderly who are all now worried about using the main link road through the village.
We at STAG thought it was time to actually find out what difference to traffic numbers, closing the A344 before dualling the A303 has made and the type of traffic using our High Street now.    In May 2011, a local resident arranged and paid for a professional traffic count to be carried out in our High Street for one week, prior the the closure of the A344.  We decided to spend an hour on each of 3 days over the weekend - that same week in 2014 and the results were rather surprising.  While carrying out the traffic count, we were aware that the A303 was flowing well, if a little congested at Longbarrow, which is normal.  Taking into account this was normal weekend traffic, i.e. not a holiday, or summer, traffic north bound along the High Street has not increased by much since 2011, but one can see a significant increase in south bound traffic through the village from these numbers,  i.e. that headed west bound on the A303 but coming off on the "rat run" has, in some cases, increased by a massive 62%!!!  
 


Rat Running also changes the type of traffic using our High Street and bearing in mind it carries a 2 Ton weight limit and the basic tare weight of a Range Rover is 2.2 tons unladen....if you've come through with wife, kids, bikes and luggage rack.....do you even know the weight of your vehicle when loaded because it's far and beyond that weight!
Here are just a fraction of the vehicles who used our High Street during one hour last Friday evening...

           

I began this posting by using "the term
"RAT RUNNING" and saying it was mildly insulting".....surely this is insulting to the villagers of Shrewton when the drivers have ignored the signs at Bustard Cross Roads advising them to turn left onto the A360 instead of just proceeding straight on through our lovely village endangering one and all!!!

And all this, in just one hour between 1600 and 1700 on Friday May 9th!
The safetly issue alone here is good reason to improve the A303 past Stonehenge....please sign our petition at: www.sh2.co.uk

English Heritage...hands off our byways!

To carry on from my previous posting: Secret meetings with Culture Minister etc.....and the story in Salisbury Journal by Annie Riddle, we can now confirm, having written to Wiltshire Council www.wiltshire.gov.uk and a reply has been received from Rights of Way Officer at the Council, that said meeting did in fact take place....tho' when or where this was, (possibly London) we don't know, but it probably pre dated the visit by Ed Vaizey MP Minister for Culture www.vaizey.com to view the WHS on 16th April.    The General Manager for Stonehenge, Kate Davies has told us that she had literally 24 hours notice from the Minister that he planned an informal site visit on his return journey from Taunton.  He viewed the Stone Circle, Neolithic Houses, the Museum, took a look at Byway 12 had a coffee and left within 30 minutes.
That said, the e-mail from Wiltshire Council Rights of Way Officer, confirms
www.english-heritage.org.uk English Heritage's wish to proceed with : and I quote:

"The Minister’s instruction to his officials in DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) on how to progress English Heritage’s wish to close the byway is a matter for DCMS to comment on and any questions concerning the Minister’s instructions to his officials should therefore be directed to DCMS."  
Rest assured, we will be following this up.
English Heritage has two courses of action: 1) to either re-apply by TRO (traffic regulation order) which they first attempted in 2011 and this was rejected, or 2) by application for closure by SI (statutory instrument) which would have to go through Parliament.   This latter course would require EH to give notice in writing to Local Councils, as well as the County, and said application to be published in the London Gazette within a very specific time scale.   Presumably, this will all be carried out by their legal eagles from a desk somewhere in London.....far remote from the situation in hand.
For those not familliar with the term "Byway" these are unmade tracks around the WHS which have been in place for millenia, and Byway 12 is one of these, and possibly considered by EH to be too close to Stonehenge thus allowing the public to view the Stone Circle without going through, what they consider to be the "proper channels" and pay £14.90 entrance fee.   It does appear they are taking the view that to leave Byway 12 open is causing safety concerns and has nothing what so ever to do with viewing the WHS for free, however, we think differently.  
I give you Sir Cecil Chubb's instruction to grant Stonehenge to the nation and that the entrance should be free...
thanks to:http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/wiltshire/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9020000/9020849.stm

Sir Cecil Chubb, who'd had no intention of bidding at the sale, bought it 'on a whim' as a gift for his wife who, it's claimed, was none too pleased. For the price of £6,600, the equivalent of £392,00 in today's money, Sir Cecil Chubb's intention that a "Salisbury man ought to buy it" was realised. Stonehenge worth £51m Just 95 years on and, according to a survey of 500 estate agents invited to put a price on national monuments across the UK, Stonehenge is now worth a monumental £51m. Whilst the recommended estate agent's blurb, suggested in the same survey carried out by findaproperty.com, could read: Stonehenge "Airy property with bags of potential. Comes with land but needs serious renovation, including new roof and double-glazing." But how would Messrs Knight, Franck and Rutley, the estate agents who originally handled the sale, sell Stonehenge today? "We would still advise our client to sell it at auction," says Andrew Rome from Knight and Franck. "And to sell it as a going concern as a business based on the income it generates." With Stonehenge attracting around 900,000 visitors a year, paying an average of £5 per head, a £51m valuation starts to sound like a good investment. Free admission For Sir Cecil, however, Stonehenge belonged to the nation, and in 1918 after owning it for just three years he formerly handed it over to the country with a number of conditions. His conditions were that the entrance fee should never be more then a shilling (5p) and that local residents should have free access. "The 1918 deed of gift didn't actually specify free access for local residents," says Joy Kaarnijoki at English Heritage, "it was an agreement with the Parish Council. "The road passed very close to the stones. The Council agreed that the rights of way could be diverted further from the stone circle on condition that local residents would be granted free access." Whether it was stipulated by Sir Cecil Chubb himself, or not, it's an agreement that has continued to the present day. According to English Heritage, the 30,000 local residents living in and around Stonehenge can still take up the offer of free access to one of England's most famous monuments.