Stonehenge tunnel: Minister acted 'unlawfully'

The A303 is often congested near the ancient stones

The Transport Secretary unlawfully disagreed with an expert panel with no "proper evidential basis" when he approved the Stonehenge road tunnel scheme, the High Court heard.

Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS) is challenging Grant Shapps' approval of the £1.7 billion plan.

The go-ahead was given despite Planning Inspectorate officials saying it would cause "permanent, irreversible harm".

The judicial review hearing is expected to last three days.

The plan would overhaul eight miles (12.8km) of the A303, including a two-mile (3.2km) tunnel.

'Unlawfully inadequate'

In his opening statement at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, David Wolfe QC, barrister for SSWHS, said Mr Shapps had "misconstrued the advice of Historic England" when making his decision to approve the project in November 2020.

"The Secretary of State disagreed with the assessment of his expert panel, without - unlawfully - there being any proper evidential basis for doing so," he said.

He added the reasons given by Mr Shapps were "unlawfully inadequate and unintelligible".

A panel of experts had recommended that development consent should be withheld because the project would substantially harm the integrity and authenticity of the Unesco World Heritage Site in Wiltshire, which includes the stone circle and the nearby landscape.

Senior druid Arthur Uther Pendragon said he was there to "show druid support" for the challenge

But in the defendant's skeleton argument it said that SSWHS's claim was "unarguable" and should be dismissed.

It added: "The claim simply reflects disagreement with the defendant's legitimate planning judgment that the scheme should be approved, the defendant having concluded it would cause less than substantial harm to heritage assets in issue, including, in particular, the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site, and that the public benefits of the project outweighed the harm."

Mr Justice Holgate said the court would not be considering the merits of the tunnel itself, but only whether the transport secretary had acted unlawfully.

Campaigners supporting SSWHS's legal challenge lined up outside the court buildings carrying banners and playing drums.

Senior druid Arthur Uther Pendragon said he was there to "show druid support" for the challenge.

Campaigners gathered outside the High court in London

"Not only are the archaeologists against it and the local people against it but the druids are against it," he said.

John Adams, a director of SSWHS, added: "This is crucial, this might be our last opportunity to stop this road going through the world heritage site."

The Stonehenge site, together with Avebury, which is also in Wiltshire, was declared a World Heritage Site in 1986.

The proposed tunnel is part of a major investment in the A303, between Amesbury and Berwick Down, which is a popular route for motorists travelling to and from the south west and runs within a few hundred metres of the site.

Highways England said its plan for the tunnel will remove the sight and sound of traffic passing the site and cut journey times.

The project is classified as nationally significant, which means a development consent order from the Transport Secretary is needed for it to go ahead.