Stonehenge: A303 tunnel plan could be looked at again

Protesters staged a mass trespass at the famous stones to highlight their fears over the tunnel scheme

The case for building a road tunnel near Stonehenge is to be re-examined despite a judge overturning planning permission for it last year.

Campaigners fighting the £1.7billion plans celebrated when the decision to approve the scheme was quashed.

But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has now published a "statement of matters" inviting the case for the two-mile tunnel to be made again.

National Highways said it was "pleased" the scheme could be re-examined.

It wants to build the tunnel, which has the backing of Wiltshire Council, to reduce traffic and cut journey times on the A303, the most direct route for motorists travelling between the South East and South West.

The scheme was given the go-ahead in November 2020 despite environmentalists and archaeologists voicing their opposition to the plan due to its potential impact on the area.

Planning Inspectorate officials had also said the tunnel would cause "permanent, irreversible harm".

A judicial review led by Mr Justice Holgate overturned Mr Shapps' decision to grant the development consent order for the tunnel, a decision the judge said was "unlawful" on two grounds.

The tunnel is part of a £1.7bn investment in the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down

He found there was a "material error of law" in the government's decision-making process as there was no evidence of the impact on each individual asset at the site.

And he said Mr Shapps had failed to consider alternative schemes, in accordance with the World Heritage Convention and common law.

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• Council backs plans for two-mile tunnel

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On Tuesday, the Department for Transport invited National Highways, formerly Highways England, to make further representation for why the tunnel should be looked at again.

The department said it particularly wanted new information about the impact of the tunnel on the government's carbon budgets and climate change targets.

The deadline for new information to be sent to the Department for Transport is 11 January.

The A303 passes close to Stonehenge, which is a World Heritage Site

In a statement, National Highways said: "We're pleased the Secretary of State for Transport has today published what's known as the statement of matters, which is a critical step forward in helping him look again at the A303 Stonehenge scheme consent.

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"This now gives National Highways a much clearer picture of the way forward. We will be working hard to provide the information the Secretary of State has requested, including the information on carbon and climate change.

"We remain confident the scheme is the best solution to solving the traffic problems along this notoriously congested section of the A303 and to remove the sight and the sound of the traffic from the Stonehenge landscape and the World Heritage Site."