UK government cancels stonehenge tunnel construction

A303 stonehenge tunnel project axed by UK government

The present UK government has canceled the construction of the controversial highway tunnel near Stonehenge, which first received the green light from the previous administration in 2023. In the policy paper published on July 29th, 2024, the government elaborates that they’re canceling the A303 Stonehenge tunnel and the A27 schemes because of their low value and ‘unaffordable commitments which would have cost £587 million next year.’ It was Transport Secretary Grant Shapps who gave the formal green light in 2023 via a Development Consent Order for work to start on the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down (Stonehenge) scheme.

Had the UK government didn’t cancel the project, the £1.7 billion Stonehenge tunnel scheme would have constructed eight miles of dual highways, a tunnel at least two miles long underneath the World Heritage Site, a new bypass to the north of the village of Winterbourne Stoke, and junctions on either side of it. National Highways, formerly Highways England and the group overseeing the project, adds that while the tunnel would ‘a further 50 meters away from the Stonehenge monument, avoiding important archaeological sites, and avoiding intrusion on the view of the setting sun from the stones during the winter solstice.’

all images courtesy of National Highways (formerly Highways England)

UNESCO expresses its concerns about stonehenge tunnel

Wiltshire Council, which backed the project, has expressed its disappointment after the UK government went on to cancel the Stonehenge highway tunnel scheme. Its leader, Councillor Richard Clewer, believes ‘these improvements are needed now to ease traffic congestion on the A303 and reduce traffic in our communities, and also ensure economic growth in Wiltshire, unlocking jobs and investment in the wider south-west region.’ Around £160 million has already been spent on the highway project, including the installation of the power supply from the A360 road to the tunnel site. UNESCO had already stated its concerns about the construction.

The UN agency continuously underlined the importance of the prehistoric structure, which is considered the most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world (while Avebury is the largest). The agency also received a petition against the construction in 2023, as BBC reports. Upon hearing the news, the Stonehenge Allegiance, a group that has fought against the tunnel construction and claims to have had around 240,000 petitioners, celebrated the cancellation. The collective has highlighted that the creation of the tunnel would lead to the landscape’s desecration and put Stonehenge at risk. They add that it could also generate carbon emissions from building it as well as not entirely solve the traffic problems the project aimed to address.

existing A303 past Stonehenge, cutting through World Heritage Site landscape