Safety action will be better, say Greens (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Safety action will be better, say Greens

SALISBURY Green Party has criticised the A303 Stonehenge Improvement scheme, saying that if the proposals were approved, the new road cutting would become the most prominent monument within the Stonehenge World Heritage Site.

This is the view the Salisbury Greens will present to the public inquiry when it opens at the Guildhall in Salisbury, at 10am on Tuesday.

Spokesman Hamish Soutar will tell the inquiry that the damage caused by the new road will far outweigh any benefits from closing the existing roads.

He will call for a return to the consensus reached at the 1995 Red Lion planning conference.

"The conference agreed with the aim of removing the roads entirely, at least from the area known as the Stonehenge Bowl," said Mr Soutar, who is the party's parliamentary candidate.

"There is no surface route for a new road that would meet either with that objective, or with the government's international obligations to protect the World Heritage Site.

"English Heritage and the present government are betraying the public by backing the proposed road scheme."

Local Greens say no new road should be built, but a number of safety measures should be implemented along the current A303, such as closing the junction with the A344.

However, if the government is determined to press ahead with its plan, the Salisbury Green Party said the only solution would be a long tunnel under the entire World Heritage Site.

"We don't really want the tunnel, but we are putting it forward because it is important that the inquiry consider it," said Mr Soutar.

"We shall argue that any tunnel design has to include every available safety feature, whatever the cost.

"We shall also argue that there are benefits to be had from putting the whole project on hold for 20 years or so.

"Technology is changing, transport policy changes and Stonehenge itself is old enough to wait."

He added: "The most important World Heritage Site that we need to protect is the world itself.

"Our uncertain future will not be helped by continuing to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on vast new roads.

"Our duty to conserve Stonehenge for future generations is pointless unless we ensure that they have a world fit to live in."