The UK’s chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves has cancelled a long-running and controversial redevelopment scheme at Stonehenge, which would have seen a two-mile tunnel built near the ancient site. Reeves said in Parliament that the newly elected Labour government “would not move forwards” with the £2bn project as part of a budget overhaul aimed at filling a £22bn fiscal black hole.
In a policy paper published 29 July, the government confirmed that the project will be scrapped. “The government is cancelling the A303 Stonehenge tunnel and the A27 scheme [in West Sussex]. These are low value, unaffordable commitments which would have cost £587m next year,” says the Treasury audit.
The transformation of the Stonehenge area was due to be overseen by the UK government agency known as National Highways. The work involved rerouting the A303 road, which runs through the prehistoric site, into a new dual-carriageway tunnel passing close to Stonehenge. The A303, meanwhile, would have been repurposed and partly turned into a public walkway.
Opponents of the project welcomed the cancellation. Tom Holland, the president of the Stonehenge Alliance campaign group, said in a statement: “This entire monstrous project, a proposal to drive a gash of concrete and tarmac through our most sacred prehistoric landscape, should never have got off the drawing board.”
But a spokesperson for English Heritage, which manages the site, said: “English Heritage has been a strong supporter of the tunnel project, which would reunite the ancient landscape and allow more people to explore and enjoy this remarkable site.” English Heritage will seek further dialogue with the government to find a solution for one of the country's most important and iconic sites, the statement added.
National Trust also criticised the decision, saying that “a solution is needed to remove the hugely damaging surface road that blights Stonehenge and its surrounding landscape”.
The cancellation is yet another twist in a long-running legal battle. In late 2020 then Tory minister Grant Shapps approved the planned road tunnel project, only for the Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site campaign group to win a court battle quashing his decision in 2021. This was followed by a judicial review which allowed the scheme to go ahead, the outcome of which campaigners challenged earlier this month.
In July last year the Department for Transport again approved the tunnel proposal. The latest appeal by campaigners came before the Royal Courts of Justice on 15 to 17 July, when Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site claimed that ministers who approved the plans were “inadequately briefed” about the possible alternatives. A judgement is still pending.
Earlier this month Unesco rejected a plan to add Stonehenge to its “World Heritage in Danger” list.