The Stonehenge Project will implement key objectives of the WHS Management Plan, which has been the culmination of nearly eight years' work involving numerous conferences, hundreds of meetings and many hours of consultation. Over this period, debate on the future for Stonehenge was heard in every detail and at every level. The subject was raised 128 times in the UK Parliament. Read on if you want to find out more about the triumphs and setbacks on the route to finding a solution to Stonehenge's problems.

The key to it all-the roads
It has long been recognised that removing the roads and traffic from the landscape is the starting point for any scheme to rescue Stonehenge. An improvement scheme for the A303 as it passes Stonehenge was first put on the Government's Roads Programme in 1989. Over 50 possible routes were considered prior to public consultation. The Highways Agency held a Planning Conference in Salisbury in 1995, at which it was recommended that the only acceptable scheme was a long (4km) tunnel at a cost of £300 million. The Government considered this to be unaffordable and withdrew the scheme from the Roads Programme in November 1996.

In July 1998, a way forward was identified when a new A303 scheme was included in the Government's Targeted Programme of Improvements. Uniquely designated as an Exceptional Environmental Scheme, the proposal now includes a bored tunnel (2.1km), a bypass of Winterbourne Stoke, a two level junction at Countess Roundabout and a new junction arrangement at Longbarrow Crossroads. The scheme will cost an estimated £192m, part of which will be funded from heritage sources, and represents an unprecedented commitment by the Government.

A Public Inquiry into the proposals and alternatives to them was held between February and May 2004. The recommendations from this inquiry are expected towards the end of that year. Click on the ‘related links’ tab to discover more about the Inquiry and the evidence presented by the organisations represented there.

Choosing the visitor centre site
In 1991, English Heritage carried out a major public consultation on the relative merits of eight possible locations for a new Stonehenge visitor centre: Countess East, Countess West, Larkhill, Fargo North, Fargo South, New King Barrows, Old King Barrows and Strangways. Larkhill, to the north of Stonehenge, emerged as the favourite among local people at that time but a planning application for a visitor centre on that site was refused.

In November 1996, English Heritage and the National Trust submitted a bid to the Millennium Commission for National Lottery funding for a Stonehenge Park with a visitor centre at Countess East linked by road train to Larkhill. The bid was rejected by the Millennium Commission in July 1997.
In November 1997, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport put forward a proposal to the local community for a visitor centre at Larkhill. This was rejected because of local concerns about its traffic impact. Local people were consulted again in April 1998 on a new proposal to site the visitor centre at Fargo North. Although this met with local support, it was rejected after further examination of the impact of a building on this very sensitive part of the World Heritage Site.

The Project provides for a visitor centre at Countess East, 3km (2 miles) to the east of Stonehenge. All car and coach parking will be at the visitor centre, and a visitor transit system will take visitors to within walking distance of the Stones; provision will be made for those visitors who are unable to undertake the walk.