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Written Question
Roads: Stonehenge
Monday 18th June 2018

Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he received a copy of the report by UNESCO and ICOMOS on plans for road alterations around Stonehenge World Heritage Site subsequent to those bodies' mission to that site in March 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Jesse Norman

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee published on 29 May 2018 a draft decision for its forthcoming convention. This notes the findings and recommendations of the UNESCO/ICOMOS 2018 advisory mission. However, the Department has not seen the final version of this report.

The A303 Stonehenge proposed route was carefully chosen to avoid monuments and barrow groups, or conflict with the Winter Solstice alignment. We are grateful to UNESCO/ICOMOS for their continuing engagement. While the Government recognises the challenges highlighted in the draft decision, we remain confident the scheme will enhance and protect the Stonehenge landscape.


Written Question
Driverless Vehicles
Friday 25th May 2018

Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Transport of 14 May 2018, Official Report, column 99, if he will make an assessment of the compatibility of the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic with the (a) testing and (b) use of fully autonomous vehicles.

Answered by Jesse Norman

Like many other countries who have ratified the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, the 1968 Convention on Road Traffic, or both, the Government considers that neither convention prohibits the testing or use of automated vehicles. This applies to all automated vehicles, including fully automated ones where a person only decides whether to use the automated vehicle, schedules the journey, and chooses destinations.


Written Question
A303: Stonehenge
Wednesday 9th May 2018

Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has been made of the potential effect on the Blick Mead archaeological site of the proposed alterations to the A303 around Stonehenge.

Answered by Jesse Norman

Blick Mead is outside the existing highway boundary for the A303 and on land that will not be disturbed by the scheme.

Even so, Blick Mead is included in the extensive Heritage Impact Assessments that Highways England are carrying out to ensure the scheme brings benefits without creating an unacceptable impact on important local features.

As part of the development of the scheme, Highways England have been carrying out hydro-geological modelling of groundwater flows. This suggests that there will not be any adverse effects on the Blick Mead spring. This finding has been reported in the scheme’s Preliminary Environmental Information Report (February 2018), which was issued as part of the public consultation material.


Written Question
Roads: Stonehenge
Wednesday 9th May 2018

Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2018 to Question 138336 on Roads: Stonehenge, if he will publish the terms of reference of the archaeological surveys planned by the independent Scientific Committee; and when he plans to publish the results of those surveys.

Answered by Jesse Norman

The Terms of Reference of the archaeological surveys for the A303 Stonehenge project, in relation to works affecting the World Heritage Site (WHS), are set out in a series of Written Schemes of Investigation (WSIs).

WSIs are produced for each site on the scheme before any work is started, and are working documents that will undergo a number of updates throughout the lifetime of the surveys to encompass additional requirements identified as the work progresses. There is also a high level overarching WSI for the whole scheme. The initial WSIs will be published on the Scientific Committee’s website by the end of this month (http://a303scientificcommittee.org.uk).

The final iteration of each individual WSI will also be published alongside the survey results, to outline in full the investigations that were found to be required.

The reporting of the surveys in the WHS is likely to be finalised in the autumn when it will be published on the Scientific Committee’s website, alongside the already published archaeological survey reports that have been completed to date in relation to the WHS.


Written Question
Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
Wednesday 29th November 2017

Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to tackle pot holes.

Answered by Jesse Norman

Potholes are a menace to all road users and the Government is taking the steps to help local highway authorities improve the condition of the roads for which they are responsible, including tackling potholes.

Accordingly, the Government is providing £296 million between 2016 and 2021 to local highway authorities in England, outside London, to help repair potholes and stop them forming. This funding has recently been topped up with an additional £46 million, announced in the 2017 Budget on 22 November 2017. This funding is also in addition to just under £6 billion which the Government is providing to local highway authorities for local highway maintenance in England, outside London between 2015 and 2021.

The Department for Transport also announced in January 2017 that it is undertaking a highly innovative trial on the way potholes are identified and managed, working in partnership with Thurrock, York and Wiltshire councils and two private sector SMEs, Soenecs and Gaist. This trial allows high-definition cameras to be mounted to refuse collection vehicles and by deploying innovative intelligent software will identify road surface problems before they become potholes. The trial recently won an award for the best use of new technology in the highways sector.