Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on the prehistoric landscape at Stonehenge of the proposals for a new flyover and tunnel.

A principal aim of the scheme is to remove the roads and heavy traffic, with their associated noise and disturbance from the vicinity of the stones and to reunite Stonehenge with its surrounding monuments in their natural chalk downland setting. This involves removing the road and its traffic completely from within sight of the stones, with the locations of the tunnel portals being beyond the visual horizons from Stonehenge.

Highways England is carrying out extensive Heritage Impact Assessments to ensure the scheme brings benefits without creating unacceptable effects on the important features of the World Heritage Site.

A programme of archaeological surveys has been developed with input from an independent Scientific Committee, which comprises some of the country’s most eminent archaeologists. The project also has a Heritage Monitoring and Advisory Group comprising Historic England, Wiltshire Council Archaeology Service, English Heritage and The National Trust. The Scientific Committee and Advisory Group will continue to have oversight of all the archaeological findings as the scheme develops. Further information about the Scientific Committee’s work can be found at: http://www.a303scientificcommittee.org.uk/