The new British government cancels the plans to build near the Unesco World Heritage site Stonehenge. Chancellor Rachel Reeves calls the £2.5bn A303 Stonehenge scheme s a “low value, unaffordable commitment".

The original cost estimate in 2017 was around £1.7bn but increased to construction cost was estimated to £1.9bn in with maintenance costs of £8m a year. The current estimate for the combined total cost of the scheme is over £2.5bn and that’s before it runs into any difficulties tunnelling in phosphatic chalk.

Chancellor's talk on A303 cancellation can be watched at Parliament TV from 15:47:30 onward: https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/51c76139-0976-4e0e-834b-6b4d851cf964

The Stonehenge Alliance which had been campaigning against the tunnel, has welcomed the decision:

The Stonehenge Alliance has welcomed today’s announcement by Chancellor Rachel Reeves to cancel the £2.5bn A303 Stonehenge scheme as a “low value, unaffordable commitment”.

The Stonehenge Alliance believe the road should have been binned in 2020 when it was recommended for refusal, after a six month examination, for the damage it would cause to the World Heritage Site. However, the previous government’s obsession with road building resulted in it approving the scheme despite acknowledging that it would cause permanent and irreversible harm to the World Heritage Site. It was also grotesquely expensive, but even based on National Highways’ own figures the economic case for building was fatally flawed. The road scheme would have been lucky to create 50 pence in economic benefits for every £1 spent.

John Adams, chair of the Stonehenge Alliance said:

“This is a vindication of all the work of so many people over so many years from supporters around the world. National Highways’ misguided project was called out for what it was: low value and unaffordable. It was also highly damaging. Now that it has been scrapped, we need to move on. As soon as the budget is there, we need to ensure, as a priority, that local traffic is better managed and rail access to the South West improved.”

Tom Holland, historian and president of the Stonehenge Alliance, said:

“This is wonderful news. This entire monstrous project, a proposal to drive a gash of concrete & tarmac through our most sacred prehistoric landscape, should never have got off the drawing board. That cancelling it will also save £2.5bn is obviously an additional perk.”

source: Stonehenge Alliance press release.