In the UK, the Transport Minister, Dr Stephen Ladyman, has announced the formation of a cross-government steering group to take forward the review of options to ease congestion on the A303 trunk road and improve the setting around Stonehenge (T&TI August, p12).
This follows this summer’s decision to re-investigate options following the estimated costs of the proposed tunnel rising from US$494MM at the time of the Public Inquiry to US$819M at the latest estimate, which “represents a significant change to the basis on which the Government decided to progress this scheme”.
The group will consist of representatives from the Department for Transport; the Department for Culture, Media and Sport; the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; the Highways Agency; the Government Office for the South West; English Heritage and Natural England as well as statutory advisers. The group will be tasked with updating the costs and benefits of the options considered at the Public Inquiry, plus possible variants of these options, in order to produce a shortlist of options for a more detailed examination.
Shortlisted options will be subject to a public consultation exercise lasting for 13 weeks from January next year. A final report will then be made to ministers in early summer 2006. Ladyman said: “I hope this review will enable me to decide on an option in keeping with the special requirements of the location that is affordable, realistic and deliverable.”
