now if you've ever driven along the a303 just over there in my background past stonehenge
with regards to the tunnel that they're proposing and have been for a long time you probably fall
into one or two camps number one let's get on and build the tunnel it's been 25 years number two
we shouldn't really build a tunnel here because there's going to be a lot of damage
from the portals let's head further south and just build a dual carriageway around it
but what if i told you there was a third option a better option
in my opinion what if i told you that option was to do absolutely nothing at all also
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when i was a kid i used to cycle everywhere
and i used to follow maps in fact this actual map was all i used quite a lot
so i used to try and find something on a map which looked different something a little quirky
something i didn't know what it was and try and find it it wasn't for any historical reason i
wasn't into history then i guess i'd just go there for the pleasure of doing it and to tick it off
so one of the things i found when i was a kid is this what we're in now is huge earth work turns
out it's a defensive earthwork more than likely protecting a peninsula and a hill fort behind it
we've got the river test down to our west and we've got uh the river diva behind us to the south
now highly likely that this is iron age uh in its construction and it's monumental
so i turn up have a look around on my bike impressed tick it off and move on
but then a few years back i came back because i did want to learn about the history what context
this had with the local area now i was saddened to learn that this two and a half thousand year
old structure this earthwork had been cut in two by a road just up ahead now thankfully
this isn't a modern crime the road that cut it in two was one of the last last turnpike roads
in north west Hampshire and connected andover to its nearest station 10 miles away in early railway
mania despite the fact that it was widened in late 60s to make way for the a303 the dual carriageway
so we're past all that now aren't we surely the anne's dyke
hands ditch is safe from further destruction
so it turns out probably not you see when i was a kid riding around on my bike
at the time there were mutterings of a tunnel under stonehenge
and that sounded hugely exciting and appealing and to a degree it still does now
oh hello could you take your time you told me to get the coffees remember
oh okay fair enough thanks and this video has the potential to be a little bit intense
intense look i like we tried a couple of nights ago but tried to get intense no in
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so Stonehenge tunnel this is a historic England map it's a great resource to find things of what
historic value that you might find interesting now here is the andike that i mentioned earlier
and in most cases pretty much all the up-to-date information known is on here and the article
relevant to the thing you're looking at so let's leave the andike and head west over to the border
into Wiltshire and towards Stonehenge yes this is the world heritage site that is the landscape of
Stonehenge and everything that surrounds it and if i somehow cleverly overlay the approximate planned
tunnel for Stonehenge as it stands today you can see why it's completely unacceptable
so let's go back a step or two before i tell you why the best option is to do nothing at all here
let's consider the context of the site now if you've driven past here at any time in the last
50 years you'll probably agree with me the traffic is an absolute nightmare come the summer months
don't expect to pass here quickly at all the problem isn't Stonehenge itself Stonehenge
is just a feature that people want to see the issue itself is more to do with the road types
and their interaction here now it doesn't take a traffic expert to establish that when you change
a dual carriageway to a single lane and add a certain amount of cars per minute without question
you're going to have a queue just one lane the whole lot and you'll solve the issue but you'll
move the problem that's important we'll come back to that very shortly now i did mention that when i
was a kid 1995 i think it was first mentioned and proposed that there was going to be a tunnel here
so buckle up for a extremely short presentation on the brief history of the tunnel and its proposals
in under a minute 1995 tunnel proposed agreement made on 2.5 mile tunnel hurrah
1995 government suggests too costly and say cut and cover would be best boo 1999 government plans
established and heavily criticized 2002 1.3 mile tunnel proposed by the government 189
million cost 2004 public inquiry 2005 government withdrawal plan and now 470 million cost 2005.
highways agencies do not remove it from their plans 2005 another steering group set up to
look at further options 2007 scheme closed due to projections of 540 million cost 2012 a344
nearby road closed 2012 meeting of councillors to look at options once again 2013 current chancellor
wanted to just add more lanes 2017 a tunnel is given the green light for 1.9 miles 2017 unesco
condemn the product 2018. highways england hold consultations they set a price of 1.6 billion
planning to start 2021. 2018 the english heritage national trust and historic England in favour of
the tunnel but have concerns about the byways 2020 Rusih Sunak green lights the project 2020
November grant shapps grants a development order campaigners launch a legal challenge 2021 July
UNESCO stated that the world heritage site status could be lost if the government do not drop the
ill-advised project 2021 july campaigners in their legal challenge were actually successful a judge
ruled that grant shapp's decision was unlawful on two basis number one it did not consider
alternatives number two there was no evidence of impact on the assets of the site 2022 may
international consortium was appointed to build a tunnel a combination of three different companies
from Spain Italy and Austria 2022 June department of transport and national highways investigate
whether alternative plans were considered why are they investigating the alternative plans
well that's a bit longer than a minute admittedly yes and there is a lot to
unpack there not about to unpack that right now let's consider exactly where
we are now this is wood henge it was discovered as recently as 1925
built around the same time as Stonehenge depending on which bit of Stonehenge
so the site of wood hens sits around two to three hundred meters north east of where
the eastern portal of the tunnel is set to be now it's not just a portal of a tunnel
it's a significant cutting ripping through the landscape right up into the tunnel now in my head
if that was only discovered in 1925 what else have we yet to discover
within this world heritage site this hugely important landscape
and then of course there's the cost 1.6 billion
it seems quite a heck of a lot of money for one tunnel you think okay well that's not the
end of the world because when you're building an infrastructure project well you're creating
jobs you're spending it on stuff but then you consider that actually the work is going to
a trio of Italian Spanish and Austrian companies so how much of that money put
into the economy is going to end up in the local economy and actually benefit the society here
so as we approach Stonehenge from a completely different viewpoint we've not seen before consider
what should the alternative sheet should it be to build a tunnel underneath it dual carriageway
should it be maybe to head much further south away from the world heritage site dual lane it but in
both cases all you're doing is moving the problem further down the road to the next roundabout or
to the next interchange or to the next bit where the lanes go into one lane from two you're moving
the problem you're moving the bottleneck from here away from here that doesn't sound like
it's solving a problem perhaps the solution is to do nothing and invest in public transport
now if you're local to here you're probably hammering your keyboard right now at me and
I completely get that and i understand so do feel free to hammer the keyboard but i'm local
too and I've travelled to my father who lives in Wincanton and it only takes me 45 minutes by car
if i miss this bit of the a303 but if i wanted to take public transport to my father's house
it takes me 3 hours and 15 minutes that's crazy Amesbury the town just over there used to have
a rail connection it doesn't anymore if you want to catch a bus from Amesbury to andover 12 miles
it takes you an hour and yet 15 minutes by car that shouldn't be the case you should be able to
come to an attraction like Stonehenge use public transport and spend more time at the attraction
than you do on the public transport in the first place if you want to catch a train anywhere west
of here you've got a single line passenger line there's never any freight on it and of course a
single line is very restrictive to how trains operate let's invest in that public transport
so I've been paul and i've been rebecca and i think what you're trying to say is let's campaign
for some better public transport absolutely let's give ourselves a chance to do stuff
in the right way i guess so this has been quite an intense video yeah so that's reminded us to
thank our sponsor for today's video which is a delightful people at pouch again if you want
to save yourselves a bunch of money um link in the doobly-doo below link and doobly-doo below
so from me and rebecca thanks for watching we'll see you this time next week
you