Outrage as Labour scraps ‘as soon as in a technology’ likelihood to enhance street | UK | News | EUROtoday

The Government has been criticised by native officers for plotting to take away planning permission for a £1.7 billion undertaking in “one of the region’s most vital transport corridors”. Plans for the Stonehenge Tunnel, designed to cut back visitors close to the World Heritage Site in Wiltshire, have been suspended by Labour in July 2024, however the essential permissions acquired by the earlier Tory management remained in place. Officials have now moved to revoke the event consent order (DCO) for the stretch of A303 from Amesbury to Berwick Down, which was granted in 2023 and included the development of a brand new bypass, viaduct and junction in addition to a tunnel of roughly two miles close to Stonehenge.

Ian Thorn, Liberal Democrat chief of Wiltshire Council, denounced the transfer as “completely unacceptable, not least because the Government has done nothing to facilitate an early discussion on an alternative solution”. “This disregards years of planning, consultation and investment, and throws away a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve one of the region’s most vital transport corridors,” he added in a press release printed within the Business Desk. The authorities estimated that the scheme would value £1.7 billion again in 2019, however hovering inflation within the intervening years means it may now be nicely above £2 billion.

Mr Thorn warned that an outright rejection of the undertaking would have “far-reaching consequences”, together with “condemning local communities to continued congestion and rat-running”.

“It would undermine efforts to unlock jobs and investment across Wiltshire and the wider south west,” he added. “It wastes public money and the infrastructure already put in place; it compromises the environmental benefits that could have been achieved, and it also delays any future progress by forcing the entire process to start from scratch.

“This isn’t just a setback – it is a full step backwards for a area that’s severely missing in authorities funding in comparison with different components of the nation. Wiltshire deserves higher, the south west deserves higher, and we are going to proceed to combat for the infrastructure our communities want and deserve.”

While the project has proved controversial since it was first proposed in the late 1990s, organisations including the National Trust have backed the idea of providing an alternative to the “damaging” surface road, which runs through the historic site.

“There are, in fact, tough selections to be made relating to nationwide spending plans, however we remorse the misplaced alternative to reunite this globally vital panorama and to considerably enhance the expertise for the hundreds of thousands of tourists who come to this distinctive web site,” a spokesperson for the conservation body said after Rachel Reeves announced the scheme would be paused last year.

The Department for Transport said “distinctive circumstances” had made it “applicable” to revoke planning permission.

“Given the difficult monetary image we inherited, we needed to make tough selections about a lot of street initiatives as they have been unfunded or unaffordable,” a spokesperson said.

“We stay dedicated to investing in initiatives that ship for the taxpayer and drive development, which is why we’re investing almost £5 billion this 12 months alone on our strategic street community to help its upkeep, enhancement, and guarantee smoother journeys.”