English Heritage - Some Hope For The Future?

On Thursday evening (06/02/2014) , STAG met with representatives of English Heritage in Shrewton.  The purpose of the meeting was twofold and in line with an earlier meeting we had held with the National Trust.  Firstly, we wanted to speak to English Heritage about the forthcoming A303 feasibility study and our desire, if possible, to cooperate with them, in an effort to achieve a result that benefited all.

Second, we pointed out that the closure of the A344, English Heritage's somewhat disingenuous attempts to blame Wiltshire Council for the closure, the subsequent traffic chaos on the A303, the A360 and a raft of other local roads, their failure to comply with specific conditions of the planning permission granted for the construction of the new visitor's centre (including their failure to allow unfettered access to the A344, 24/7 , for everything other than motorized vehicles) and some other minor niggles meant there was a feeling of distrust of English Heritage in the local community.  We also pointed out that this built on issues that had arisen from previous dealings with English Heritage on the A303 over a number of decades.

So, whilst we were being genuine in our desire to work with English Heritage in the future, there were some legacy issues that would need to be addressed before the local community could buy in to this engagement wholeheartedly.

Clearly, this was something of a mixed message and it would have been very easy for the meeting to have become overly acrimonious on our part, or for the English Heritage reps to simply walk away and refuse to engage. 

Neither of those things happened - which was a measure of success in itself.  We also got the feeling that English Heritage perhaps hadn't fully appreciated some of the issues that had so annoyed the local community.   We suggested some short term measures that might be considered as ways of alleviating the traffic problems in the area, on the A303 and on the local roads around Stonehenge, and English Heritage also suggested other ideas.  Collectively, all would be worth raising with other stakeholders like Wiltshire Council,  the Highways Agency and Parish Councils.

All in all, from the STAG perspective, a helpful first meeting.  I say first, because we hope it will not be the last - more meetings will be needed if much of the talk is to be translated into action. 

Perhaps actions speak louder than words?   We have heard just heard indirectly that changes have been made to the access to the A344 from the A360 and it now possible for pedestrians and cyclists to have unfettered access 24/7.  That might sound trivial, but it's a good start.  It is encouraging for the future and something on which we can build.