So What Is The Status of the Old A344?

Over the last few weeks I have heard several people complaining about heavy-handed English Heritage staff at Stonehenge attempting to prevent pedestrians and cyclists using the section of the A344 that runs from Airman's Cross to the Junction with Byway 12.  Rather than argue the rights and wrongs, I thought I would simply publish a copy of the Traffic Regulation Order that was implemented by Wiltshire Council.  Please click to enlarge and read it for yourselves.  It makes quite clear that the restrictions ONLY apply to motor vehicles.  There are NO restrictions on pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders and invalid carriage users and they should have the same rights of access to this stretch of highway/byway as they always had, prior to the TRO.

I would suggest that you take a copy of this with you, should you decide to have a walk, or a ride!  Take a spare copy or two to give to any numpty's you encounter!

The situation between Byway 12 and Stonehenge Bottom on the A303 is a little less clear.  The Stopping Up Order seems to have been intended to remove all highway rights, except for the likes of BT,  to use the path of the A303, with the land on which the A344 stood returned to the relevant land owners.   This means, I suppose, that English Heritage own the southern side of what was the A344 and the National Trust (with their policy of Open Access) the northern side.  HOWEVER, English Heritage are well aware of the condition sof the planning consent for the new visitor's centre:

"We would note that the commitment to provide a permissive route between Stonehenge Bottom and Byway 12 is a requirement of the Section 106 legal agreement signed by the National Trust, DCMS, EH and Wiltshire Council."

This should have been constructed and commissioned before the visitor's centre was opened - see the previous post for more details.

English Heritage: Give Them An Inch And They Take a Mile

You never quite know what is going to arrive in the post.  Usually, it's just bills and the usual advertising rubbish that is of no interest and only serves to kill off a few more trees.  Sometimes though, it can be a real pleasure.  Today was one of those days.

I got a letter from a lovely chap, a long time opponent of the A344 closure and proponent of dualing the A303, who goes by the name of "Vexatious Alan".  The epithet isn't because he really is vexatious - it's a bit of a badge of honour in Freedom of Information Act circles that he has got so far up some august body's nose, probably because he was close to exposing some sort of misdoing, they have decreed his FOIA requests are "vexatious" and so they don't need to answer them!

 Receiving the letter was a real pleasure as I so rarely get them - letters written by real living and breathing human beings that is.  I normally operate in cyberspace, grabbing information here there and everywhere - cutting and pasting it into new documents and blasting them back out into the ether.  Having to deal with a typewritten letter was something of a novelty...

...anyway, let's cut to the chase and look at the information "Vexatious Alan" provided.  Since November 2010 he has been pursuing English Heritage in relation to pedestrian and cycle access along the route of what has now become the former A344.  Back on the 24th November 2010, Loraine Knowles of English Heritage wrote to "Vexatious Alan" to explain the rationale behind the Stopping Up Order for the section of the A344 from Stonehenge Bottom on the A303 and the intersection of the A344 with Wiltshire Byway 12.   Loraine Knowles wrote the following on behalf of English Heritage:

"...there was a firm consensus that a stopping up order was more appropriate... 
...in view of the clear intention to return the surface to grass. However, the need to provide access for non-motorised traffic had been recognised at that time, and for this reason it had been proposed that a permissive route be provided for pedestrians and cyclists between Stonehenge Bottom and Byway 12."

"We would note that the commitment to provide a permissive route between Stonehenge Bottom and Byway 12 is a requirement of the Section 106 legal agreement signed by the National Trust, DCMS, EH and Wiltshire Council."

Now that is both interesting and puzzling.  I'm not a legal eagle but common sense dictates that if the right to drive a motorised vehicle along a stretch of road are removed through the implementation of a stopping up order and a TRO, as were used in the case of the A344, then the right to move along that route on foot, on a bike or on a horse still exist as they weren't specifically removed.  So, in one sense, I don't see why a permissive byway was needed as a de-facto substantive byway already existed along the route and continues to exist.  But, until someone comes along and can provide the legal view on all this, let's play the English Heritage game for the moment - they have a legal obligation to provide a permissive route between Stonehenge Bottom and Byway 12.

Wiltshire Council in the planning consent for the recently opened visitor's centre imposed a series of conditions that English Heritage were obliged to sign-up to.  According to the information provided to me by Vexatious Alan, the last of these, Condition 27 reads as follows:

"No development shall commence until

         (i)  details of the pedestrian and cycle route along the whole of the A344, including the crossing
               arrangements at the A303 (Stonehenge Bottom) and

        (ii)  a scheme for reviewing such access and crossing arrangements

have been submitted and approved (in consultation with the Highways Agency) in writing by the local planning authority".

"The development shall not be occupied until the agreed works have been completed".

"The scheme for reviewing the access and crossing arrangements...

...shall detail how recommended remedial action will be funded and implemented, including arrangements to provide for alternative crossing points on the A303 and associated access links."


Wiltshire Council recently provided "Vexatious Alan" with a map of what the A303 junction and paths at Stonehenge Bottom should have looked like, before the new visitor's centre was allowed to open.  You WILL need to click on this to see it.

"Vexatious Alan" has helpfully highlighted the length of new path that English Heritage were supposed to install and a pre-existing path that English Heritage seem to have removed.

Anyone who has tried to cross the A303, use the new gate and ride a bike up to Byway 12 knows that English Heritage have not done what they were supposed to do.

UPDATE:  Having read the original version of this post, an up-to-the-minute STAG member sent me a photo, taken only yesterday, looking back down the stopped up A344.  Note the high quality footpath and cycle path - NOT!  Interesting to see that the byway - permissive or substantive - with its steel fencing across it, gives the impression of not being a byway at all!  Anyone would think that English Heritage were trying to convince people it didn't exist and deter them from trying. 

I think that both English Heritage and Wiltshire Council Planning Department have a few questions that they need to answer pretty sharpish and as a matter of public interest.  This isn't only important in the context of the A344, but also of considerable importance when it comes to what might happen with the A303 after the planned feasibility study reports.

It seems, if the information above is to be believed and I have no reason to doubt it, that English Heritage cannot be trusted to comply with legal agreements it has willingly signed up to and legal conditions to which it is subject by virtue of the planning process.  Furthermore, Wiltshire Council seem to have failed to monitor compliance with the Conditions of the planning consent that THEY imposed.

None of this fills me with a sense that either organisation is to be trusted.  With English Heritage it really does seem to be a case that if you give them an inch, they will take a mile. It actually makes me feel somewhat...

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Why an obscure reference to Chapter 7 of Kenneth Grahame's "Wind in the Willows" or Pink Floyd's debut album from 1967 you might ask?  A good question, and one for which there is a good answer - Well,  an answer at least.

I suppose the Wind in the Willows reference is only fair given the fact that the A303 has been making passable attempts to imitate a river for the past few weeks and you can frequently find examples of Badger, Ratty, Mr Toad and other characters lying immobile and festering by the side of it. 

In this case though, the reference really is to Pink Floyd.  First, they are my favourite band and any excuse I can think of to listen to their music has to be leapt at.  Second. I was reading some Tweets from another STAG member, @tragicyclist - a keen cyclist.  He and his friends had been complaining about the lack of cycle lanes.  Although I ride mountain bikes,  I'd avoided a road back because the prospect of riding on the A303, to get out of the village, is terrifying.   However, for all sorts of reasons, I now have a road bike, and that got me to thinking of Pink Floyd and the Piper at the Gates of Dawn in particular.  The final track on side 2 of the UK version of the album is Bike.

I've got a bike.
You can ride it if you like.
It's got a basket, a bell that rings,
and things to make it look good.
I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it.

That's all a very convoluted way of getting to the real point about this post.  If we are going to spend a King's Ransom dualing the A303/A358/A30 corridor, why not be really imaginative?  This is meant to be the Highway to the Sun, after all; especially when it is not being the Highway to Hell.

Why not take the opportunity of creating a purpose built cycleway and footpath at the same time?

It could be shared with pedestrians and, given the wealth of interesting things along the course of the A303, could make a walking or cycling holiday in its own right.   Now I don't mean painting a narrow strip down the side of the A303 and assuming that cars and lorries will stay out of it.

They won't!  In any event - mixing pedestrians and cyclists with traffic travelling at 70-90mph isn't a particularly bright idea. 

I don't even think it would be sensible to set a cycleway/pedestrian lane directly alongside the carriageway - too clos, too noisy and still way too intimidating.  What I'd like to see is something like the cycleways around the outskirts of Oxford and in many European cities.

A cycleway and footpath physically separated from the road by a grass strip and, ideally, by an Armco barrier to stop accidental incursions by motor vehicles.  We have a once only opportunity with the A303 and any dualing activity that might happen and we should make as much of it as we can.  What do YOU think?

David Cameron "Committed" - Shock, Horror..

Not often that you can use a striking headline like that, but in this case it seems legitimate.   Well, at least according to the Exeter Express and Echo who are today running a very interesting story on the A303.

The story reports that David Cameron, in a letter to Devon MP Neil Parish, has said that he and the Conservative Party are committed to improving the A303/A358/A30 corridor.

In his letter, the Prime Minister is reported to have said:

"I very much recognise the strategic importance of this corridor and therefore of finding solutions to its problems, and one of the elements of the study process will be to try to reach agreement on the respective priorities for investment along the corridor.

“The Department (of Transport) expects this study to be completed by spring 2015. Through this feasibility study the Department will identify potential future investment proposals for the route and the priorities, as part of its process for longer term investment planning...”

 “...this Government is committed to finding solutions to the problems on the corridor”.

Talk, of course, is cheap.  Let's see what happens next.

The A303/A30/A358 Corridor Feasibility Study

I've just received the following information on the A303 feasibility study from John Glen MP.  I thought it important enough to flag up as it is, without any comment from me, at least at this stage.   Robert Goodwill, the Transport Minister, writes:

I want to give as may folk as possible the chance to read it.  If you have any comments, please send them to me and to John Glen.

It will also be interesting to see if STAG, as a local voice of stakeholders here in Wiltshire, will be invited to participate on the 24th in Taunton?

A303/A30/A358 Corridor Feasibility Study

Background
Following the 2013 Spending Review, the Government announced plans for the biggest ever upgrade of our strategic roads network. Government has also committed to carrying out a number of feasibility studies to tackle some of the most notorious road hot spots in the country.
The feasibility studies will look at these problems in detail and identify potential schemes to solve them. They will be progressed alongside the Highways Agency’s Route Based Strategy programme which is considering the current and future performance of the network. When taken together they will inform future roads investment decisions as part of the Roads Investment Strategy development process.

The A303/A30/A358 corridor
The A303 corridor provides an important role in connecting the South East and South West regions. It is dualled over much of its length but between the M3 motorway, A358 and A30 there remain several unimproved single carriageway sections which cause congestion, especially during summer weekends.
Given the history of progress with investment proposals in the A303 corridor, at the time of the 2010 Spending Review, the Government did not have sufficiently developed business cases for investment proposals to be able to confirm specific investment projects in the A303 corridor.
Somerset County Council held a summit with other relevant stakeholders in 2012 the outcome of which was a commitment by the region for further work on the relative prioritisation of potential interventions and consideration of possible funding avenues. The grouping of local authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships produced an initial analysis and business case for future improvements to the A303 corridor, to reiterate the importance of investment in the corridor, particularly the wider economic benefits to the South West economy.
The Department for Transport and the Highways Agency have worked closely with the South West local authorities on the details of the analysis and business case for potential investment, providing assistance and views on the methodology adopted and views on what further analysis may be necessary.

Study Aims and Objectives
The aim of the study is to identify the opportunities and understand the case for future investment solutions on the A303/A30/A358 corridor that are deliverable, affordable and offer value for money.

The specific objectives of the study are to:

•   Identify and assess the case, deliverability and timing of specific road investments that address exiting problems on the A303 corridor.
  
•   Understand the balance of benefits and impacts from potential individual investment proposals and any additional benefits or impacts from investment on corridor basis.
  
•   Evidence where possible, the wider economic benefits from the road investment in the corridor.
  
•   Understand the impacts of potential investment in the A303 corridor on the performance of other road transport corridors to the South West region.
  
•   Understand the impacts of the proposed investment in the A303 corridor on the resilience of the road transport network.
  
  Geographic and modal scope
  The proposed geographic scope of the study should consider the length of the A303/A30 corridor from the junction between the A303 and M3 in the east to the junction between the A30 and the M5 in the west. The geographic scope of the study would also include the A358 from its junction with the A303 at Ilminster to its junction with the M5. The Blackdown Hills are designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and as such we do not propose to consider large-scale road building in that area.
  

The modal scope of the study will be predominantly road-based and would need to understand the details of performance and current investment proposals for the identified parts of the strategic road network, as well as the local authority road network, particularly the A358.


Questions to be addressed
There are a number of questions that need to be addressed as part of the study work, and these are set out below.

•   Given the assessment of current and future performance of the A303 corridor are there specific priority location/problems that should be addressed?
  
•   Are there viable potential solutions to these problems which are deliverable, affordable and offer value for money?
  
•   What are the potential timescales for the delivery of the identified potential solutions?
  
•   Are there additional benefits or impacts from combinations of potential solutions over and above those for individual solutions?
  
•   Is there evidence of the impact of investment in potential solutions on the resilience of the road network?
  
•   What are the impacts of investment in the A303 corridor on other road transport links/corridors to the South West?
  
•   Have the potential solutions identified fully considered and optimised the environmental opportunities and mitigation that the potential transport investment could bring?
  
•   Are there any changes necessary to current responsibilities for the management and operation of the road network in the A303 corridor?
  
•   Is further work/analysis required for Government to be able to make specific investment decisions, and if so what are the timescale of such work?
  Phases of work
  The study will be completed in several stages which are set out below.
  

Stage 0:  Agreement to the scope, timing and management arrangements for the study
Stage 1:  Review of evidence and identification of problems along the corridor
Stage 2: Work to finalise the range of infrastructure proposals that could address the problems along the corridor
Stage 3: Work to assess the affordability, value for money and deliverability of prioritised infrastructure proposals

Governance Arrangements

A303/A30/A358 Reference Group
Given the wide range of stakeholder interest in the A303/A30/A358 study it is proposed to establish a Reference Group for the study. The main role of the Reference Group will be to ensure stakeholders’ views are captured and considered during the study process, particularly at key points in the study work and at times of the development of key outputs.

Blowing £300 Million on Fripperies.

Yesterday, the Daily Telegraph published an interesting article on the £300 million spent so far on the HS2 rail project.  Yes, you read that correctly, £300 million without so much as a sleeper, or length of track being laid.  

When you look at how this has been spent, you really do begin to wonder what is going on.  £700 on iPad covers,  £128,000 on promotional videos; including versions with alternative endings - I assume this covers the eventuality where they manage to build it for £50 million and the alternative, and much more likely scenario, when the costs rise and they come back with a begging bowl to buy a few more iPad covers.   Of course, the majority of this money- some £192 million has been spent on "consultancy" so we can expect to see precious little of any practical value from that.

Sound familiar?   It reminds me of the large sums spent so far in NOT dualing the A303 west from Stonehenge.  It also brings into sharp relief the difference between HS2 and SH2 - the need to dual the A303/A30 along its entire length.  The first is unliked, unwanted and will, according to the politicians, be fully funded - despite growing concerns that the financial case is indefensible.  The second, SH2, is liked, wanted and has a strong financial case.  It makes you wonder about the arse-about-face country in which we live!

The A303 Ship Canal

Shortly before Christmas, the A303 responded to the intense rainfall by flooding near Yeovil, between the Cartgate and the Podimore Roundabouts.  For a couple of days, an Amphicar or another amphibious vehicle would have proved an absolute godsend to those wishing to travel along the A303.

Now, just over a week into the New Year and the same thing has happened again, this time a bit nearer to us at the A36 interchange.  Fortunately only on the eastbound carriageway and as I write, the Highways Agency are predicting it will be opened by 1800.  Time will tell - they do tend to err on the side of total unreality.

That got me thinking about the impact of floods and flooding on any A303 improvement scheme that might be put forward.  Clearly, flooding is becoming increasingly common with the effects of global warming, so we ought to expect that the Environment Agency ought to be one of the stakeholders for the forthcoming A303 feasibility study.  Someone else for us to talk to.

One of the plans put forward for a bypass of Winterbourne Stoke a few years since, had  the route of the A303 diverted north of the village, towards Shrewton.  It ran across the flood plain of the River Till, raised on a large earthwork berm.  Think dam -with a gap in it.  Now the River Till is normally a very benign little stream, but it hides a dark and dangerous secret - the Great Till Flood of 1841.

So notorious is that event, as an example of chalk downland groundwater flooding, that it is taught as an example of this phenomenon in universities around the world.  Events in 2014 are following a remarkably similar pattern to those in the January of 1841 - a period of heavy rain, with cold, possibly freezing weather in the next week.   At the moment, the Environment Agency have the following flood alert in place:

When you look at the water level in the Tilshead borehole, the aquifer that may be responsible (I'm speculating here, I'm not a hydrologist) for the flood on the A303 today, you will see why the idea of building the A303 on a berm might need looking at.

 It seems we are less than 0.5 metre from having an "interesting" situation.  I guess the next 4 or 5 days, with more rain forecast on Sunday, could prove interesting indeed for traffic on the A303.

Let's keep fingers crossed that the rain stops, the ground doesn't freeze, we don't have snow followed by a quick thaw and the water level in the aquifer drops - that way the A303 through Winterbourne Stoke might stay open.  Imagine though, for a moment, what might happen if the Great Flood of 1841 was repeated when the Till valley was largely blocked by a berm? 

Routing a new dual carriageway has many more things to consider than just the World Heritage site at Stonehenge.

 UPDATE: 

The Highways Agency have announced that the A303 (eastbound) is likely to remain closed at the A36 Deptford interchange all day today.  Great joy!

At 09:00 on Friday 10/01/2014, the water levels had crept up to 99.71 metres AOD (AOD - Above Ordnance Datum - or to you and me, above the mean sea level determined for the Ordnance Survey), which is just a smidgen below the highest astronomical tide level for this site, which is 99.88 m AOD.

Anyone wanting to learn more about the Great Flood of 1841 might want to read a paper called "Estimating Extreme Floods".   It was written by by Colin Clark in 2004 and published in a journal with the catchy title of:  International Water Power and Dam Construction.  You couldn't make this stuff up, could you!

Despite the turgid sounding nature of this paper, it is a surprisingly good and thought provoking read.