Considerable coverage has been given to opponents of the Stonehenge tunnel and the various organisations resisting its being built. It is however hard to find anyone who apparently supports its construction.

According to Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site and similar-minded organisations, they are concerned inter alia for the loss of UNESCO World Heritage status if the tunnel goes ahead.

But what benefits would be lost if Stonehenge were delisted? UNESCO’s own website has remarkably little to say about the advantages being listed; some are spurious — as in the site will be protected if there is a war. It seems there are no financial advantages to be had from a listing and the primary focus appears to be the encouragement of tourism.

Somewhat ironic since the need for the tunnel is driven in part at least by tourists visiting the site.

SSWHS maintains that the tunnel will desecrate the site and is described as government-sponsored vandalism. They would have us believe that the tunnel would bring wholesale and permanent destruction of the entire site.

Granted the portals at either end of the tunnel may disturb some archaeological artefacts but the removal of the A303 from within a few hundred metres of the stones would hugely improve their setting. There would be no crawling vehicles with the attendant traffic fumes and noise. Once the tunnel is built, Stonehenge’s surroundings would be returned to a state the creators themselves might recognise.

In my view the tunnel can’t happen soon enough; bring it on!

Chris Anderson

Quidhampton

Send letters by email to newsdesk@salisburyjournal.co.uk or by post to Editor, Salisbury Journal, Suite B (Ground Floor), Milford House, Milford Street, Salisbury, SP1 2BP.