UNESCO rejects proposal to add Wiltshire's Stonehenge to world heritage ‘in danger’ list

The United Nations’ cultural agency (UNESCO) has rejected recommendations to place Stonehenge on its world heritage “in danger” list because of plans for a nearby road tunnel. The organisation’s World Heritage Committee (WHC) published a draft decision last month to add the prehistoric monument in Wiltshire to the list, which supports international assistance on threatened sites. The tunnel project, aimed at easing pressure on the A303, has sparked lengthy legal battles over concerns it will destroy the landscape and archaeological artefacts in the surrounding area. But at a meeting, in New Delhi, India in on 24 July, UNESCO voted for an amendment to the draft decision, which said the impacts of the tunnel development do not constitute including the monument on the “in danger” list. The amendment said Britain’s plans to mitigate the effect the tunnel would have on the site and the surrounding landscape are sufficient.

It said the WHC “recognises that proposed design developments offer enhanced mitigation of the impacts on the integrity of the property and that the impacts of the proposed open 0.7km cutting at the Western Portal do not constitute sufficient ascertained or potential danger to warrant inclusion on the List of World Heritage in Danger”. Debates over the draft recommendation lasted for more than an hour-and-a-half during the WHC session, it is understood. Campaign group Stonehenge Alliance said it was “shocked” by the vote, describing the amendment as “highly damaging and inaccurate”. The group has called on the new Labour Government to distance itself from what it labelled “misleading briefings and political maneuverings” at the New Delhi session.

John Adams, chairman of the alliance, said: “This is a dark day for Stonehenge and a hollow victory for the UK Government as this decision won’t stop the harm to the World Heritage Site. “We should not forget that this scheme failed the planning test. “It was recommended for refusal because of the ‘permanent and irreversible’ harm it would do.” Tom Holland, president of the campaign group, called the vote a “travesty of justice”. He added: “The weakness of the Government’s case can be measured by the grotesque lengths they have gone to in their attempts to cover it up. “If Labour ministers are complicit in this, then it disgraces them.”

Stonehenge was built on the flat lands of Salisbury Plain in southern England in stages. Work began approximately 5,000 years ago, and the unique stone circle itself was erected in the late Neolithic period in about 2,500 BC. The site, with Avebury, was declared by UNESCO to be a world heritage site of outstanding universal value in 1986 on account of the size of the megaliths, the sophistication of their concentric plans and the complexes of Neolithic and Bronze Age sites and monuments. Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site lost a High Court challenge in February over the then government’s support for the development. The A303 is a congestion hotspot, with drivers heading to and from the South West during peak holiday periods often stuck in long queues on the single-carriageway stretch near the stones. National Highways said the plan for the tunnel would remove the sight and sound of traffic passing the site and cut journey times. A Government spokesperson said: “We care passionately about the UK’s heritage, especially our iconic World Heritage Sites, with Stonehenge being one of our oldest and most celebrated sites. “We welcome the committee’s decision not to place Stonehenge on the List of World Heritage in Danger.”