Our Stonehenge has none of this grandeur or pathos. Instead, it is at the centre of a peculiarly modern British circus – one that involves an agonisingly long planning dispute, allegations of government incompetence, two deeply entrenched opposing sides, and a preoccupation with traffic and tourism. This absurdist drama, entirely worthy of our times, is a long and bitter battle over whether to sink the highway that runs beside it into a tunnel.[...]
Tempting as it is to suggest that the dispute pits the forces of modernity against the defenders of tradition, the argument boils down to whether you think a major construction project in a world heritage site is absolute madness, or the commonsense solution to a long-term traffic problem. English Heritage, the national body that cares for Stonehenge, insists that doing nothing is not an option. It argues that the A303 will only get busier as new homes are built in the south-west – and that the tunnel, in any case, would significantly improve the “visitor experience” by returning the circle to its intended setting, without the intrusion of the sights and sounds of the A303. They also say that the plans have been carefully drawn up to avoid damage to prehistoric features, and that they are still working hard with Highways England to minimise their impact.[...]
The principle of preserving a “national heritage” in perpetuity can seem as though it has been with us for ever – perhaps because bodies such as the National Trust seem like such timeless bastions of middle England. In fact, the idea is fairly recent – and Stonehenge itself played an important role in its invention. [...]
In 2015, the Conservative government spun off English Heritage – the descendent of the government body that cared for monuments after the 1882 act – into an independent charity, earning its own keep. Its ability to do this is strongly dependent on Stonehenge, which brings in 21% of its annual income of about £112m and which, with its 1.5 million visitors a year, attracts a million more than the next-most popular site, Dover Castle. Kate Mavor, the organisation’s chief executive, told me she thought of Stonehenge as a publisher might a bestseller – a title that supports other, less lucrative, works. While entry is free for English Heritage and Trust members, it otherwise costs £17.50 to buy a ticket to Stonehenge. More than half the visitors are from overseas. A vast coach park at the site decants tourists who will often also take in Bath and Windsor on a day trip from London.
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