Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS) – a limited company set up to challenge the Stonehenge Tunnel scheme – has been given permission to appeal the outcome of a government judicial review in February this year that had given the project the green light.
National Highways said: “We are hugely disappointed by this decision, which will cause more delays to the scheme as the next stage of the legal process unfolds.”
“We will participate fully in any future legal proceedings, working closely with DfT.
“We still have our Development Consent Order (DCO) in place and the scheme isn’t cancelled. But this extra legal process will delay the start of our preliminary works and we’ll need to adjust the whole main works programme accordingly.
“We don’t know what that will look like yet, because we don’t know the extent of the delay.
“The legal process timescale is not within our control, and we will need to work closely with DfT and our legal teams to understand what our next steps are.
We need to await the date for the hearing, which the Court of Appeal will decide.”
At the hearing, both sides will present their case and the Court of Appeal will use this to make their decision.
John Adams, chair of the Stonehenge Alliance said: “This is extremely good news. All those who care passionately about our cultural heritage can breathe a sigh of relief. We now have a new opportunity for the Government decision to be thoroughly scrutinised.
“This road scheme would be incredibly damaging to Stonehenge World Heritage Site. Yet, the Government doesn’t seem to care and is desperately trying to bulldoze through this decision before it is thrown out of office.”
SSWHS solicitor Rowan Smith said: “The Court said there is a compelling reason for an appeal hearing. Our client is looking forward to presenting arguments about the fairness of the decision-making process relating to the future of Stonehenge as well as compliance with international law protecting the World Heritage Site.”
Project Timeline:
November 2020 – Planning permission first approved
2021 – Decision overturned by the High Court after local campaign
July 2023 – Scheme once again approved by DfT
December 2023 – Campaigners win a further High Court challenge stopping the project
February 2024 – Judicial review overturns challenge and the project gets the go-ahead once again
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