WILTSHIRE Council and English Heritage have been accused of attempting to restrict access to a byway near Stonehenge.
Byway 12, known at The Drove and found to the west of the ancient monument, offers an unrestricted view of the stones and are often used by disabled visitors as well as those that want to visit the site for spiritual reasons.
But it has been closed off for months as Wiltshire Council says the surface conditions had deteriorated to “unacceptable levels”.
The council has since launched a consultation where they are looking to develop a “holistic” approach to address their concerns about the deteriorating road surface – something campaigners say could result in the removal of vehicular access to these routes altogether.
King Arthur Pendragon – a senior druid and pagan priest who has long campaigned for free access for all to the site – believes this is a calculated move by both Wiltshire Council and English Heritage to push people into paying to park at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre car park.
“In my opinion, Wiltshire Council, working in concert with English Heritage (heretics as I refer to them) and the police, are and have for some while now been trying to re-designate all the byways open to all traffic (BOAT) within the World Heritage Site of Stonehenge by enforcing traffic restrictions upon them for one purpose and one purpose only, that of revenue protection,” he said.
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“Which, if they succeed, would give English Heritage an unfair monopoly on parking in the World Heritage Site allowing them to levy a charge on anyone attending Stonehenge and the surrounding environment.”
It seems that Wiltshire Council did not want to be drawn into a wider debate about access to the site.
Questions put to the authority about concerns of restricted access were ignored, with Parvis Khansari, the corporate director for place, saying: “Some byways within the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site are currently closed, as they have been significantly damaged by motor vehicles.
The Drove’s proximity to Stonehenge as shown on Google Maps Picture: Google
“We are looking to repair the byways over the coming months, and in the meantime we are engaging with stakeholders to seek their views on the best way forward for these byways.
“The current Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) can remail in place for up to 18 months.
“We have engaged with stakeholders to seek their views informally on the best way forward for these byways.
“The council will use this feedback from a wide cross section of interested parties before making a decision on whether to extend or revoke the ETRO.
“Should a traffic regulation order be necessary this would be subject to a formal consultation process during which anyone can comment before a final decision is made.”
Campaigner Simon Banton has also raised concerns that when the visitor centre and its car park are closed, the removal of vehicular rights of way over the BOATs would mean that the only access to the vicinity of Stonehenge would be either on foot, cycle or horseback.
“This is extremely prejudicial to less-mobile members of society (elderly, infirm or those with small children) and would effectively bar them from experiencing the landscape “out of hours”.
“Even when the visitor centre is open, the cost of a family ticket (£86 for two adults and three children for an on-the-day entry) essentially precludes the possibility of experiencing the monument and its landscape from all but those wealthy enough.
“Removing the option to use the BOATs to drive close to the site, park for a while, and then access the permissive path to see it at no cost is an unconscionable removal of amenity.”
King Arthur Pendragon has spent his life campaigning for free access to Stonehenge
King Arthur himself is no stranger to voicing his concerns that access to the nationally important site was being restricted.
He enlisted the support of a young barrister Sir Keir Starmer in 1994 when the Conservative Government passed the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, placing restrictions on the right to protest and freedom of assembly, including the criminalisation of some forms of trespass.
Pendragon and Starmer eventually won the case when the government could not prove that the exclusion zone around the site was in the interests of national security.
He also gave evidence to the public inquiry in 2011 when English Heritage succeeded in closing the road from the A303 at Stonehenge Bottom to west of the visitor centre.
“The inspector agreed with me and others who gave evidence opposing the change of use to the byways,” he said.
“So what has changed? Nothing.
“The council are, in my opinion, simply re-hashing the same ideas over and over again in the hope that, rather like spoilt children, if they keep asking, they will eventually get their way.
“I will vehemently oppose any such closures and/or stopping up orders as I have in the past, with, I might add, a certain amount of success.
“[I] would remind Wiltshire Council that I am not adverse to taking it ‘All the Way’ as I did in ’98 when the then-young barrister Keir Starmer assisted me in taking it to The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.”
English Heritage did not respond to requests for a comment.
The consultation is open until Monday (March 31). Anyone wishing to submit comments is asked to email stonehengebyways@wiltshire.gov.uk
There are roads in Wiltshire with potholes as big as those found on the Drove, sort those out first!
Off road vehicles are designed to drive on such tracks and if others also wish to do so, it’s their choice. It’s all a scam to close it! 🤬