Permission sought for second judicial review over Stonehenge tunnel approval

Campaigners who successfully challenged the Government's plans to construct a new road and tunnel through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site have launched fresh legal action over the Transport Secretary's redetermination and re-approval of the project.

Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS) first sought a judicial review in 2021 over fears that the £1.7bn project would cause "irreparable damage" to the archaeology and landscape in violation of the UK's commitments to safeguard the UNESCO site.

In August 2021, Mr Justice Holgate found that then Transport Secretary Grant Shapps did not take into account two specific appraisals from an Environment Statement and a Heritage Impact Assessment of additional assets on the land and, therefore, did not form any conclusion upon the impacts upon their significance.

The High Court judge's decision meant that the Secretary of State had to redetermine the application for the new road where it passes the site.

Current Transport Secretary Mark Harper remade the decision last month and granted permission for the scheme.

However, SSWHS now claim that:

• It was unfair and potentially a breach of the right to a fair hearing, embodied in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to redetermine the DCO application without reopening the public examination.
• Inadequate (and therefore unlawful) reasons were given for rejecting the alternative of a bypass route when that would cause less harm to the World Heritage Site.
• It was irrational to give "no weight" to the risk that Stonehenge would likely be de-listed as a World Heritage Site if the scheme went ahead.
• The approach to climate change was flawed, including that the Government's Revised Net Zero Strategy was not taken into account, and there has been a significant change of climate change law and policy since the National Policy Statement was issued. Also, the carbon emissions from this scheme were not assessed in combination with those emissions from the other planned road schemes along the A303 / A358.

SSWHS's first judicial review was funded by a crowdfunding campaign that received more than £85,000 in donations. It has launched a separate crowdfunding campaign for its current legal action, which has amassed almost £50,000 in funds.

The group sent its pre-action protocol letter in July and filed its claim in the High Court last week.

Leigh Day solicitor Rowan Smith, who represents SSWHS, said: "Our client is shocked that the Government appears not to have learnt from its mistakes and has repeated the decision to grant development consent for the Stonehenge road tunnel."

Smith added: "Once again, the decision appears to have been made on an unlawful basis. Our client will argue that the failure to reopen the public examination a second time round was unfair and also a breach of human rights. We hope the Court will grant our client permission for a full hearing."

Commenting on Harper's approval of the scheme in July 2023, National Highways, which is behind the proposal, said the project will tackle congestion on the single-carriageway section of the arterial A303 route.

Chief Executive of National Highways, Nick Harris, added: "The decision follows a lot of work on a comprehensive year-long process to reassess our Development Consent Order, looking in detail at possible alternatives, also including cumulative carbon and heritage issues."

Meanwhile, the scheme's Project Director, Derek Parody, said it is an objective of the scheme to "conserve and enhance the World Heritage Site and this is being achieved through close collaborative working with heritage groups, including English Heritage, National Trust, Historic England and the independent A303 Scientific Committee".

Adam Carey