Monday 16 May 2016

Summer 2016 Planned Improvement to Stonehenge - The removal of the fences!

It is interesting to see the schedule of improvements that English Heritage included as part of the planning permission for the New Visitor Centre.

This summer should see the removal of all the stock fences along the route of the old A344 and the establishment of a permissive path for pedestrians and cyclists along the route of the old A344 (The northern half of this roadway has reverted to National Trust ownership and the permissive path is intended to be on this half of the unfenced road with the paying visitors walking on the southern English Heritage side)

Full details are in the Wiltshire Council planning application S/2009/1527

The Phasing of Works Document 
(http://unidoc.wiltshire.gov.uk/UniDoc/Document/File/Uy8yMDA5LzE1MjcsNjk5MTI4) has these details:

8.0 PHASE 4 – STONEHENGE BOTTOM – SUMMER 2016

This phase involves the release of the re-vegetated A344 area. Please refer to Figure 7 for details.





The existing/temporary stock fence and gates to the north of the original A344 are to be removed and turf used to patch any resulting disturbances in the grass surface. The areas of the permissible route that are formed using the ground reinforcement system are to be removed and patched using turf grown off site.

The permissible route is now along the northern edge of the re-vegetated A344.

9.0 PHASE 4 - STONE MONUMENT – SUMMER 2016

This phase involves the release of the re-vegetated A344 area. Please refer to Figure 8 for
details.


Click plans to enlarge.

The existing bridge over The Avenue and areas of reinforced grass to the west and east of the bridge are to be removed and patched using species rich chalk grass turf grown off site.
The temporary barriers/fence, such as rope barriers, to the grassed A344 is removed.

The existing stock fence to the north of the A344 and around the former car park and hub facilities is removed and grass is patched with turf as needed to make the grass surface good.

The final configuration of the temporary barrier/fence, such as rope barrier, for visitor circulation is formed into its final functioning arrangement.

I suppose we will have to wait and see if the fences at Stonehenge are removed this summer, the practical difficulties it would cause the staff leads me to doubt it will ever happen, whatever the planning permission says.



1 comment:

  1. I'd love to see the old A344 northern stock boundary fence removed, as this would reconnect monument field with the upper end of the avenue. However, how this would work in practice remains to be seen? I have never been able to get a clear answer from EH or the NT about this subject. At least the grassed-over width of the old A344 should be integrated into monument field and the Heel Stone viewing bridge possibly removed this summer?

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