Stonehenge centre is given green light

But angry residents and environmental groups opposed to the venture insisted this week the fight to stop it was "far from over."

A two-week public inquiry into plans to site the hotly contested building east of the Countess Road roundabout in Amesbury was held in December.

And, last week, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Ruth Kelly, officially approved the scheme - subject to a number of conditions.

Inquiry inspector, Philip Wilson, said in his report to the minister the worst option would be retention of the present facility in its current location at Stonehenge.

He added the English Heritage proposals met a "widely acknowledged need to replace the existing visitor facility with one far more worthy of the World Heritage Site and Stonehenge."

Chairman of English Heritage, Sir Neil Cossons, welcomed the Secretary of State's decision. He said: "We are delighted our proposal for new visitor facilities has got over the final hurdle in planning terms.

"It is a vindication of the integrity and the distinctive merits of the scheme, which will transform the visitor experience and form a crucial part of our commitment to manage the World Heritage Site."

However, the new visitor centre cannot be built without the government's approval of the published A303 roads scheme.

The £500m scheme involves a flyover at Countess Road, a 2.1km bored tunnel, a bypass round Winterbourne Stoke and junction improvements at Longbarrow Crossroads. And English Heritage is urging the government to approve it at the earliest possible date.

Sir Neil added: "We accept it is reasonable for planning permission to be conditional on the road improvements going ahead, as there is no doubt the two projects are conceived in conjunction with each other to produce the maximum positive benefits. We urge the government to give its support to the published scheme for the A303 and to announce its decision without further delay. Failure to do so would be to miss out on a unique opportunity to do the right thing for Stonehenge and its visitors."

Although the proposal has been granted planning permission, English Heritage will still face opposition to its plans.

During the inquiry George Du Pre, chairman of the Countess Road Residents Group, said: "All those living locally will be adversely affected by the site itself or by the traffic it causes."

Following the Secretary of State's decision, he told the Journal: "We are very disappointed as we had hoped it would not be approved, but it's not all over yet. The light at the end of the tunnel is the number of caveats in the decision - most importantly that construction cannot start until the published road improvement scheme is approved.

"I don't think it will be made until after the next general election and the current policy is to reduce road building, not increase it. We still intend to fight it and will be vociferous."

Chairman of the Stonehenge Alliance, George McDonic, said: "I feel the proposals are extremely damaging to this very important landscape and contravene what one expects for a World Heritage site."

But he felt there was a long way to go before the scheme became a reality. "We don't know what's going to happen with the A303 scheme. The costs have escalated dramatically. As far as we are concerned this is far from over," he added.

The Secretary of State and inquiry inspector, have imposed conditions on boundaries, landscaping and opening hours to limit the potential for noise nuisance to residents.

They have also imposed a condition to provide an operational strategy to manage "exceptional peak" traffic flows - a major concern of many opposing the scheme at the inquiry.

Mr Du Pre said he was pleased with the conditions concerning noise and the construction of the centre, which would limit the hours they can work and the noise they make.