A MEETING was held at the Amesbury History Centre to discuss Highways England's plan to upgrade the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down.

Attendees included residents of Amesbury and the surrounding villages, the Stonehenge Alliance, landowners and some eminent archaeologists including Professor David Jacques.

The meeting was established by those who felt discontent with the plans, and the way they have been brought to the public's knowledge.

Concerns were raised on many issues, including the status of Stonehenge as a World Heritage Site, with consultants giving no assurances that its title would be retained.

Amesbury History Centre Chairman Gemma Allerton said: "This World Heritage Site is within the boundaries of our Town and we cannot sit back and allow this work to begin with only the assurance that they will 'try their best' not to ruin it.

"We care too much about it for that to happen."

It was also suggested that the tunnel and flyover at the Countess Roundabout would infringe on the Blick Mead archaeological dig and other sites.

A vote was taken on several subjects including: The consultation process which those present felt was not balanced, with all publicity in the media bring very biased, and did not equally weigh up the 'cons' of the tunnel.

The timescale was also felt to be too short, with many residents stating that they had insufficient time to complete their consultation process.

National views were said to not have been taken into account, and a lack of notice outside the venues had been noticed.

Amesbury History Centre will run drop-in sessions every Saturday until March 05, where hard copies of the consultation questionnaire will be available for people to fil