PLANS to build a tunnel past Stonehenge have been called ‘vandalism’ by opponents as a legal challenge is launched to stop it.

As previously reported, the Department of Transport announced on Friday, July 14 that the £1.7b project would go ahead.

However, a legal challenge to stop development has been lodged by the Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site, which filed its claim with the High Court.

This legal action comes not long after the second anniversary of the quashing of the original development consent by the High Court after a successful application for judicial review was made by SSWHS in 2021.

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John Adams, one of the 3 directors of SSWHS and chair of the Stonehenge Alliance, said: “The Government appears both blind and deaf to concerns about the damage it will perpetrate on this historic and much-loved landscape. It has ignored concerns raised by UNESCO and seems hell-bent on bulldozing this scheme through before it gets thrown out of Government. We believe we have no choice but to launch a second legal challenge in the face of such belligerence.”

Historian and president of the Stonehenge Alliance, Tom Holland, added: “The Government is neglecting its duty of care to a landscape that is not just a precious part of Britain’s cultural patrimony, but the world’s. Nothing can justify such vandalism. I welcome this action, as a chance to halt a development that, if allowed to go ahead, will permanently and irreversibly desecrate the Stonehenge landscape.”

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Speaking in defence of the project, Derek Parody, National Highways Project Director for the A303 Stonehenge scheme, said: “We have been notified of the legal challenge and will follow the due legal process, but we remain confident this scheme is the best solution for solving the traffic problems along this notoriously congested section of the A303 while preserving and enhancing the World Heritage Site, improving journeys, bringing much-needed relief to local communities and boosting the economy in the South West.

“Ultimately, by removing the existing road we will return the Stonehenge landscape to something like its original setting.”

SSWHS launched a crowdfunder on the CrowdJustice website to fund the legal action shortly after the Government announced its decision. At time of writing, it has raised almost £50,000.