Campaigners 'would have lost Stonehenge challenge'

Campaigners trying to stop a planned - but now scrapped - road tunnel on the A303 near Stonehenge would have lost a legal bid over the proposals, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS) was appealing against the decision to refuse a legal challenge of the approved tunnel plan.

In July, the group argued the approval for the development by the then-minister of state for rail and HS2, Huw Merriman, breached a duty to act fairly.

But in a ruling on Wednesday, Sir Keith Lindblom rejected SSWHS's bid.

SSWHS said in July, the Department for Transport's (DfT) "approach to environmental impact assessment was unlawful" in relation to greenhouse gas emissions from the development and other road schemes.

Days later, Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the new Government "would not move forwards" with the project as she set out cuts to public spending.

James Strachan, representing the DfT at the court, said Mr Merriman "was provided with no further advice on this issue" of harm to Stonehenge.

Sir Lindblom, sitting with Lord Justice Lewis and Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, said the DfT was "lawfully entitled" to approve the proposal.

The judges said the subject matter of the decision was "liable to generate controversy and debate", given Stonehenge's "cultural importance on both the national and international plain".

In the 60-page ruling, they said the decision was "not to gauge the environmental or societal merits of the development proposed" but was "concerned only with the lawfulness of the decision actually made".

Planning permission for the scheme, which Highways England said would reduce traffic and cut journey times on the key route, was first approved in November 2020, despite Planning Inspectorate officials saying it would cause "permanent, irreversible harm" to the area.

The first approval was quashed by the High Court in 2021, then given the green light again by the DfT in July 2023.

It was put on hold after another High Court challenge in December, then a judicial review dismissed the challenge in February and said the DfT had followed the correct process.

The outcome of the judicial review was believed to be incorrect by campaigners, and after appealing the decision, they were granted approval to challenge it in May before the whole scheme was scrapped the new Labour government.

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