The Petition of residents of the UK,
Declares that the Petitioners believe that urgent action is needed to make the A303 road west of Stonehenge a dual carriageway following dramatically increased traffic levels caused by the closure of the A344; further that the Petitioners believe a bypass road should be created to relieve the village of Winterbourne Stoke and other blighted communities; further that increased traffic has been diverted onto local roads to the detriment of those resident in the surrounding villages; and further that the Petitioners believe that the Government’s feasibility study into improving the A303 must take the impact of disruption on their lives caused by increased traffic into consideration.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to improve the A303 west of Stonehenge by constructing a dual carriageway at the earliest possible opportunity.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by John Glen, Official Report, 9 July 2014; Vol. 584, c. 404.]
[P001367]
Observations from the Secretary of State for Transport, received 30 September 2014:
This Government have been clear about the importance of the A303 corridor and its role in facilitating economic growth and providing access to the south-west.
As part of the 2013 spending review, the Government committed to identify and fund solutions, through feasibility studies, to a number of long-standing and notorious hot spots on our national road network, including A303/A30/A358 corridor.
In April this year, the Department published details of the scope, timing and management arrangement of the A303/A30/A358 feasibility study which is available from the Department for Transport website.
The aim of the study is to identify the opportunities and understand the case for future investment solutions on the A303/A30/A358 corridor that are deliverable, affordable and offer value for money. The study is currently considering a range of solutions to the problems identified along the route, including to the congestion problems identified on the Amesbury to Berwick Down section which passes through the Stonehenge world heritage site and the village of Winterbourne Stoke.
The Government have committed to report back at autumn statement 2014 with solutions to the problems on this route, and through this feasibility study we will identify potential future investment proposals as part of our process for longer-term investment planning.
The outcomes of this feasibility study will inform the Department’s Roads Investment Strategy that is currently being developed and which we have committed to publish by the end of this year.