Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the merits of the F010 option for a surface road beyond the southern edge of the Stonehenge World Heritage site.

Highways England reviewed a range of options for improving this section of the A303. The F010 option was assessed on the same basis as those for placing the A303 in a tunnel past Stonehenge using the Transport, Economic Growth, Cultural Heritage and Environment and Community objectives for the scheme.

Whilst option F010 performed better than the tunnel options against the Cultural Heritage objective, it performed worse against the other objectives. In particular, it would have large adverse environmental impacts through the Woodford Valley and would not be effective in relieving rat-running traffic problems in the local communities. The assessments are fully explained in the published consultation material on Highways England’s website.