Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay on 2 November (HL2760 and HL2728), whether the trustees of the National Heritage Memorial Fund considered the possibility of the land being compulsorily acquired by National Highways as part of the A303 scheme, prior to the award of the grant.

It was clear at the time of the grant award that, should the Development Consent Order be approved by the Secretary of State for Transport, approximately 4.54 hectares of the total 168 hectare area to be acquired would be the subject of permanent compulsory acquisition by National Highways. The National Heritage Memorial Fund’s grant was in response to a time-limited opportunity to secure multiple archaeological sites across this much larger area of land in the World Heritage Site. This included a substantial portion of Stonehenge Avenue. Without the National Heritage Memorial Fund’s grant the opportunity to safeguard and conserve a significant area of internationally important archaeology would have been lost.

The National Heritage Memorial Fund Board was aware of the potential for compulsory purchase and took the decision that, since the area to be affected by potential compulsory purchase was a very small proportion of the overall site, this did not outweigh the benefits of safeguarding a much larger area through the time-limited opportunity presented.