UK Cancels £1.7 Billion A303 Stonehenge Tunnel Amid Legal and Financial Concerns

Chancellor Rachel Reeves of the Labour Party, which won the recent UK general election, said the A303 Stonehenge tunnel, costing £1.7 billion, “will not go ahead”.

Campaigners say the two-mile tunnel, which was negotiated by the previous Conservative government, has faced several legal hurdles. These included a recommendation by UNESCO that Stonehenge be listed as a ‘World Heritage in Danger’, due to the A303 improvement plan.

In the UK, National Highways’ £1.7 billion A303 Stonehenge scheme, linking Amesbury to Berwick Down, turned an A road in Wiltshire into a dual carriageway. It included a 2-mile (3.3 km) tunnel. The scheme is needed to ease chronic congestion on the main road artery in the south-west, the road body said.

Contractors for the long-term project have already been announced. The three-way European MORE joint venture comprising Spanish contractor FCC, Italy’s WeBuild, and Austria’s BeMo Tunnelling was chosen as the main contractor on the 12.8km section of road improvements. Costain and Mott MacDonald were awarded a €70 million, or US$74.8 million, contract to help oversee and coordinate the scheme’s construction.

Reeves said the government was trying to fill a £22 billion (US$28 billion) “black hole” in the public finances. The transport secretary will now look at rejected transport projects worth about £1 billion (US$1.2 billion) to see if they are suitable for funding.