Druids, pagans and archaeologists gather in London in latest battle for Stonehenge

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Druids, pagans, environmentalists and archaeologists gathered outside the High Court today for the start of a two-day hearing which they say could lead to the “desecration” of one of Britain’s most famous landmarks: Stonehenge.

Campaigners are making a second High Court bid to try and block a £1.7 billion scheme to overhaul eight miles of the A303 in Wiltshire, which will include a two-mile tunnel.

In written submissions on Tuesday, David Wolfe KC, for Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS) said the project would be the first step in “de-listing” the Unesco world heritage site.

He said this is “not just in monetary terms, but research value, cultural importance, emblematic value, and reputation of the UK as showing to the world that it cares for its world heritage site and respects its obligations in the world heritage convention”.

He also said the approved scheme would “destroy” around seven hectares of the world heritage site, a change that would be “permanent and irreversible”.

Outside, campaigners huddled in the rain in central London, clutching placards that said “Save Stonehenge” and reiterated Unesco’s advice to the government that the scheme “should not proceed in its current form”.

King Arthur Pendragon, a druid adorned in white robes and wearing a silver crown, told The Independent the road works would “destroy so much archaeology” and described the government’s support of the project as “arrogant”.

“If is goes ahead this scheme will cause irreparable to the environment of Stonehenge and have been told not to do it by several different official bodies and its going to destroy so much archaeology,” he said.

“Irrespective of that it will spoil views that you cannot replace, i.e. where the sun sets at mid-winter, at the winter solsctice is where their portal is going to be so their light pollution will make it impossible to ever see the sunsight there again.”

Lorien Cadier, 71, travelled down to London from her home in Wellow, Hampshire which she shares with her husband Paul Cadier, 74.

She said that Stonehenge was something “that in British culture we hold very dear” and added: “There is something not as widely known that there is a spring near Stonehenge called Blick Mead, which is the reason the neolithic people went to Stonehenge. The spring never freezes and this tunnel means that this spring is going to dry up.”

Nearby the retired couple, Charlotte Pulver is holding a small bowl with water from the spring, that campaigners say faces destruction if the scheme goes ahead.

The 45-year-old, from Hastings, said: “Blick Mead is regarded as the cradle of Stonehenge. Stonehenge exists because of this spring and the site aorund it. It predates Stonehenge itself by 6,000 years.

She added: “This site is so precious and if the tunnel were to go ahead this site would be outright destroyed, so they talk ‘oh it’s just the henge and it won’t be harmed by the tunnel’, but this very signicant site will be destroyed.”

In court, Mr Wolfe argued that the government gave “unlawful consideration of alternatives” to the project, adding that campaigners believed National Highways had provided “fundamentally flawed” information over these that “failed to acknowledge the heritage harm” and was based on a “flawed analysis of likely traffic figures for the A303”.

He said the government’s approach did not provide for “any expert interrogation of the evidence”, with the redetermination of the project “run entirely by officials”.

Mr Wolfe said campaigners preferred a project with a “longer bored tunnel” or a “surface route” - claiming the latter would be “materially cheaper”, costing around £400 million less based on 2017 calculations.

National Highways says its plan for the tunnel will remove the sight and sound of traffic passing the site and cut journey times.

James Strachan KC, for the DfT, said in written arguments there was “no inadequacy” in a ministerial briefing over the “hypothetical” risk of world heritage site de-listing.

“The world heritage site has not been delisted, nor is it said that it will be de-listed if the... scheme proceeds,” he said.

The barrister said the government concluded the project was “consistent with the UK’s obligations” under the world heritage convention and that it would work with advisory bodies to “minimise harm”.

He said the minister had “all appropriate expertise available to make his decision”, which was “fully compliant” with legal requirements and “objectively fair”.

He added that the minister had “more than sufficient material to reach the overall conclusion that the heritage benefits of the alternatives were not sufficient to outweigh the cost, delay and other harms of implementing them”.

Then-transport secretary Grant Shapps first gave the green light to the project in November 2020, despite advice from Planning Inspectorate officials that it would cause “permanent, irreversible harm” to the area.

The SSWHS alliance successfully challenged his decision in the High Court.

The Stonehenge site, with Avebury, was declared by Unesco to be a world heritage site of outstanding universal value in 1986 on account of the size of the megaliths, the sophistication of their concentric plans and the complexes of neolithic and bronze age sites and monuments.

The hearing before Mr Justice Holgate is due to conclude on Thursday, with a ruling expected at a later date.

Additional reporting by PA