In July (2023) the UK government gave its consent to a £1.7 bn scheme to dual the A303 across the Stonehenge World Heritage Site (WHS), with twin-bore tunnels, their portals well within the boundaries of the UNESCO-designated site. * * * * In 2020 a committee in Wales published detailed proposals for addressing traffic congestion, as an… Continue reading
Browsing Category Environment
Brits love buses, but you’ll wait forever for one on the A303
Whose £2.5 billion tunnel and dual carriageway past Stonehenge is the A303 anyway? A public road (no tolls), funded by the public. Will it have that other ‘public’ thing? Public transport? After all, the A303 ‘improvements’ are designed to make life easier for motorists, all motorists. Car drivers, lorry and van drivers, even military vehicles –… Continue reading →
Pop star takes the train. Will the fans follow?
There is a famous image, taken in 1966, of Bob Dylan waiting for the Aust Ferry on the Severn Estuary, in the shadow of the still unfinished Severn Bridge. Dylan was already a big star – it was just after he switched to the acoustic guitar. Barry Feinstein photographed him during his tour of the… Continue reading →
Why does National Trust back damaging Stonehenge tunnel plan?
Suppose you had a problem on or around your property. A leaking roof, an awkward neighbour, a noisy road. And someone with clout, the council perhaps, came along and said it had a scheme – at no cost to you – to make life better. Considerably better. After checking that the few obvious snags… Continue reading →
Freiburg – city of the tram
Freiburg in Southern Germany, and the new city of Milton Keynes, 50 miles north of London, are about the same size – populations of 215,966, respectively, against 229,941 in 2022. But in terms of public transport they are worlds apart. Reduced to the essential detail of how people get about, MK, as it is widely… Continue reading →
How tourism contributes to Turkey’s forest fires and what the future holds
The forest fires in Turkey in the summer of 2021 were a catastrophe. Images of blazing mountainsides were seared across nightly news bulletins. Holidays were cancelled, resorts evacuated and suspects arrested, although as the Turkish fires were only the worst of a series of conflagrations across the Eastern Mediterranean, it was quickly accepted… Continue reading →