A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down (A303 Stonehenge) project granted development consent
Today, Thursday 12 November 2020, the application for the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down project has been given development consent by the Secretary of State for Transport.
Development consent has been given to construct a new section of dual carriageway to address problems associated with the single carriageway section of the A303 between Amesbury’s Countess roundabout and the dual carriageway section to the west of Winterbourne Stoke.
The application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration by Highways England on 19 October 2018 and accepted for examination on 16 November 2018. Following an examination during which the public, statutory consultees and interested parties were given the opportunity to give evidence to the Examining Authority, a recommendation was made to the Secretary of State on 2 January 2020.
This is the 97th Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project and the 34th transport scheme to be examined by the Planning Inspectorate and given Development Consent. The examination of the application was completed within the statutory timescale of six months followed by a recommendation made to the Secretary of State for Transport. This provides developers and investors with the confidence to build and improve the transport networks this country needs.
The Planning Inspectorate’s Chief Executive, Sarah Richards said:
“There has been a great deal of public interest in this project. A major priority for us over the course of the examination was to ensure that communities who might be affected by this proposal had the opportunity to put forward their views. As always, the Examining Authority gave careful consideration to these before reaching its conclusion.”
The decision by the Secretary of State for Transport, the recommendation made by the Examining Authority to the Secretary of State and the evidence considered by the Examining Authority in reaching its recommendation is publicly available on the National Infrastructure Planning website.
ENDS
Journalists wanting further information should contact the Planning Inspectorate Press Office on 0303 444 5004 or 0303 444 5005 or email: Press.office@planninginspectorate.gov.uk
Notes to editors:
The Planning Inspectorate, National Infrastructure Programme of Projects details the proposals which are anticipated to be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate as applications in the coming months.