Stonehenge Tunnel is just a terrible idea

The issue of the Stonehenge tunnel reared its head again last week with the go ahead being given by the Secretary of State for Transport.

As the only Wiltshire councillor to speak out against the Tunnel back in 2017, shortly after I was first elected, I would say that that the reasons not to go ahead with this multi-billion-pound white elephant project have only increased.

My original objections were that it was a natural right to see the stones from the road, and one that goes back many millennia, whether one was driving or riding in a car, an HGV, a bus, or a horse and cart.

But there are, of course, many other reasons not to go ahead with the tunnel.

For example, the cost to the environment, including where the spoil is to be dumped, the carbon budget of the whole scheme, and the difficulty that emergency services will have reaching victims in the case of - heaven forbid - an accident or a terrorist incident inside the tunnel.

As well as the massive financial cost when we know the country is bankrupt, and we can’t pay the doctors and nurses properly, provide social care for the elderly, or repair our roads!

The argument that the tunnel will somehow protect the stones is also spurious, it risks losing the site’s UNESCO World Heritage status, and for what?

So that English Heritage can charge ever more outrageous amounts for those that want to visit the place.

My advice is if you want to visit a peaceful stone circle, then go to Avebury instead.

We all know about the traffic problem past Stonehenge,

I have spent time in queues there myself, as will many reading this.

But how much simpler and cheaper would it be to simply dual the road?

Then there would be the bonus of plenty of funds left over to deal with the problems on the rest of the A303.

Dr Brian Mathew,

Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for North Wiltshire,

Wiltshire Councillor for Box and Colerne

We should not pay for Parliament meals

Further to my original letter, which the Adver was kind enough to publish, it has now come to my attention that MPs are conning us all yet again.

They are dinning in at the house of Parliament at our expense.

Not only are they grossly overpaid in salaries and expenses, they also have subsidised meals!

Yes, can you believe it ?

Soup at £1.10.

Chargrilled sirloin steak at.£13.90

Fish and chips with mushy peas at £8.05.

Pray will somebody please tell me where pensioners can get fed for these amounts?

I am sick and tired of all MPs, no matter what party they represent.

They are just sponging off the electorate.

When one considers the very generous salaries they are on, why then do they have subsidised meals?

It would be interesting to know how much their bar bills are subsidised also.

Because you can bet that they drink at a most lower cost than we the public do.

And who is subsidising all this?

Us, the general public.

It needs looking into.

Every penny that is spent subsidising these people could could be better spent.

Me, I would be extremely happy to get their inflated salaries.

But subsidised meals as well!

They are just abusing us, the public.

David Collins,

Blake Crescent,

Stratton St Margaret,

Swindon