Stonehenge is a site of great national importance and is surrounded by many other sites of archaeological interest which are not so well known. It is felt that the whole area needs to be protected and available for visitors. Unfortunately the henge is very close to two major trunk roads, one of which (A303) carries some 20,000 – 30,000 heavy vehicles per day, and there is an accident black spot at the right hand turn off from the A303. Because of damage to the stones and soil erosion there is no normal public access to the stones themselves. The site gets large numbers of visitors every year, about 65% of whom are from abroad. The site, however, has no visitor centre, which means that the it isn’t shown off to its best advantage and fails to give safe and comfortable access.

Since 1986 there have been many schemes to protect the stones and give safe access and up-to-date amenities without ruining the view of the stones. These have included siteing a fake henge some way away, shifting the A303 and building a tunnel under the site. All of the proposed schemes, to date, have proved impractical or too expensive. The recently prepared current proposal is to run the A303 in a tunnel in the vicinity of the henge itself and close the minor road, diverting its traffic onto other, upgraded local roads. A high quality Visitor Centre would be built at Amesbury, some 2 miles from the site, with a LPG-powered landtrain providing access for visitors. It would also serve other nearby sites, such as Woodhenge

John Richardson