Campaigners have launched a fresh legal battle after the government once again greenlit plans for a controversial road tunnel at Stonehenge, after the development was successfully blocked two years ago.
The judge found Shapps’ decision to approve the project “unlawful” as there was no evidence of the impact on each individual asset at the site, while he had also failed to consider alternative schemes.
Now campaigners say they are being compelled to return to the courts after the Department for Transport gave permission for the tunnel for the second time last month.
John Adams, one of the three directors of SSWHS and chair of the Stonehenge Alliance, said the group felt they had no choice but to launch a second legal challenge in the face of the government’s “belligerence”.
Rowan Smith, a Leigh Day solicitor who represents the campaigners, said: “Our client is shocked that the government appears not to have learned from its mistakes and has repeated the decision to grant development consent for the Stonehenge road scheme.” Smith said the decision appeared to have been made on an unlawful basis again.
But even among conservationists, the scheme has proved divisive, with groups such as Historic England arguing that moving the road would improve the site, while others oppose it.
The original article contains 443 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 52%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I think it’s not that the government haven’t learned, but that this is an established tactic. IE. just keep trying the same thing over and over until the other side gets too tired to keep fighting it, or just push it through when enough people are distracted by something else so it doesn’t make the news.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Campaigners have launched a fresh legal battle after the government once again greenlit plans for a controversial road tunnel at Stonehenge, after the development was successfully blocked two years ago.
The judge found Shapps’ decision to approve the project “unlawful” as there was no evidence of the impact on each individual asset at the site, while he had also failed to consider alternative schemes.
Now campaigners say they are being compelled to return to the courts after the Department for Transport gave permission for the tunnel for the second time last month.
John Adams, one of the three directors of SSWHS and chair of the Stonehenge Alliance, said the group felt they had no choice but to launch a second legal challenge in the face of the government’s “belligerence”.
Rowan Smith, a Leigh Day solicitor who represents the campaigners, said: “Our client is shocked that the government appears not to have learned from its mistakes and has repeated the decision to grant development consent for the Stonehenge road scheme.” Smith said the decision appeared to have been made on an unlawful basis again.
But even among conservationists, the scheme has proved divisive, with groups such as Historic England arguing that moving the road would improve the site, while others oppose it.
The original article contains 443 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 52%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I think it’s not that the government haven’t learned, but that this is an established tactic. IE. just keep trying the same thing over and over until the other side gets too tired to keep fighting it, or just push it through when enough people are distracted by something else so it doesn’t make the news.