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Stonehenge

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Telford (David Wright), and I salute him for the work that he does for the all-party group on world heritage sites, of which I am an assiduous attender. I also welcome the support that the group, which draws its membership from both Houses and from a wide range of support in the world of culture and heritage, has already given to the Stonehenge project. I refer to the Government because I believe that this 21-year-old saga represents a systemic failure in the machinery of government. Successive Culture Secretaries have not been powerful enough to obtain Cabinet agreement; and Transport Secretaries have always found it easier to give greater priority to other roads. I understand that the £500 million in this case will go instead to widening the M25. Four Prime Ministers have failed to acknowledge the importance of our national heritage to our culture needs, let alone to our tourism and transport needs. Only the Treasury has won every round. In February 2008, the Minister of State must report progress to UNESCO, following the Government's decision to abandon the road and the proposed visitor centre. At its July meeting, the world heritage committee will"““fully examine the implication of their decision for the value and integrity of Stonehenge as a World Heritage property””." Will the Minister confirm that time scale, and say whether she expects to submit a revised management plan to UNESCO in January 2009? The Government are already in trouble, because they have failed to restrain the encroachment of new tall buildings on the world heritage sites here at Westminster and down the river at the Tower of London. Only last month, UNESCO threatened the delisting of the Dresden Elbe valley site because the landscape would be degraded by a new bridge. It would indeed be a national humiliation if Stonehenge were to be put on the endangered list. I do not think that it will happen. I congratulate the Minister, and the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Glasgow, South (Mr. Harris), for calling an emergency meeting on 10 December of the new Stonehenge project board, in order to agree terms of reference, to consider options for the future, and to decide the key issues and what can now be delivered. By all accounts, it was an eclectic gathering of the main stakeholders in the south-west of England. Crucially, however, the local planning authority was not represented. That caused consternation. Will the Minister confirm whether Salisbury district council was invited to the meeting? If it was, I consider it a dereliction of duty that not one councillor or council officer could be found to attend that meeting. Looking forward, will the Minister assure us that the starting point for a new beginning must be the existing management plan, revised to take account of the new situation? Will she retain the three long-term objectives—objectives 1, 2 and 3? They are the endorsement of the management plan; the improvement of the management and conservation of the cultural landscape; and the interpretation of the universal value of the whole world heritage site. Will she continue to promote public enjoyment, education and research at Stonehenge? Under the terms of objective 14 of the plan, and as a gesture of good intent to UNESCO, will the Minister consider adding to the site the unique Parsonage Down national nature reserve and Yarnbury castle, which lie to the west of the stones? I believe that they should have been included from the start. Will the Minister also say how much money the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will contribute to the new visitor centre? The right hon. Lady has done so well to pledge that the Government will have a new centre up and running by 2012. Such a project on such a tight time scale must be primed with the help of the taxpayer. English Heritage is already in discussion with the Heritage Lottery Fund, which suddenly has more than £20 million to spend on something else—the Olympics?—following the decision not to proceed with the visitor centre. Will the Minister assure us that her Department will give 100 per cent. backing to a lottery bid by English Heritage? Objective 18 of the management plan states that a new world-class visitor centre should be secured to act as a gateway to Stonehenge, to improve the visitor experience and to encourage the dispersal of visitors around the entire world heritage site. Will the Minister maintain that objective? I said in the House last week that something cheap and cheerful would not do. What we are embarking on is a semi-permanent solution that is likely to last for at least 20 years, until a new strategic plan can be agreed. It must be a visitor centre of high quality, innovation and vision. May I recommend that all those involved revisit the Fargo north scheme, published in April 1998? There are well-reasoned arguments for a centre just north of the A344 and west of Fargo plantation. That would be a good site. Much of the transport planning, including designs for new road junctions, has been done. That could considerably shorten the time scale necessary for design work. If the 1998 proposal could be updated to include a grade-separated junction at the Long Barrow junction of the A303 and the A360, that might well avoid a public planning inquiry and would save at least a year. UNESCO has always been critical of facilities for interpretation and explanation, and so have I. However, I at least had the advantage during my childhood in Salisbury of spending many hours at the stones and at the Salisbury and South Wiltshire museum, which has the best Stonehenge collection in the country. Under its new chairman and director, the museum is planning a new ““Stonehenge Experience””. Given the circumstances that we now face, DCMS and English Heritage have a golden opportunity to join forces with the museum—the Minister visited it with me in September—to create a world-class exhibition and learning experience. It would be in service within two years, well ahead of any possible delivery at Stonehenge—and it would be only a stone's throw away. It would also represent good value for money, at about £1.5 million. Already, thousands of people combine visits to Stonehenge with trips to the English Heritage site at Old Sarum and Salisbury cathedral. In 2008, our cathedral celebrates its 750th anniversary, and there will be many new reasons for people to combine visits to the sites—and also to visit local National Trust properties, including Mompesson house. There is also early discussion about the nomination of our incomparable Salisbury cathedral close as a future world heritage site. Now is the time for us all to work together to ensure that Stonehenge becomes more than a tourist destination—that it becomes a wonderful experience for all who marvel at mankind's ancient footprint on our land and who yearn to understand more of our humanity. Christmas is upon us. All of us—even, dare I say it, English Heritage and the National Trust—should find a large bunch of mistletoe and pledge undying friendship in the interests of Stonehenge.