James Gray, MP for North Wiltshire spoke yesterday in response to Alex Burghart MP’s Westminster Hall debate about the proposed road alterations around Stonehenge. Mr Gray spoke of the importance of protecting such an historic site, whilst making improvements to ease the heavy flow of traffic around the area and make it suitable for modern life. It is a fine and delicate balance between preserving the heritage of the area and ensuring it is fit for modern purpose.

Mr Gray stated:

“Of course we have to preserve the archaeology, but we have to do so in a way that modern people can appreciate, and in such a way that they can live their lives. At the moment, that is not happening.

Something has to happen and people have been considering the matter for generations now. The proposal we have come up with seems to me to be the least bad of the options available to us. Of course, there may be some downsides and a bit of impact from the weight of the flyover and one or two other things, which we will try to make better, but we have got to do something.”

“In considering my hon. Friend’s very fine and important archaeological points, it is also necessary to consider at the same time how those things can be sustainably maintained—in other words, kept in their pristine condition in a way that allows modern people to live their modern lives.”