At its meeting at the end
of WAC-4 Council adopted a number of motions
passed by the Plenary Session. The full
text of these motions, and the action that
WAC is taking is reported on the WAC web
pages (see inside front cover). Anyone without
access to the web who would like to receive
this information should write to their regional
representative (listed in this issue) or
to Peter Stone at the Central WAC Office
(see inside front cover).
STONEHENGE
The Plenary Session passed a motion regarding
current proposals for the World Heritage
Site of Stonehenge, UK. The motion reads:
We the participants of WAC-4 welcome the
concern demonstrated by the UK Government
to safeguard the future of Stonehenge World
Heritage Site but urge the UK government
to reconsider its decision to insert a cut
and cover tunnel across the World Heritage
site. Particularly we ask that the UK government
looks again at the costs of a bored tunnel,
taking into account the full potential benefits,
economic, social and cultural, and finds
funding to build it. This appeal is made
in view of the long campaign by English
Heritage, the Government’s advisor
in archaeological matters, in favour of
a bored tunnel. WAC would wish to work with
the UK government to make the reassessment
possible, and to help the UK government
in moving the project forward.
Council asked the Executive to advance
this issue as a matter of urgency. The Executive
set up a Working Group to report on the
issue by April 1999. The Working Group consisted
of Dr Julian Thomas, Immediate Past-Secretary
of WAC and a specialist in the Neolithic
and Bronze Age of southern England, and
Professor Robert Layton, who has considerable
experience of the World Heritage Convention.
Between them, the Working Group consulted
widely and met with those at English Heritage
responsible for the proposals.
The Working Group reported as follows.
The Stonehenge proposals are intended to
remove two roads and the present inadequate
visitor facilities from the immediate environment
of the World Heritage site, returning the
area to a grassland free of ‘twentieth
century clutter’. The visitor facilities
would be closed down and removed to the
edge of the World Heritage site. One of
the roads would be closed and returned to
grassland, while the other would be buried
in a 2.5 km cut-and-cover tunnel. It is
the cut-and-cover tunnel which is provoking
some opposition and concern within the archaeological
community, as its construction will drive
a huge trench through the centre of the
World Heritage site.
The Working Group’s proposals are:
In the light of our deliberations, and
in accord with the motion recently passed
by the Council of the Prehistoric Society,
we submit the following proposals for consideration
by the WAC Executive:
- We applaud the efforts of English Heritage
and the National Trust in attempting to
improve visitor access to Stonehenge,
in seeking to remove roads from the vicinity
of the monument, and in seeking to provide
adequate visitor facilities;
- We call on the UK government to commission
an independent assessment of the cost
and benefits of a long-bored tunnel for
the A303;
- We call on English Heritage to present
a full set of drawings and representations
of both the cut-and-cover and long-bored
tunnels (including their entrances and
approach cuttings) to the public, to enable
a full and informed debate on the alternatives;
- We appeal to English Heritage not to
cause irreversible damage to the environs
of Stonehenge for the sake of a cheaper
solution to the problem of removing surface
roads.
The President has written to English Heritage
noting the proposals and a press release
outlining the WAC position will have been
issued before you read this.
KAKADU NATIONAL
PARK
The Plenary Session passed a motion regarding
current proposals for the World Heritage
Site of Kakadu National Park, Australia.
The motion reads:
WAC-4 is dismayed by the serious threat
posed to the ecosystems, archaeological
and rock art sites, and living indigenous
culture of the Kakadu National Park by proposed
uranium mining at Jabiluka. The Congress
notes the Mirrar people are recognised throughout
Australian land rights law as the traditional
owners of the country on which the mining
development is located, and that the Mirrar
oppose any additional mining, as at Jabiluka,
on their land. WAC-4 calls on the Australian
Government to respect the Mirrar people’s
status as joint managers of the Kakadu National
Park and World Heritage Site. The Congress
calls for an immediate halt to preparatory
work on the mine, in accordance with the
conclusions of the 22nd session of the UNESCO
World Heritage Committee.
WAC-4 urges immediate remedial action and
compensation for the damage already caused.
It calls on the UNESCO World Heritage Committee
to declare the site as "in danger"
if preparation of the Jabiluka mine proceeds.
A press release regarding this motion was
issued immediately after WAC-4 and WAC’s
CEO has written to the Chairman of the World
Heritage Committee and Director of the World
Heritage Centre outlining WAC’s position. |
World
Archaeological Bulletin