£55m Stonehenge visitor centre delayed

A £55m project to build a visitor centre and transit system at Stonehenge in Wiltshire is to go ahead despite an OJEC notice stating the project has been scrapped.

English Heritage first invited contractors to prequalify for the scheme a year ago, but since then the scheme has disappeared into a black hole.

The OJEC notice states: "The project has been cancelled due to organisational changes."

But a source at English Heritage told CJ: "The wording is unfortunate. The project is definitely still on, but it may be re-advertised because so much time has elapsed."

He declined to go into the precise reasons for the delay, but said that the scheme would not get the green light until the result of a public inquiry into the controversial Stonehenge road-tunnel project.

Construction of the visitor centre and transit system was originally supposed to start this year, but according to English Heritage it will not now get under way until 2005.

The source said: "About £25m worth of Heritage Lottery funding for the scheme hangs on the results of the public inquiry into the road tunnel."

He said that the rest would be raised through a combination of fundraising and grants from the Department of Media and Sports.

The scheme includes a 2.2km transit system to carry visitors between the centre and one or more pick-up and drop-off points.

A Balfour Beatty and Costain joint venture is preferred contractor for the £150m road project, which comprises a 2km tunnel and the building of the Winterbourne Stoke bypass.

The scheme is seen as crucial in reuniting the ancient site with the surrounding landscape and related monuments.