Stonehenge centre project to get £10m Lottery boost

A £27 million project to build a new visitor centre at Stonehenge received a boost today when the Heritage Lottery Fund confirmed it was contributing £10 million to the scheme.

Plans for the new visitor centre and a nearby road closure had been put on hold after the funds promised by the last government were dramatically withdrawn as part of public spending cuts.

The money will help to fund improvements aimed at elevating the 5000-year-old site's status as an international tourist attraction.

Labour had agreed to part-fund a project to improve the area allowing a new timber and glass visitor centre to be built 1.5 miles away from the stones and the closure of the A344 which runs close to the site.

The stones - one of the most substantial examples of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in Europe - have two major A-roads nearby. Plans to place the traffic-laden A303 in a tunnel to reduce its effect on the site were withdrawn in 2007.

The £10 million funding confirmed today is more than double what the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) initially earmarked to put towards the scheme and English Heritage said the cash considerably narrowed the funding gap for the project.

The heritage body still needs to find around a third of the cost of the project.

Baroness Andrews, chairwoman of English Heritage, said: "We are tremendously grateful for this generous grant.

‘Not only does it help to narrow the funding gap for the project considerably, it also sends out a message of confidence about the transformational benefits that the project will bring - to tourism, local economy and the conservation and public enjoyment of Stonehenge and its landscape.’

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