Previous mutterings about the current Stonehenge facilities being "a national disgrace" have gradually become more vocal in recent years and reflect what everyone who visits Stonehenge have been saying all along.

But it seems the plans to revamp the Stonehenge visitor experience, launched in a blaze of media glory in July 2002, are some way off from being perfect.

Talk to anyone at English Heritage and they will enthuse wildly about their recently unveiled plans for a new Stonehenge Visitor Centre, to be sited (if they get planning permission) in a 70-acre bean field just off the notorious Countess Roundabout – a two mile stone’s throw from the monument.

The centre, costing £57M, would house a state-of-the-art interpretation facility where visitors would be told the story of Stonehenge using a variety of techniques that would consign the current ‘talking-wands’ to the past.

Architects model of the new Stonehenge visitor centre.

For those whose sole aim is to experience the stones for real, they will be able to jump on board a shuttle bus that will drive to within ¾ of a mile of the circle.

From there visitors will then walk through the Stonehenge landscape to see the monument "in its rightful context".

In an imaginative blue-sky-thinking kind of way, one might be tempted to go along with this grandiose scheme.

But not everyone thinks the idea is sound.

Residents shocked

Three years ago, several Amesbury residents were forced to look more seriously at English Heritage’s proposals when they realised the visitor centre would be at the end of their backgardens.

Tony Munday, a former dental surgeon with the RAF and Peter Goodhugh, a retired military scientist, have helped stir the Countess Road Residents Group in action, in the hope that English Heritage will take more notice of their concerns and reconsider the new Visitor Centre’s plans.

Tony Munday (left) Peter Goodhue (right) pictured with original Stonehenge PFI Document

Peter is concerned chiefly that the development would wind up at the rear of his property at the southern end of Countess Road and is worried specifically about the numbers of people, the amount of noise, car fumes and pollution that would ensue.

"The shock of suddenly seeing what was proposed had a galvanising effect and the business of pollution was certainly an initial reaction," Peter says.

"But as I looked into it the wider issues came to light - especially the fact that locating the Visitor Centre at Countess East would focus the traffic onto the A345 traffic hotspot.

"When English Heritage had their LF approved in principle they wrote to three households asking to discuss the possible purchase of their houses so that they could build a tunnel under Countess Road to take visitors from the centre to the wider heritage site.

"Suddenly three households were very worried – this had come out of the blue, they had thoughts of compulsory purchase, and if that didn’t occur what else would happen? They were desperately worried," says Peter.

In the wrong place

"This field at the bottom of my garden is scheduled to become a coach and car park..."

Tony’s property also backs on to the site chosen by English Heritage and he too is concerned about the way such a centre would change the quality of life currently experienced by Countess Road residents.

"I think the actual visitor centre - as it is designed at the moment - is really quite good and I’ve told the designer this myself.

I’ve said it’s a great design but in the wrong place," he says.

Like Peter, his reservations for having such a facility in his backgarden have forced him to look at the plans in detail and he is not at all convinced by the idea of having the centre such a distance away from the monument itself – particularly for anyone in a hurry.

"I would suggest that every American coming all the way across here would want to get in amongst the stones - but they will be effectively forbidden!

"The plans as they stand at the moment will make the stones less accessible to the people who want to visit, simply because of this ¾ of a mile walk.

Peter and Tony survey the Stonehenge landscape

"It may be grassland, but it is by no means flat, and families with young children and prams just won’t be able to do it."

So if the new centre’s proposed site at Countess Road East is wrong, where else could it go?

There have been several suggestions, many of which have been rejected because Tony believes "big money talks" but there is one site that he suggests would be ideal.

"To the west of Stonehenge, where the A344 is at the moment, (one of the roads they propose to take away) there is an area, which, if a Visitor Centre was put on that side of the World Heritage Site, there would be no possibility of congestion - nobody lives there and the road access would be brilliant," Tony recommends.

But he says the argument then often follows that such a site would have serious implications for the archaeology buried in the soil - despite the Tony’s belief that: "they are going to destroy something, wherever they build."

He is also concerned that since the Government has already spent millions of pounds compiling the Stonehenge Masterplan, to back down on their proposals now would be seen as a waste of money.

Lord Stonehenge

He is also wary of why Sir Jocelyn Stevens, the former chairman of English Heritage, was so set on seeing the visitor centre at Countess Road East.

Tony believes: "This seventy acres at Countess East is Sir Jocelyn Stevens’ Grand Vision – this is where he wanted it and this is where he was going to it have - come hell or high water."

Looking at the first drawings for the Visitor Centre, which was going to be run by Madam Tussauds’, it is easy to see why some would be suspicious of the former chairman’s motivation.

On a page given over to the timetable for the Stonehenge proposals, it states that "Lord Stevens of Stonehenge" would open the new Visitor Centre in 2002.

This has left Tony – and others – wondering how the then chairman of English Heritage could be so presumptuous.

"I think it is appalling that this man thought that from this Grand Plan he would become Lord Stevens Of Stonehenge," Tony argues.

When questioned by a senior archaeologist about his future title, Sir Jocelyn was heard to remark that to raise such an issue was "very ungentlemanly".

But Tony and his colleagues who make up the Countess Road Residents Group are intending to make sure that their concerns are taken seriously and Tony for one is not afraid of upsetting the applecart - even if it just might take some ungentlemanly conduct!

Undemocratic

"We are talking about £300M for road improvements, £57M for the Visitor Centre – not a small amount of money - and there have been virtually no letters in the broadsheets about this," he says.

"This shows to me the ‘power’ of English Heritage - I think it smacks of non-democracy."

The group hopes that more people will make the effort to study the government’s plans for Stonehenge – if not just for the sake of the Countess Road Residents but for the future of the monument itself.

Read more about The Countess Road Residents Group at their website.

English Heritage says: "The Countess East site was chosen after several years of studies and consultation. It is the only suitable location that lies outside the World heritage Site. Studies indicate that Countess East, which has been ploughed farmland for many years, contains no significant archaeological remains which would be affected by the proposals. The sensitive designs produced by the architects mean that the visual impact on nearby homes will be minimal. There has been continuing consultation with residents to ensure that their views are taken into consideration."
From: Stonehenge Vision,
The Newsletter of the Stonehenge Project.

English Heritage wants to hear from anyone with concerns or suggestions. Write to them at English Heritage, 23 Saville Road, London, W1S 2ET.

Tell BBC Wiltshire what you think - see our Stonehenge section.