18th June 2010, 01:59 PM
(This post was last modified: 18th June 2010, 02:00 PM by ken_whittaker.)
Fact: Government funding decision for Stonehenge pre-date 1 January 2010, with ?10m having been committed in 16 October 2009.
The misrepresentation and lack of credibility in this decision can be further illustrated in comments attributed to the former Conservative members for Salisbury and Bournemouth (East), who provide a useful narrative reflecting Conservative interest during Opposition and highlighting the debacle that is government policy on Stonehenge.
The first from Property Week in an article published 12 Dec 2007 following announcement that the A303 road improvement scheme was to be dropped:
“We’ve had to wait 21 years for a visitors centre,” local Conservative MP Robert Key said. “It is a huge disappointment that the government has decided to do nothing with the roads. It underlines the complete incompetence of successive governments.”
He added that it was now essential a new temporary visitor centre was open by 2012. (http://www.propertyweek.com/news/denton-corker-marshalls-stonehenge-visitor-centre-scrapped/3102155.article)
Perhaps the most prescient statements is in the final sentence in a question put down to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Barbara Follett) in 19 Jan 2009:
Mr. Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth, East) (Con): May I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury (Robert Key), who has spent an awful lot of time on Salisbury plain campaigning on the important issue of the Stonehenge visitor centre? [I][ Interruption. ] For 20 years, the Minister says. He has been there so long that he probably deserves honorary druid status. Unfortunately, however, the same cannot be said of the Government. They have spent ?30 million on paper exercises, and still nothing happens. How long do we have to wait for some leadership? A Tory social action project would have had the work done by now. What is staggering is that we are the fifth biggest economic power in the world and the sixth most popular country to visit, and still we cannot even build a half-decent visitor centre for our top outdoor tourist attraction. Stonehenge is a timeless monument, but it seems that this Government can find no time to support it.[/I]
(http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090119/debtext/90119-0002.htm)
And irony of irony, as recently as Nov 9 2009, Robert Keys MP was seeking DCMS commitment to extend its agreed funding. Hansard records the following question he put down to the Minister of State:
Robert Key (Salisbury): Whether his Department's proposed funding for the visitor centre at Stonehenge includes provision for partnership joint funding of Stonehenge galleries at (a) Salisbury and (b) Devizes museum.
(http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa...1109600000)
The misrepresentation and lack of credibility in this decision can be further illustrated in comments attributed to the former Conservative members for Salisbury and Bournemouth (East), who provide a useful narrative reflecting Conservative interest during Opposition and highlighting the debacle that is government policy on Stonehenge.
The first from Property Week in an article published 12 Dec 2007 following announcement that the A303 road improvement scheme was to be dropped:
“We’ve had to wait 21 years for a visitors centre,” local Conservative MP Robert Key said. “It is a huge disappointment that the government has decided to do nothing with the roads. It underlines the complete incompetence of successive governments.”
He added that it was now essential a new temporary visitor centre was open by 2012. (http://www.propertyweek.com/news/denton-corker-marshalls-stonehenge-visitor-centre-scrapped/3102155.article)
Perhaps the most prescient statements is in the final sentence in a question put down to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Barbara Follett) in 19 Jan 2009:
Mr. Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth, East) (Con): May I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury (Robert Key), who has spent an awful lot of time on Salisbury plain campaigning on the important issue of the Stonehenge visitor centre? [I][ Interruption. ] For 20 years, the Minister says. He has been there so long that he probably deserves honorary druid status. Unfortunately, however, the same cannot be said of the Government. They have spent ?30 million on paper exercises, and still nothing happens. How long do we have to wait for some leadership? A Tory social action project would have had the work done by now. What is staggering is that we are the fifth biggest economic power in the world and the sixth most popular country to visit, and still we cannot even build a half-decent visitor centre for our top outdoor tourist attraction. Stonehenge is a timeless monument, but it seems that this Government can find no time to support it.[/I]
(http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090119/debtext/90119-0002.htm)
And irony of irony, as recently as Nov 9 2009, Robert Keys MP was seeking DCMS commitment to extend its agreed funding. Hansard records the following question he put down to the Minister of State:
Robert Key (Salisbury): Whether his Department's proposed funding for the visitor centre at Stonehenge includes provision for partnership joint funding of Stonehenge galleries at (a) Salisbury and (b) Devizes museum.
(http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa...1109600000)