The UN’s cultural organisation UNESCO has said it recommends adding Stonehenge, the renowned prehistoric site in England, to its world heritage in danger list. It’s another major embarrassment for the Tories in the midst of a general election – because UNESCO’s decision is due to the tunnel running through the site that they approved.
The news comes after establishment outrage over Just Stop Oil spraying Stonehenge in harmless cornflour powder. Yet UNESCO has just exposed who the real cultural vandals are.
Stonehenge: Tories wreaking havoc
Stonehenge is in the UN organisation’s sights because of the Tories’ plans to construct a controversial road tunnel near the world heritage site in southwestern England. In a written decision on Monday 24 June, the World Heritage Committee recommended that Stonehenge be added to the UN body’s heritage in danger list “with a view to mobilising international support”.
The decision will have to be voted upon by the member states of the World Heritage Committee at a meeting in New Delhi in July.
One diplomat told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the decision will likely be approved.
Stonehenge has had UNESCO world heritage status since 1986. Placement on the UN body’s heritage in danger list is seen as a dishonour by some countries.
Last July the Tories approved the construction of a controversial road tunnel near Stonehenge. This was despite efforts by campaigners to halt the £1.7bn project. In 2021, the High Court threw the plans out over environmental concerns, but in 2023 the Department for Transport approved it again. They expect building to begin in 2025.
Ignoring UNESCO warnings
UNESCO pointed out that the Tories had decided to approve the project “despite repeated warnings from the World Heritage Committee since 2017”. The planned tunnel is intended to ease congestion on an existing main road to southwest England that gets especially busy during the peak holiday periods.
However, experts have warned of “permanent, irreversible harm” to the area.
Built in stages between around 3,000 and 2,300 BCE, Stonehenge is one of the world’s most important prehistoric megalithic monuments in terms of its size, sophisticated layout, and architectural precision.
UNESCO runs a list of sites with World Heritage status around the world, a prestigious title that countries compete to bestow on their most famous natural and man-made locations. A listing can help boost tourism – but it comes with obligations to protect the site.
The Tories are the real cultural vandals
Yet last week, politicians from all sides and the corporate media laid into Just Stop Oil for using harmless cornflour powder to douse Stonehenge in – as a protest over the climate crisis and the UK government’s unwillingness to divest from fossil fuels quickly enough.
Clearly, UNESCO is making a very unsubtle point, here, in the middle of the general election: just days after Just Stop Oil’s incident, it is actually branding the Tories the cultural vandals. Fair play, UNESCO. Fair play.
Additional reporting via Agence France-Presse
Featured image via the Canary
