Progress to date

The concept of an extension of the ancient Ridgeway path southwards from Overton Hill towards Stonehenge, under the name of The Great Stones Way, was first proposed to the FoR Executive Committee in August, 2007.  Meetings with Wiltshire’s Rights of Way Dept and with Defence Estates in early 2008 provided encouragement, and the Chairman briefed members attending the AGM on 16th March, 2008.  He also introduced the scheme to the Wiltshire Countryside Access Forum and the Ridgeway Forum, where it was warmly received. The Chairman set out himself to walk the route, and successfully completed most of it during Autumn, 2008. 

Photograph: Avebury outer circle. Copyright Chris Cole.

The Committee decided in August, 2008, that the route, continuing from The Ridgeway National Trail, should aim to have similar standards of disability access, surfaces and signage, and should be promoted, in order to maximise its economic value.  This meant of course that substantial investment would be needed.  The Committee agreed to appoint a working group to take the project forward, if possible in alliance with other partners, with a professional feasibility study, preparatory to seeking funding for the scheme. Such a study would itself cost significant sums for which grant funding was required. 

From informal contacts during the winter of 2008/9, it became clear that there was little alternative, if the project was to make progress, for The Friends of The Ridgeway to take the lead itself.  Following a Committee meeting in May, 2009, it was agreed to identify suitable consultants and seek funding for a study.  A detailed Terms of Reference document was drafted, and 12 organisations were approached, including both professional and academic institutions.  Discussions were pursued with three active and well-qualified respondents which each submitted a detailed offer of services.  The Committee selected on 11th November, 2009, a consortium of professionals led by Land Access Ltd. 

Meanwhile, the EU/DEFRA/RDPE LEADER financing scheme had been launched, and the North Wessex Downs (NWD) AONB and Salisbury “Plain Action” Local Access Groups (LAGs) were successful in their respective bids for lines of finance for local community initiatives.  We were encouraged to take advantage of the scheme by applying to both organisations for funding.  NWDAONB kindly agreed a £5,000 grant from their Sustainable Development Fund, and Plain Action approved the small LEADER grant requested, also of £5,000.  Wilts Council Rights of Way Dep’t kindly contributed a grant of £1,000, and VisitWiltshire offered contingent short-term support of up to £2,000. On signature of the Plain Action grant contract on 8th December, 2009, the Land Access Ltd consortium’s study commenced.  

The consultants completed their study in draft by mid-March, 2010, as planned, and gave a presentation to members at our AGM on 21st March.  The final study was considered by the Committee on 26th May, 2010.  Its positive conclusions were as follows: :-

• The proposal is a good fit with the relevant national and regional strategies, and with Wiltshire’s Rights of Way Improvement and Local Transport Plans.
• As a good quality route with a very strong heritage theme, The Great Stones Way should appeal to a great many walkers and quickly establish itself as a high-profile Strategic Regional Route. Usage is conservatively estimated at between 250,000 and 400,000 walkers per year.
• Development is technically feasible, although there are concerns as to the major road crossings – some of which can be alleviated by choice of route. Continuation of the route south of Stonehenge is likely to require amendment to the Longbarrow crossroads on the A303.
• The likely cost of development, including legal costs, contingency and project management, is estimated to be in the region of £105,000 from Avebury to Stonehenge and £160,000 for continuation all the way to Old Sarum.
• The route, once fully established, is expected to generate economic benefits of between £6mn and £10mn per annum, conservatively based on the experience of other similar trails.
• Existing services are adequate to launch the route, but demand generated by the project would support additional provision, creating 160 to 260 new jobs.
• There is good opportunity to develop a series of shorter distance circular walks based on the spine of the GSW.  The number of archaeological and historic attractions en route is overwhelming.
• The proposal fits well with the advertised aims of several grant schemes, particularly LEADER, with its focus on economic development.
• The overall conclusion is that there is a very strong economic case for developing The Great Stones Way.

The Committee agreed to adopt the Study and authorised the Working Group to continue to develop the project.  The main actions needed were to initiate consultations with the communities along the route, and to raise further funding.  We also initiated meetings with Wiltshire Council’s Rights of Way department to define responsibilities for future management and maintenance of the path, which led to an outline agreement on 30th June, 2010.

A detailed community consultation programme was initiated immediately, starting with approaches to the five Area Boards concerned, ie, Devizes, Marlborough, Pewsey, Tidworth and Amesbury.  Chairman Ian Ritchie gave presentations to each of them at their first available meetings, commencing with Tidworth on 19th July, 2010.  The last Area Board, for Pewsey, could unfortunately not find time until their 22nd November meeting.  All Boards welcomed the proposals, and agreed that direct contacts should be pursued with the parishes concerned, which were then set up.  The Avon Valley parish meetings were very positive, but the northern Downs and Pewsey Vale parishes raised a number of concerns as to the potential environmental and social impacts of the scheme on them.   Concerns were also expressed by some of  the conservation organisations involved in the Avebury and Stonehenge World Heritage Sites (WHS), as to the extra pressure on facilities within the sites, and potential erosion effects from the added footfall, if the route were to start and end within the protected sites, as was then proposed.

In the meantime, an active fund-raising campaign was initiated.  The centrepiece was an appeal to members in October, 2010, to which many members responded very generously.  Donations received, inclusive of Gift Aid recoveries, had exceeded £10,000 by the year-end.  Grant applications were also pursued with the two LEADER LAGs, and with a number of other organisations, both public and private.  Plain Action eventually approved on 13th December, 2010, a LEADER grant of £24,750 towards the cost of the “Plain and Avon” section of the path between the A342 crossing and Stonehenge.  A Community Area Grant of £5,000 was also approved on 17th January, 2011, by the Tidworth Area Board towards the improvement costs in the parishes of Enford and Netheravon.  These two grants, with the matching funds donated by members, will be enough to fund the improvement works planned for the Plain and Avon sections of the route. 

The concerns raised by parishes in the North Wessex Downs area and by the WHS, however, led the NWD LAG to signal that our funding application would not be approved, and this was withdrawn.  The Pewsey Area Board also qualified its earlier approval of the project, and our applicationIn response to the WHS concerns, and those of the parish of Avebury, the Committee reluctantly agreed at its Meeting on 23rd February, 2011, to re-route the path away from both the Avebury and Stonehenge sites, to start at the end of The Ridgeway National Trail at Overton Hill, and to follow the Avon Valley through Amesbury, instead of heading straight for Stonehenge.  There will, of course, be numerous points along The Great Stones Way for walkers to access the stone circles of Avebury and Stonehenge.

The principal demand of the Downs and Vale of Pewsey parishes objecting to the project was for an environmental impact assessment to be carried out, and the working group, while remaining sceptical of the value of the exercise, agreed that this is a reasonable requirement, and should be commissioned. 

However, extra funding was needed to cover the costs of the study, and the terms of reference required expert guidance and discussion with the organisations most concerned. We invited a number of conservation bodies, including English Heritage, Natural England, and the North Wessex Downs AONB, as well as Wiltshire Council officials to join a Consultative Group, to assist us to finalise the scope of the study and to oversee the process. After a great deal of time and much discussion, we eventually asked for proposals from six well-qualified firms, of whom four responded and three closely-matched and impressive offers were considered in the final selection. Our preferred candidate was GM Bathe Associates, a newly-established partnership of consultants Graham Bathe and Joanna Ramsay, both with impressive credentials in countryside management, access and conservation, from employment with Natural England and other bodies.

We sought approval from both our LEADER funding bodies for grants towards the costs of the exercise, alongside the resources donated by our members and supporters. Plain Action kindly gave approval just before Christmas for the variation of our LEADER grant to permit the amended route through Amesbury instead of Stonehenge, the inclusion of the EIS in the project and a revised budget. The North Wessex Downs Local Action Group has also now given their approval for a two-stage grant for the project of a little over £35,400. The first stage will comprise completion of the EIS, and the funding for the second stage, the costs of improvement of the path, will be subject to and conditional on us addressing the findings of the EIS to the satisfaction of the LAG and of our Consultative Group.

Following approval of funding, we were able to announce the commissioning of the study, and Graham and Joanna have started their work. We hope for the active participation of the community at large as well as of all the organisations concerned with the natural, heritage and social environment along the route. The programme calls for the study of the southern sections to be completed by early April, 2012, and the remainder by July.

Meanwhile, we have been pressing ahead with preparations for the works in the southern section of the route, and are pleased to have recruited Andy Plummer as our Volunteer Project Manager. Andy, a keen long-distance walker, is about to complete his Diploma in Countryside Management with the Berkshire College of Agriculture near Maidenhead, and is working on The Ridgeway as his research study. With Andy’s help, we are aiming to complete the bulk of the works on this section in time for it to be available to walkers for some part at least of the 2012 walking season.

All this extra work has inevitably delayed the opening of the route, and will continue to do so, for which we can only apologise to the walking world, and to all intending walkers personally! If you’d like to help in any way please do get in touch, or if you’d like to help with the funding, please follow this link to our charitygiving page.

European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas.ricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas.