Stonehenge funding package unveiled

The on-off saga of sorting out the roads around Stonehenge and building a proper visitor centre seems to be back on track after ministers announced two important measures which could mean work finally starting as early as next year.

Work to create new visitor centre and make road improvements could start next year after financial announcements by ministers

The closeness of the A344 to the stones near Salisbury, as well as the visitor facilities described by the public accounts committee in 1993 as a "national disgrace", have long been a problem in need of fixing. Government funding for the latest project was axed as part of £73m of savings announced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sports in June.

The heritage minister, John Penrose, said the government was giving English Heritage the permission it needs to access £2m from its historic reserves of £8m. That is money given philanthropically over the years and the DCMS said its use represents "the government's commitment to philanthropic support for major cultural projects".

Penrose said the way Stonehenge – listed by Unesco as a world heritage site in 1986 – had been presented to the public had been "woefully inadequate. Decades of dithering and indecision have got us nowhere."

He added: "It was bitterly disappointing when the country's dire financial state meant we had to withdraw government funding for the visitor centre here last June. But I – along with English Heritage and my colleagues across government – have been committed to finding other ways to support the project. The fact that we have now almost secured private funding is an example of the 'big society' in action, with everyone working together to ensure a mix of funding solutions."

The £27.5m project already has £10m of lottery money in the pot as well as money which English Heritage has made in profit from its commercial activities and fundraising. Today's announcement means there is now just £3m to raise – a sum English Heritage is confident of getting to allow work to start in 2012.

The second announcement directly addresses the road problem. The transport minister, Mike Penning, said funding of £3.5m had been agreed for a scheme to close the junction of the A303/344 and grass over the stretch of A344 close to the stones. There will also be improvements to the A360/A303 Longbarrow roundabout to deal with the increase in traffic which will result from the A344's closure.

English Heritage welcomed the ministerial announcements. Its chief executive, Simon Thurley, said: "These are crucial steps which bring closer the transformation of the currently blighted Stonehenge landscape. We are grateful to the government for their forthright support for this important project, particularly at a time when money is so tight. We now need to secure the last permissions and raise the final elements of funding. I am confident that we will be able to do both in time to start work next year."

A new environmentally sensitive visitor centre, replacing the current one, will be built about 1.5 miles away with people taken close to the stones on a low-key visitor transit system or, as others have called it, a "noddy" train