The current proposal, to widen and sink the road into a tunnel running for almost two miles, mostly about 600 metres south of the stones, was announced in 2014, although the basic idea goes right back to the 1990s. The main difficulty is the cost: the government has allocated £1.7bn, which is not enough for a passage sufficiently long to avoid the world heritage site. That means tunnel portals would be bored, and dual carriageways built, through an ancient landscape unique in the world. This protected area is home to traces of a mesolithic settlement long predating Stonehenge, the ancient “Avenue” linking the monument and the river Avon, and hundreds of bronze-age burial mounds, or barrows.

But the long planning process is entering its endgame. Later this year, a panel of inspectors will meet in Wiltshire and, over a period of six months, examine the evidence for and against the scheme. They will have three months to make their recommendation to the transport secretary, Chris Grayling. He will have a further three months to decide whether or not to accept it. Construction could start in 2021.

A new scientific research collaboration is, for the first time, revealing who built Stonehenge. The cutting-edge study sheds a remarkable light on the geographical origins of the Neolithic community that first constructed the ancient site.

Complex tests carried out on 25 Neolithic people who were buried at or following the time of the initial construction of the now world-famous monument, have revealed that 10 of them lived nowhere near Stonehenge, but in western Britain, and that half of those 10 potentially came from southwest Wales (where the earliest Stonehenge monoliths came from).

The other 15 could be local to Stonehenge, Wiltshire-origin individuals, or the children of other descendants of migrants from the west. All the remains were cremations.

Up until now, it has always been assumed that it was not possible to carry out place-of-origin tests on burned bones – but recent research at Oxford University by Belgian scientist, Dr Christophe Snoeck of the Free University of Brussels, has now discovered that the act of cremation actually crystallises a bone’s structure and prevents the crucial origin-indicating isotope evidence from being contaminated by isotopic signals in the surrounding soil.

The cremated remains from Stonehenge of the 10 individuals of probable western British origin, were buried at various stages between the 33rd century BC and the 28th century BC.

What does ‘solstice’ actually mean?

The term ‘solstice’ derives from the Latin word ‘solstitium’, meaning ‘sun standing still’. Some prefer the more teutonic term ‘sunturn’ to describe the event.

Astrologers say the sun seems to ‘stand still’ at the point on the horizon where it appears to rise and set, before moving off in the reverse direction.

Why did people celebrate the summer solstice?

Pagans have always believed the summer solstice – also known as midsummer as it was the midpoint of the growing season – holds a special power.

Midsummer’s eve was believed to be a time when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest and when fairies were thought to be at their most powerful.

The day has inspired festivals and midsummer celebrations involving bonfires, picnics, singing and Maypole dancing over the centuries. Many towns and villages across Britain still celebrate the day.

One ritual that’s now died out was the lighting of fires with the idea that the flames would keep the dark days from approaching.

Why is Stonehenge so significant?

Thousands of garland-wearing hippies, druids and curious tourists descend on Stonehenge in Avebury, Wiltshire every year to watch the sunrise.

The ancient prehistoric structure has been a place of worship and celebration at the time of summer solstice for thousands of years and is seen by many as a sacred site.

The Pagan monument is famously aligned to the solstices. The rising sun only reaches the middle of the stones one day of the year when it shines on the central altar.

Despite it’s obvious connections to the sun, the exact purpose of the mysterious circle still remains unknown.

Built in three phases between 3,000 B.C. and 1,600 B.C, the huge stones were brought from very long distances – the bluestones from the Preseli Hills more than 150 miles away, and the sarsens probably from the Marlborough Downs, 19 miles to the north.

“There was a high degree of narcotic and alcohol-induced revelry [this year],” said Philip Mould, an art expert on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. “We saw people being hoiked away. Although overall it was a peaceful and cultural event.”

Stonehenge stands for many iconic rural tourism assets in rural England where a significant amount of investment and respect in the actual wonder of their origins needs to be deployed to enable them to be better interpreted and promoted. In this case it seems very clearly established that the actual function of Stonehenge was to celebrate the winter solstice. That doesn’t however deter those who have developed their own sense of an ertatz heritage connection with the monument coming to it on 21 June. Not that this aspect of visitor’s interest in the monument really matters per se. What gets me is the general lack of respect for something which represents incredible continuity between the landscape and it’s people which some of these contemporary vistors show.

There is a long history of the involvement of local authorities in tourism asset management, the engagement of additional players such as English Heritage and the National Trust and increasingly the private and voluntary sector. Massive claims are still made for the importance of tourism economically but I see very little which convinces me that it represents a significant solution to some of the economic and sustinability problems facing rural communities.

You will no doubt have lots of evidence to contrary you will be keen to offer to me!