THIRTY-TWO thousand people have signed a petition trying to protect standing stones after plans to divert lorries along a road near them were debated.

Oxfordshire county councillors first discussed using the Rollright Road as a diversion route for lorries heading along the A44 at a meeting last year.

This was because, when the road entered Chipping Norton, HGVs were causing traffic and pollution problems by idling through the town centre on narrow carriageways.

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But the plan to divert the heavy vehicles north of the town lead to concerns for the Rollright Stones and drew the ire of the Rollright Trust, a heritage organisation which looks after the ancient monoliths.

The trust has assembled a 32,000 signature petition in the course of the last month opposing the plan, and on Monday it presented the petition to Oxfordshire County Council’s first remote meeting.

On the same day it also handed the petition over to neighbouring Warwickshire County Council, as the stones cross the borders of the two counties.

Oxford Mail:

George Lambrick, top right, addresses Oxfordshire County Councillors at their meeting on Monday.

Rollright Trust chairman George Lambrick asked the council to reduce traffic on the Rollright Road instead of adding to it with new HGVs and turning it into a bypass.

According to the trust, signatories from all 124 postcode areas of the UK have signed the petition, with 3,000 of those coming from Oxfordshire.

Mr Lambrick, who addressed the council by video call, said: “We have always known that the Rollright Stones are much loved and cherished as a deeply inspiring place that is both of national importance and internationally well-known. But we are both humbled and astonished at this level of nation-wide and local support.”

In his address to the council, Mr Lambrick said there were already traffic problems on the road, with a lack of parking for people visiting the Rollright Stones.

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He added that the trust wants to work with Oxfordshire and Warwickshire’s county councils ‘to develop a pro-active traffic calming action plan for the stones and adjacent accident hot spots’.

In last November’s county council meeting, Hillary Hibbert-Biles, the ward councillor for Chipping Norton, proposed a ban on HGVs entering the middle of the town.

Councillors unanimously approved the ban and Ms Hibbert-Biles said the town would welcome their support.

At the time, Yvonne Constance, the council’s cabinet member for the environment, said the Rollright Road would be considered as a possible route for a lorry diversion.

Burford, also in West Oxfordshire, is also currently piloting a ban on HGVs entering the town centre.

Meanwhile the petition presented by Mr Lambrick will now be considered by the county council.

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The Rollright Stones consist of three groups of standing stones along the border of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.

The different monuments are thought to have been built between the late stone age and the bronze age.

All three monuments – the Whispering Knights, the King’s Men and the King Stone – are composed of a distinctive local limestone.