The key to developing and maintaining strong stakeholder relationships lies in recognising that different parties can have very different but equally legitimate perspectives on a problem. Critically discuss this statement, supporting your answer with examples from projects you are familiar with or the case study.

Rearing its head again is the major road improvement project to tunnel past Stonehenge. This project has been more than 20 years in the planning but in the middle of July, it received a development consent order (DCO) from Transport secretary Mark Harper. Officially titled the National Highways' A303 Stonehenge tunnel (Amesbury to Berwick Down) scheme, it entails the construction of a new 12.8km dual carriageway to replace the existing A303. This includes a 3.3km tunnel beneath the Stonehenge UNESCO World Heritage site. The plans are deeply divisive with those opposed to the notion claiming the tunnel will damage the world-renowned historic visitor attraction and cause additional pollution in the area. Supporters view the proposal as the minimum necessary to improve a notorious accident black spot, reduce carbon emissions caused by the many traffic jams on the short section of single carriageway road between two major intersections and reduce traffic through ancient villages. The project was approved in November 2020 despite the Planning Inspectorate's recommendation only for the High Court to rule the decision unlawful. A Joint venture (JV) formed of FCC Consruccin of Spain, WeBuild from Italy and Austrian BeMo tunnelling has been declared preferred bidder. The JV is expected to be supported by a design consortium made up of Atkins, Jacobs and Spanish designer Sener. It is very hard to see how tunnel could damage the world heritage site, but opponents claim both carbon emissions (presumably during construction) and visual impairment do to visibility of the Eastern Approach tunnel entrance. One difficult aspect to evaluate is disturbance to underground artefacts that cannot be detected using current technology. The full scheme has a lot of benefits to local residents who would see a significant reduction in CO2 emissions from traffic jams, less noise as the western approach is rerouted away from the villages in the valley. No doubt this will continue to cause resentment and argument for years to come