£57m for Stonehenge to revive its heritage as 'cultural theatre'

English heritage released the details yesterday of a £57m facelift to Stonehenge, bringing to an end 20 years of disagreement over the future of the prehistoric site on the Wiltshire Downs.

Plans agreed by road builders, architects and archaeologists are intended to end decades of neglect at one of Britain's most important heritage sites which, despite poor facilities, attracts more than 800,000 visitors per year.

Stonehenge has measured poorly against attractions such as the Tower of London and the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland – also a world heritage site. In 1992, the Public Accounts Committee branded it a "national disgrace".

Yesterday the Government pledged £10m to Stonehenge, in addition to £27m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £11.7m from English Heritage. Much of the funding will be for an air-conditioned education centre complete with grass roof and wooded car parks, discreetly tucked away from the site.

A further £200m will be provided by the Highways Agency and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for a road project, which, pending a public inquiry, will keep cars away from the stones and cut congestion. There are plans to close the current access road and open up the south side of the site by boring a dual carriageway tunnel under a 2km stretch of the A303.

The road scheme has proved one of the biggest sticking points as proposed alternative routes north and south of the stones were rejected on grounds of environmental impact and local opposition.

John Lodge, the town clerk for neighbouring Amesbury council, said: "It's not the cheapest solution but it's the only one that might work. The number of visitors to Stonehenge has grown in parallel with international travel and we have struggled with the consequences of our own popularity.''

English Heritage, which manages the site, has acknowledged that visitors receive poor value and quickly move on to nearby Salisbury or Bath. The aim is to encourage them to spend longer in the audio-visual information centre, viewing the famous stones but also the wider landscape including the archaeologically important bronze-age burial sites and processional routes.

Sir Neil Cossons, chairman of English Heritage, revealed details of the scheme at Salisbury Guild Hall. "Stonehenge is the site on which the nation's heritage-led tourist industry is judged. Although about 830,000 people a year from around the world pay to visit it, they spend on average just over half an hour at the stone circle.

"Visitors deserve better than this and at long last, they will be able to engage the wider landscape as never before," Sir Neil said.

According to archaeologists, the new plans will end the gradual post-war destruction of the stones' environs by heavy agricultural machinery. Dr David Miles, chief archaeologist, added: "Stonehenge is where prehistoric people invested more of their time and effort than in anywhere else in Britain, not just in the stones but as processional routes and burial mounds. With this project, we will create access to the whole cultural theatre, and not just the stage.''

The 2,000-hectare site was donated to the nation in 1918 by Sir Cecil Chubb. English Heritage took over management in 1984 and two years later it became a world heritage site. The project is due for completion in 2008 and includes working with farmers to convert some of the landscape to pasture.