A £27 million project to build a new visitor centre at Stonehenge in England received a boost when the Heritage Lottery Fund confirmed it was contributing £10 million to the scheme.

The project to improve the World Heritage Site, including building a new centre for visitors and closing an adjacent road, was thrown into doubt earlier this year when the government announced it was axing its £10 million contribution as part of public spending cuts.

But the £10 million funding confirmed is more than double what the Heritage Lottery Fund initially earmarked to put towards the scheme and English Heritage said the cash considerably narrowed the funding gap for the project.

The heritage body still needs to find around a third of the cost of the project.

Under plans unveiled by English Heritage last year, facilities including a café, shop and toilets would be housed in a pair of single-storey areas of glass and timber about a mile and a half west of the prehistoric stones, to which they would be linked by a transit system. The proposals also include plans to close the nearby A344.

Baroness Andrews, chairman of English Heritage, said: “We are tremendously grateful for this generous grant.

“Not only does it help to narrow the funding gap for the project considerably, it also sends out a message of confidence about the transformational benefits that the project will bring – to tourism, local economy and the conservation and public enjoyment of Stonehenge and its landscape.”

She said the announcement would help English Heritage in its ongoing efforts to close the funding gap for the project.

HLF chairman Dame Jenny Abramsky said Stonehenge was one of the archaeological wonders of the world.

She added: “It demonstrates the vital role heritage plays within the UK’s tourism industry as well as being a great example of our fascinating history.

“This Heritage Lottery Fund investment will help transform this site and give people a much greater understanding of why it is significant.”

Stonehenge, constructed bet-ween 3,000 BC and 1,600 BC, and thought to have been used for a variety of religious ceremonies, attracts around 900,000 visitors a year, 70 per cent of whom come from abroad.

Efforts to improve the facilities and surroundings of the site – one of the most substantial complexes of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in Europe – have been dogged with problems over the years.

The current scheme, which had been given the “go-ahead in principle” by ministers, is the latest in a long line of proposals.