Work on the Bexhill Hastings Link Road started this morning (Fri Dec 14), with contractors arriving to fell trees only hours after the county council had confirmed the compulsory purchase order on the land. Protesters arrived before they did and took to the trees, leading to a standoff
Opponents of the £100m Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) – the ‘first and the worst’ of over 190 new road projects planned across the UK [2] – have taken to the trees this morning (Fri Dec 19) to defend them from chainsaw-wielding contractors. About twenty activists are currently defending two sites in the Combe Valley, the area threatened by the Road’s construction.
Seven van-loads of contractors, and at least one police car, are believed to be involved in the tree-felling operation, which has been timed to try and pre-empt protests to block the Road’s construction.
The trees – near Adam’s Farm [3] in Crowhurst – are on the route of the BHLR.
The Combe Haven Defenders are running a pledge calling for 1,066 people to come to Hastings and peacefully resist the construction of the Link Road [4].
Gabriel Carlyle, spokesperson for the Defenders, said: “The second Battle of Hastings has begun in earnest this morning. We intend to do everything in our power to peacefully resist the Road, and urge all those concerned about the environment, the countryside, or the public purse to join us.”
[1] www.combehavendefenders.org.uk
[2]
http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/stop-the-zombie-roads-hastings-halloween-action-on-30-october/ [3] See map here:
http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/camp-now-set-up/. Please note that there is not currently a Camp in the Valley. [4]
http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/sign-the-1066-pledge-to-block-osbornes-roads-to-nowhere-save-the-combe-haven-valley/ ROAD PROTESTORS TAKE TO TREES TO STOP CHAINSAWS - UK Indymedia
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