19 Jan: Unevicted! Third Road Protest Camp Still in Place news from england

19 Jan: Unevicted! Third Road Protest Camp Still in Place

January 19, 2013 by combehavendefenders

map to decoy pond camp

The third of three protest camps (“Decoy Pond”) against the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) remains unevicted today (Saturday 19 Jan). Supporters and visitors are welcome! See maps above and below for location and directions.

Two campaigners occupying trees at the now-evicted “Base Camp” were arrested Thursday (18 January), bringing the total number of arrests since the peaceful protests began on 14 December to nineteen.

Please note: “Decoy Pond” camp is a bit trickier to get to than the (now evicted) main camp was. In particular, at present you need to be fairly steady on your feet to navigate the rough and icy terrain. Map showing the relative locations of "Decoy Pond" camp (still unevicted) and the two evicted camps.

Map showing the relative locations of “Decoy Pond” camp (still unevicted) and the two evicted camps.

********************************************** Press release Combe Haven Defenders [1] Friday 18 January Contact 07926 423 033

UNEVICTED! THIRD ROAD PROTEST CAMP STILL IN PLACE, AS LOCAL GRANDMOTHERS MOBILISE TO SUPPORT PROTESTS Campaigners still in trees as total number of arrests reaches nineteen

Friday 18 January, Crowhurst: The third of three protest camps (“Decoy Pond”) against the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) remains unevicted today (18 Jan), as local grandmothers mobilise to show their opposition to the Road and support for the peaceful protests.

Following their successful “Grannie Tree” action – photos from which appeared in the Daily Telegraph among other places [2] – local grandmothers are organising a second “Grannies Photoshoot” against the Road this Saturday (19 Jan), meeting at 12.45pm by the Recreation Ground near The Plough pub in Crowhurst (TN33 9AW) [2].

Two campaigners occupying trees at the now-evicted “Base Camp” were arrested yesterday, bringing the total number of arrests since the peaceful protests began on 14 December to nineteen.

Like the two camps that have already been evicted this week, “Decoy Pond” is located on the proposed route of the BHLR (see footnote [3] for maps and location).

The peaceful protests against the road– which have now been running for over a month – have seized national attention over the past week [4]. Tree-felling work for the road started on 14 December 2012 and represents the first significant work on the highly-controversial 3 mile £100m road, one of over forty “zombie roads” that were declared dead years ago but have now been resuscitated as part of as part of Britain’s largest road-building programme in 25 years [5, 6].

Gabriel Carlyle, a spokesperson for the Combe Haven Defenders: “Despite the freezing temperatures – and the massive resources deployed against them by East Sussex County Council – campaigners are still occupying the trees along the route of the BHLR. The last month of protests are only the beginning of a sustained campaign of peaceful resistance to this environmentally disastrous £100m white-elephant project.”

Contact 07926 423 033

NOTES [1] www.combehavendefenders.org.uk [2] https://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/sat-19-jan-grannies-photoshoot-2/ [3] Nearby postcode TN33 9AY. See maps above. [4] http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/recent-media-coverage/ [5] See ‘Controversial ‘zombie roads’ scheme to be resuscitated’, Guardian, 10 October 2012, http://tinyurl.com/zombieroads [6] http://bettertransport.org.uk/media/26-Oct-roads-report