Anti Linslade Bypass Protestors go to Road Builders Bucks County Council

Linslade council banner hang

Pro­tes­tors against the Linslade Bypass today took there protest to the Bucks Coun­ty Coun­cil Offices in Ayles­bury, hang­ing a large ban­ner on a car park oppo­site the coun­cil offices read­ing Chal­lenge Car Cul­ture. (Oh the irony!)

Chal­lenge Car Cul­ture! — The ban­ner oppo­site Bucks Coun­ty Coun­cil Offices.

The protest was held to time with Bucks Coun­ty Coun­cils efforts in the High Court today to get a rul­ing for­bid­ding fur­ther protests on the site, and was also at the same time as head of trans­porta­tion Gar­ret Emer­son was hold­ing a meet­ing with Bed­ford­shire Coun­ty Coun­cil regard­ing the Bypass.

The aim of the protest was to show oppo­si­tion to the con­struc­tion of the Linslade bypass and sec­ond­ly to encour­age the coun­cil to devel­op a trans­port pol­i­cy based upon increased sup­port for pub­lic trans­port and local facil­i­ties. For exam­ple new hous­ing (if real­ly nec­es­sary) could be based around a reopened east-west rail link and express inter-town bus routes. It is hoped that the protest will also give encour­age­ment to the more Eco-mind­ed mem­bers of the Coun­cil to put across their views more strong­ly.

The ban­ner was vis­i­ble to any­body work­ing with­in the main coun­cil office tow­er and would have would have been vis­i­ble to any­body work­ing with­in the coun­cil offices. Unfor­tu­nate­ly as the ban­ner was tied to the side of a pri­vate car park it was tak­en down by secu­ri­ty with­in about 20 min­utes, how­ev­er those present felt it was there long enough to make a sig­nif­i­cant impact. The protest also got good local press and was cov­ered by the Bucks Her­ald, Mix 96 Radio and BBC local radio.

4 secu­ri­ty guys turned up to remove the ban­ner and escort­ed the two pro­tes­tors from the car park. Although tech­ni­cal­ly with­in their rights as the protest was on pri­vate prop­er­ty, they were slight­ly mob hand­ed in their actions. Where as the police on fac­ing a sit­u­a­tion like this will usu­al­ly polite­ly ask what you are doing and give you a chance to take down a ban­ner your­selves, these guys moved in with lit­tle pre­am­ble and start­ed to tear down the ban­ner. For­tu­nate­ly plead­ing with them worked to a small extent, as we were able to res­cue the ban­ner from their knives for use on anoth­er occa­sion.
Also to be fair to them they are prob­a­bly paid very poor wages and are unlike­ly to be giv­en train­ing as to what to do in such sit­u­a­tions.

Watch this space, more protest against the bypass will fol­low!
More peo­ple will­ing to get involved in action against the road always want­ed. See road alert for con­tact details.http://www.roadalert.org.uk/