Updates from the trees: Hastings Link Road protests

 

 

Day 47 (Jan 29): Decoy Pond Camp evic­tion con­tin­ues

[Update, 10am, Tues 29 Jan: A con­cert­ed move is report­ed­ly being made on all of the tree­hous­es, with lots of climb­ing spe­cial­ists in the trees.]

The evic­tion of the third camp (Decoy Pond Camp – see here for maps and direc­tions) along the route of the Bex­hill-Hast­ings Link Road (BHLR) con­tin­ues today (Tues 29 Jan – the 47th day of con­tin­u­ous protests in the val­ley) with activists still locked-on up trees, after spend­ing a night in cold & wet con­di­tions, fac­ing gusts of up to 44mph (which are no joke when you’re 50 foot up a tree!).

Of the two peo­ple arrest­ed yes­ter­day: one has been cau­tioned and released, and the oth­er is appear­ing in court this morn­ing.

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Update, 6.30pm Mon 28 Jan: Climb­ing team & bailiffs have now left Decoy Pond camp for the day, leav­ing secu­ri­ty guards & fenc­ing behind. Two arrests have been report­ed. No-one yet removed from the trees. Hot food and more tar­pau­lins need­ed this evening (Mon 28 Jan). Evic­tion to con­tin­ue tomor­row (Tues 29 Jan).

Can you come tonight to climb into site and help defend the trees tomor­row? Trans­port from Brighton, Lewes, Bex­hill & Hast­ings. Details 07766 335506
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The evic­tion of the third camp (Decoy Pond Camp – see here for maps and direc­tions) along the route of the Bex­hill-Hast­ings Link Road (BHLR) began around 8.40am this morn­ing. As at t 12.30pm there were some 70+ secu­ri­ty per­sonnnel on the site, as well as a con­sid­er­able num­ber of activists lock-on up the trees – includ­ing at least one at the top of a fifty-foot tree. The first arrest was report­ed around 12.20pm.

As we not­ed at the time of the evic­tion of “Base Camp”: This is only the end of the begin­ning for the protests against the Bex­hill Hast­ings Link Road (BHLR)!
If you can’t make it down to the Val­ley this week then please sign the Pledge / like us on Face­book / fol­low us on Twit­ter (@combe_haven) / send a dona­tion (use the Pay­Pal but­tons on this site or send a cheque) and stay post­ed for news on Phase 2!

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Press Infor­ma­tion Note
Combe Haven Defend­ers [1]
28 Jan­u­ary 2013

EVICTION OF 3RD HASTINGS ANTI-ROAD CAMP BEGINS
Cam­paign­ers peace­ful­ly resist­ing £100m project in tun­nels and trees

28 Jan­u­ary, 9.45am: The evic­tion of the third [2] anti-road camp along the route of the pro­posed Bex­hill-Hast­ings Link Road (BHLR) has begun this morn­ing, Mon­day 28 Jan­u­ary. Cam­paign­ers are  cur­rent­ly peace­ful­ly resist­ing the evic­tion of the Camp, which is locat­ed just west of Upper Wilt­ing Farm in Crowhurst (TN38 8EG), locked-on up trees and down tun­nels [3].

The peace­ful protests against the Road– which have been run­ning since 14 Decem­ber, with 19 arrests – have seized nation­al atten­tion over the past month [4].

Yes­ter­day, direc­tors and senior cam­paign­ers from six major envi­ron­men­tal and trans­port NGOs, includ­ing the RSPB, Green­peace and the Cam­paign to Pro­tect Rur­al Eng­land, vis­it­ed the Camp, con­demn­ing the £100m Road project [5], 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 [6, 7].

Andy Atkins, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Friends of the Earth, said “’This road shouldn’’t have been approved. It will lead to more pol­lu­tion, dam­age the envi­ron­ment and do lit­tle to boost the local econ­o­my. Reviv­ing dis­cred­it­ed road schemes like this won’t solve our eco­nom­ic and trans­port prob­lems, it will sim­ply shift traf­fic else­where. Trans­port pol­i­cy must change direc­tion. We need clean­er cars and safe, effi­cient and afford­able alter­na­tives.’” [5]

Adri­an Hop­kins of the Combe Haven Defend­ers said: “Resis­tance has been grow­ing to this awful scheme as each day pass­es and more peo­ple become inspired by the action so far tak­en to pro­tect the beau­ti­ful Combe Haven val­ley. This is only the begin­ning of a sus­tained cam­paign of peace­ful resis­tance to this envi­ron­men­tal­ly dis­as­trous white-ele­phant project.”

NOTES
[1] www.combehavendefenders.org.uk
[2] The first camp was estab­lished on 21 Decem­ber. Two oth­er camps along the route, ‘Three Oaks’ and ‘Adams Farm’, have already been evict­ed, on 14 Jan and 16–17 Jan respec­tive­ly, result­ing in sev­en arrests that will all go to court lat­er this week.
[3] For maps and direc­tions see http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/camp-groundrules-directions/
[4] See http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/recent-media-coverage/
[5] See http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/green-and-conservation-groups-ceos-visit-camp-condemn-link-road-plans/
[6] See ‘Con­tro­ver­sial ‘zom­bie roads’ scheme to be resus­ci­tat­ed’, Guardian, 10 Octo­ber 2012, http://tinyurl.com/zombieroads
[7] http://bettertransport.org.uk/media/26-Oct-roads-report