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Press Release, Tuesday 25th January 2005: |
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ACTIVISTS BUILD A TREE HOUSE ON THE ROUTE AND LOCALS CONTINUE TO OPPOSE SCHEME as the Prescott's new housing will not provide homes for the local community |
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FoE South Bedfordshire |
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- Work on the controversial Stoke Hammond to Linslade bypass [1] has been temporarily halted for over one week due to the pressures of protests. An oil pipeline was due to be moved on 24th January today. However this has not happened and work has been halted. There were at least 20 local protesters at 7.30 am in the snow before people went to work and took children to school. They were joined by people who had built a tree house on the route (2) and stayed there overnight. |
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Victoria Harvey of South Bedfordshire Friends of the Earth says: |
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"People oppose Prescott's plans as they will not provide affordable housing for local people" |
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Local people feel very strongly about this as the new housing plans have only approx 16% of the annual housing completions as affordable housing. In south Bedfordshire you now need to earn £45,000 in order to be able to afford a new home. This rules out nurses and teachers and local people. In Bedfordshire there are approx 8500 people on housing waiting lists. Only £16 million has been allocated to the Bedfordshire area for 2004 to 2006 for 498 houses of which 145 are for key workers according to Keith Hill MP of ODPM. Prescott's new growth area will not benefit local people and will not provide homes for local people. Instead it will repeat the pattern of the London Docklands Development Corporation where the needs of the local community are pushed aside for developers interests. ew Quango's like the London Docklands Development Corporation are being brought in which will deny people their local democratic rights. |
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THE BYPASS DOES NOT HELP LOCAL PEOPLE |
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The £43 million spent on this bypass does not help Leighton Linslade which suffers from terrible congestion which is killing the town centre. The only road that benefits is the Stoke road which is one of the least congested roads. The seriously congested road which children have to cross every day according to Buckinghamshire County Council wilL not benefit at all. As regards the villages according to the Highways agency they will still suffer heavey congestion in peak hours. |
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Victoria Harvey of South Bedfordshire Friends of the Earth says: |
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"There is no consideration for the 20% of people who do not have a car. The bus services in Leighton Linslade were halved at the time that the funding was granted for the bypass showing that the government has no concern for local people and their needs. Our children deserve birds and wildflowers not roads,congestion,airports and global warming." |
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Local residents who have been at the protests include the following who will be available to interview: |
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Contact Victoria Harvey on 01525 385 097 or on 07815 817 108 to arrange interviews. |
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Buckinghamshire County Council have said that work has been suspended on police advice while the security situation is reviewed. This follows the arrest on Wednesday of two women who chained themselves to a an excavator [3], with other local people standing in front of chainsaw crews. Protests started on Monday 17th January as Road Block, the national alliance against road building was launched [4]. Work has been stopped on each day by local residents who have kept up a constant vigil in shifts all week to make sure that work does not resume. Local people have been demonstrating peacefully all week despite the commitments of jobs and families. |
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According to Buckinghamshire County Council's press release, "Protestors have succeeded in delaying the work of one contractor on site - Homegrown Timber Limited. The council, on police advice, agreed not to move in heavy machinery until the site could be adequately secured." |
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This road does not help the most congested road in Linslade that children have to cross to go to school. Those who expect a quick journey to Milton Keynes will be stuck in gridlock at the northern end of the bypass. We believe that it is the first piece of infrastructure to pave the way for the huge housing development planned for the 'Growth Area'. The protest will continue as more and more people know about the issue and understand it. The protest is mainly local residents who care about their environment, and they will be joined by activists. |
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Local residents have set up a website about the protests: www.Linsladeprotest.org.uk. Please see also www.roadblock.org.uk |
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Contact: South Bedfordshire Friends of the Earth: Victoria Harvey on 01525 385 097 and 07815 817108 or vharvey@btopenworld.com |
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| NOTES TO EDITORS [1] The Stoke Hammond and Linslade Western Bypass is the first of four bypasses, which will provide a dual carriageway between Milton Keynes and Aylesbury. This is in one of the Government's 'growth areas', with Milton Keynes set to have 44,000 new homes by 2021, South Bedfordshire 26,000, and Aylesbury 15,000. |
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