• We visited the site on Snelsmore Common which protesters
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in tree houses and ground camps were attempting to defend from the earthmovers and chain-saws.
A group of up to 100 security guards, overseen by a handful of police, ringed the machinery to prevent the work being disrupted. We also talked to drinkers at the Clocktower Inn, in Newbury town centre, a popular haunt for protester& The scene at Snelsmore Common was apocalyptic with a huge swathe of trees cleared at
the top of the valley, the clanking of machinery and the humming of electric saws, a giant pile of trees burning in the foreground, yellow-jacketed security guards shivering in the snow, and off to the edges of this panoramic scene, the protesters' camps with blue plastic sheeting hung across netting to create hammocks high in the trees. The mood seemed almost relaxed with some guards queuing at a burger van and others sharing greetings with protesters. Indeed, three guards have been persuaded to join the protest.
i'ye been here a couple of weeks and I've also been on
I protests at Twyford Down, the M1 1 and Wymondham.
We try to keep the relationship friendly with the guards but they are not supposed to talk to us or throw snowballs back at us!
A better route for the road would have been through the industrial estate at Thatcham but that probably goes close to a big boss's house who doesn't want the road near him,
My brother is a lorry driver and he thinks we are doing a good job; he thinks there's enough roads. There should be more freight on rail—this road actually follows an old rail embankment.
People want food in the shops so there's no alternative to local deliveries but there could be freight depots outside towns with food transported in by electric vehicles. There should also be park and ride and clean fuel alternatives. I travel by horsedrawn wagon and cars and lorries have no respect for animals.
The weather doesn't bother me; I am used to living outdoors. The security have been burning laurel to try to smoke us out: it's poisonous, so we got our lawyers to stop it. We will stay as long as it takes, while we are here we are educating police and others about what we are doing. "
Steve, from Glastonbury
6 live locally It's terrible. They are
I bulldozing this road through against the wishes of local people and people throughout the country. It makes no sense in transport terms. It's nothing to do with Newbury's transport problems: it's to do with traffic from the Midlands to Southampton; it's all about Tory party policy and votes The traffic on the A34 will return to its current level and in 10 years we will have two main roads polluting the town and there will still be trucks on the road.
Road traffic throughout the country must be reduced. Freight should go by rail on a piggyback system, that's the future for long-distance haulage. There should be a raft of traffic reductions and management measures including cheaper, more frequent public transport and school bus services to prevent parents taking their children to school by car. Out of term times the roads are so much clearer. They should computerise junctions to ease traffic flow, companies should give their employees rail tickets and more cycle lanes must be built."
Dr Susan Millington, from Friends of the Earth, Newbury.
Her father is a truck
dealer so she grew up with CM. 6 T hey should have looked into an underpass or an overpass through Newbury. I have been here for six weeks and I am prepared to stay: there's nothing else in my life as important as this, that feels so right. I want to save these trees for my kids, I want to say that at least I tried The morale in the camp is fine although bail conditions are ridiculous, you have to sign on every day.
The car culture has got to be changed: by the Government's own figures traffic will double in the next 15 years. Clean fuel is necessary, Brazil runs 30% of its vehicles on ethanol, the first Fords ran on hemp.
Why can't freight be put on rail to your local depot? For every pot of yoghurt you buy, a lorry travels 30 feet. We get a lot of bad shit from lorry drivers but I've got nothing against them. The council could try lorry pricing: why not charge each lorry that goes through Newbury £2? What's being cut down here is enough air for 60,000 people. People in Newbury don't know what traffic is; they should try living in London."
Martin Healer from London. • "I've worked in Newbury for 20 years. A flyover would be too ugly. I don't want to see trees cut down but it's got to be done, hasn't it? They should push those protesters out of the trees: they'll get no sympathy from me. I spend too many hours in the traffic."
Bernie Phillips, Color Gas, Newbury depot, parked at Chieveley.
• "I've been saying there should be a bypass for 10 years. I come through up to three times a week and it's at its worst from 4pm. Holiday times are the worst. But I con't understand why they took that route---it would hove been cheaper to put a flyover across the river. They've done it in Bristol and it's brilliant."
Michael Cole, AAH Distribution, Bristol taking a break at Chieveley Services. • "Something is needed, especially first thing in the morning when it gets jam-packed. But they should have chosen a different route for conservation reasons. We need the bypass but we also need the countryside, don't we There should have been mare consultation—they've bulldozed their way through without sorting out the details. It's only a couple of miles—a flyover would have been best and it would have gained more time for drivers. I sympathise with the protesters: you need the forest and you need the wildlife."
Dave Matthews, N Riley Haulage, parked at Chieveley.