Urgent call out for help to protect Ancient, scottish woodland
anonymous | 11.01.2006 11:20 | Ecology
destruction that will be caused by the Dalkeith Northern Bypass. The
tree-sit is in Dalkeith Park, a historic 850 acre park that serves a
valuable wildlife habitat and is visited by 50,000 people annually. The
proposed bypass would cut the the wild-life habitat in two, and the
while the 1999 Strategic Road Review noteed it would offer journey
savings, it also noted the bypass would cause "generally negatie ratings
in the other environmental factors, including global air quality, water,
ecology, visual impacts, heritage, and landscape character." Although
construction is not supposed to begin officially till the summer of
2006, because of the early spring nesting season of birds and bats,
tree-felling is to begin immediately. In response to this emergency,
anti-roads protesters have set-up a tree-sit and walkways in the pines
that are in the path of the extension. Protesters also will be present
at Midlothian Council's next public review to help present the case
against the extension through Dalkeith Park and through Bilston Glen.
Trees have already been felled, and the number of people on the sites (top, bottom, middle) are not many, and need urgent support as eviction is a real threat, and could happen any day as authorities aren’t been clear about dates and times…
Protesters will remain in the trees until the bypass is defeated.
Camp site number 07783904369
anonymous
Additions
Eviction Soon (weeks?) - Help Needed
11.01.2006 12:34
Campaign Website:
http://www.save-dalkeith-park.org.uk/ ---------------
Latest Press Coverage:
Mon 9 Jan 2006
Protesters dig in over battle to halt bypass
ANDREW PICKEN
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=37792006 http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=37792006 ECO-WARRIORS have opened up a new front in their battle to save woodland from being destroyed to make way for the Dalkeith bypass - by going underground.
Protesters fighting against the felling of trees to make way for the £30 million A68 bypass have dug a network of tunnels to aid their fight against being evicted from Dalkeith Park.
The group has now established four camps across the park and the 30-strong band is bracing itself for the eviction to begin within weeks.
The tunnels, understood to be several metres deep, are designed to stop bailiffs bringing in heavy machinery to fell the trees and supplement an existing range of tree-top and rope defences.
Contractors have been ready to start preliminary work on the project since before Christmas but have been thwarted by protesters blocking their way. Activists yesterday met with representatives of the National Eviction Team, an English bailiff firm hired to evict the protesters, to discuss safety in the camps and establish a protocol for when eviction takes place.
Tunnelling has been a favoured tactic among protesters since the infamous environmental campaigner Swampy and his A30 Action Group held up construction of the Newbury bypass for a week in 1997 by building a network of tunnels. Some of the tunnels were ten feet deep and as long as 90 feet. Police had to resort to recruiting informants from the protest groups and using their information to identify the best time to raid the tunnels.
Protesters at other sites, such as Manchester Airport, have been removed by slowly chipping away at the earth above the tunnels or by attempts to trick them out.
A total of four eviction notices have been issued by Edinburgh Sheriff Court and one protester, who asked not be named, said they were prepared for all eventualities. He said: "We are ready for the bailiffs and it is good that we have opened dialogue with them but we do take everything they say with a pinch of salt."
Claire McCallion, who is originally from Ballyclare in Northern Ireland, came to Edinburgh for the G8 protests during the summer and after a brief stint campaigning against the bypass at Bilston Glen, near Penicuik, she joined the protest at Dalkeith Country Park.
She said: "I've a feeling eviction will come in the next two or three weeks but you just don't know. That's part of the battle but we're in good spirits and ready to do anything to save these woods."
The single-carriageway A68 bypass was given the go-ahead by the Scottish Executive in July last year after a decade of delays.
But the proposed route through the park, which attracts around 40,000 people a year, has sparked anger because trees on the north-west side of the 850-acre park, need to be cut down.
Dalkeith resident John-Paul Holden, 26, said: "I'm not sure if a lot of the people in the town realise how much of the park will be lost as a result of the road and there is always the danger that this is the thin edge of the wedge."
A spokesman for the National Eviction Team said: "We have conducted a health and safety meeting with the protesters and it is our intention to effect a safe eviction. We discussed the issues that are important to both sides and we'll take it from there."
infosupdate
Indymedia Scotland Reports + More contact info
11.01.2006 12:37
http://scotland.indymedia.org/newswire/display/2345/index.php e-mail dalkeithtreesit AT cyber-rights.net to get on the emergency eviction hotline.
See also Indymedia Scotland December Feature:
Summary of Dalkeith Tree-sit Resistance
http://scotland.indymedia.org/feature/display/1667/index.php
infosupdate