Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Camp Bling at 'Prittlewel King' awards

Saxon King | 17.01.2007 20:31 | Culture | Ecology | Free Spaces | South Coast

Southend 'Mayor' cancels F5 road widening at 'Prittlewell King' award celebrations

The campaign against the controversial A127/A1159 Priory Crescent ‘F5’ road widening scheme took yet another dramatic new turn tonight, when dozens of local residents ‘stormed’ a celebration at the town’s Cluniac Priory to mark Southend Borough Council receiving the coveted British Archaeological Awards 2006 ‘Current Archaeology Developer-Funder Archaeology Award,’ for the discovery of the ‘King of Bling,’ in Prittlewell in late 2003.

Amid chaotic scenes, Councillors and Dignitaries attending the celebration received a speech from Southend ‘Mayor’ John Smith, who apologised on behalf of the Council for their intention to destroy the East Saxon king’s burial site, promised to return the award received last October in Birmingham, and then dramatically announced the immediate cancellation of the F5 road widening, after having, ‘finally listened to and taken note of the majority of people in Southend who have been shown repeatedly to oppose the scheme.’

Local resident Patsy Link who joined the demonstrators said, ‘This award presented to Southend Borough Council is said to celebrate the merits of developer funded archaeology, which in the case of the discovery of the burial has provided the opportunity to rewrite history. Southend Borough Council now has a site to rival the Sutton Hoo ship burial in Suffolk, but still seeks to bury it under 10 feet of concrete for the road widening. To celebrate then destroy it is nothing short of sheer lunacy on the part of the people here tonight at the Priory.’

A decision to fund the road widening has been awaited from the Department for Transport since a local Public Inquiry took place in March 2004. Information from the East of England Regional Partnership Group shows that costs have now risen to an estimated £25m for the 870 metre length of carriageway, making it potentially, ‘The most expensive stretch of road in the world.’

In the mean time local protest site Camp Bling still occupies the land above the burial, 4 as it has for sixteen months since first being set up by locals in September 2005. It is rumoured that one of the deepest protest tunnel systems ever known has since been dug to help defend the camp, and numbers have grown significantly as the funding decision is awaited.

Mabel Jones of Prittlewell said, ‘If the local Council and central Government perceive that this campaign is only about a handful of people against the road scheme then they need to think again and quickly. Tonight has shown that a large cross section of the local community are not just against the scheme, but will actively attempt to stop it if the funding go ahead is now given.’

 http://blingblog.bravejournal.com/

Saxon King
- Homepage: http://blingblog.bravejournal.com/

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech