Bilston Glen Protest Site update, spring 2004

Bamse aka "the wolf-man" | 08.04.2004 12:10 | Bio-technology | Ecology | Free Spaces

Here's a short update from our camp:

Here at Bilston Glen Anti-Bypass Protest Site we get more sorted for every day that passes by. More defences are coming up constantly and the standard of the camp is steadily improving. We have a new kitchen, a new info-space, a well sorted and cosy communal, a new guest house and a new shower. We're currently building a huge communal tree-house and some other tree-houses are also underway. For three months we've been organizing "Sunday Free Cafes" (open days) the first sunday every month, which we intend to continue with. Spring is here, the birds are singing and the leaves are coming out, we're looking forward to the summer. The 1-4 of July we're inviting like-minded for a green anarchist gathering to discuss how to fight the megamachine and learn primitive skills.

The planning permission for the road is still there. PPL, the company who where gonna finance the road have gone bust (way-hey!) though, so as it looks now it's up to the local council to pay for the road. But PPL has been bought up by Bayer, the enormous bio-tech monster, so they might very well finance the road. Central government money might also come in as Tony & co want to see the biggest bio-tech cluster in Europe here outside of Edinburgh, and a road for the transports to and from it.

So we still want and need more people to fight against this part of the horrible destruction of our world. You and everyone else who support us is very welcome to join us!

Save Bilston Glen! No More Roads! For a life wild and free!

by Bamse, part of the Bilston Glen collective

Bamse aka "the wolf-man"
e-mail: info@bilstonglen-abs.org.uk
Homepage: http://www.bilstonglen-abs.org.uk

Download this article in pdf format | Email this article to someone | Comment on this article

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

Roads Protest

08.04.2004 12:43

Although this protest seems well worth supporting we must be carefull about knee jerk support for roads protest. I was very upset to hear that Greenpeace would not release the figures for pollution in the area for Newbury Town Centre after their (leaked) independent report showed a 72% drop in CO2 within the town and a 64% drop in ground level ozone. When this is combined with the report from West Berkshire Council (carried out by an independedent company) which shows no increase in pollution around the road route itself I wonder if we supported the wrong horse here ?

Although we would all wish to see less car journeys we do have to accept that some roads need to be built and they can help reduce pollution in towns via the by-pass.

Roger D

ok, but what about...

08.04.2004 13:08

the pollution in the countryside, the trees that don't live anymore, the animals who used to live in the woods, the global destruction of nature everywhere etc etc. personally i'm not just interested in less car journeys but i wanna see the end of the whole fucking car system and the rest of the life-destroying megamachine also known as civilization! (this is not the opinion of the whole camp though, i wanna point out).

bamse

... and don't forget

08.04.2004 13:38

Don't forget the local opposition to the road (400 people wrote to say no). A big fuck-off trunk road leading directly into the city won't do a lot to reduce pollution in town. It won't be a good place for kids to play and learn about nature/life. It'll be a shite place to take dogs for a walk. And it'll surely cause a hell of a bottleneck where it turns back to a single carriage inside the city limits.

Oh yeah and how, exactly, does the Newbury bypass produce less pollution than a stretch of woodland? Don't believe what profit tells you.

And most important,

WHAT ABOUT THE FUCKING BADGERS??? WHERE ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO GO? WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO WHEN THEY'VE BEEN RIPPED OUT OF THEIR HOMES AND BURIED UNDER LAYERS OF TAR? EH? YOU'LL SEE - WITHOUT BADGERS EDINBURGH WILL BE NOTHING. DO YOU WANT TO TAKE THAT CHANCE?

>=;!;e

Less roads = less cars

08.04.2004 20:23

"we would all wish to see less car journeys we do have to accept that some roads need to be built"

Building new roads creates more traffic. That is well proven and something even the DOT accept. I think we have more than enough roads already and rather than creating any new roads we should be getting rid of what we already have.

That would result in less car journeys.

steve

When A road is NOT just a road

17.05.2004 16:17

The road is not just about less car journeys in any way.. The road is being privately funded by the creators of Dolly the sheep (PPL Therapeutics & Roslin Institute) now backed by bayer. The road will facilitate the enhancement of their "biotechnology cluster" housed overground & underground next to site.
The main GM crops that were (hahaha) to have been grown in scotland would have been in fields that are (approx) 15ft from the edge of the protest site...

Why not have a look at the background to an article before coming up with attempted reasoned arguments against it... Well youd think wouldnt you? (shouldnt you:P)

dem
mail e-mail: info@bilstonglen-abs.org.uk
Homepage: http://www.bilstonglen-abs.org.uk