At around 4.30 a.m. this morning eviction of the protest sites in Dalkeith Country Park began. Police bailiffs raided one of the sites and have established a security cordon around it. Protestors remain in the trees determined to resist eviction and the cutting of the trees in this part of the River Esk wildlife corridor.

Police are now mobilising climbers and machinery to remove those in the trees. However, protestors have moved high into the trees to complicate the eviction process. They are filled with a passionate desire to protect these woodlands against what is viewed as senseless and inappropriate destruction of a significant ecological habitat.

The first of the four protest sites at Dalkeith Country Park was established on the 31 October 2005 in regards to information that tree felling for the A68 bypass was to proceed immediately. Since that time, all areas in around the park where tree felling is necessary for the proposed bypass have seen the establishment of protest sites to defend against this large-scale habitat destruction. The number of people involved in protesting the routing of the A68 Bypass through the country park has increased significantly since the establishment of the first protest site and includes strong support from many people local to the Dalkeith area.

Campaigners are adamant that before construction on the A68 bypass continues, a new Public Inquiry needs to occur. Since planning permission was granted for the bypass in 1993, all information regarding the need for its construction is dated from 1992 or earlier. A proper Environmental Impact Assessment has never been completed, the last Public Inquiry was in 1992, and the need for this bypass has not properly been reassessed since major changes to the transport infrastructure of the area (the dualling of the A1, the building of the A7 Dalkeith bypass, and the potential reopening of the Borders Rail Link). In 1999, the Strategic Road Review stated that the A68 Northern bypass should be held in abeyance until the completion of the Multi-Modal Transport study (to be completed in 2006) which would consider the need for the bypass with regards to these change.