Newbury bypass
Encyclopedia
The Newbury bypass, officially known as The Winchester-Preston Trunk Road (A34) (Newbury Bypass), is a 9 miles (14.5 km) stretch of dual carriageway
road
which bypasses the town of Newbury
in Berkshire
, England
. It is located to the west of the town and forms part of the A34 road.
Between January 1996 and April 1996 the clearance of approximately 360 acres (145.7 ha) of land, including 120 acres (48.6 ha) of woodland
and the felling of nearly 10,000 mature trees including oak, ash, & beech, to make way for the building of the road, led to some of the largest anti-road protests in Europe
an history, with around 7,000 people having directly demonstrated on the site of the bypass route in some way and over 800 arrests being made. The cost of policing the protest, known as 'Operation Prospect' and run jointly by Thames Valley Police
and Hampshire Constabulary
, had reached approximately £5 million by December 1996. In addition to this, the total cost of hiring private security guards to protect the contractors clearing the land (including security fencing and lighting) and building the road was approximately £23.7 million.
The protest was popularly known as the Third Battle of Newbury, a name which was also adopted by one of the main protest groups. The name was chosen in reference to the Civil War battles
that took place close to the town in 1643 and 1644.
railway line, was proposed to bypass the town centre. This route was very controversial because it ran through three Sites of Special Scientific Interest — Snelsmore Common plus the Rivers Lambourn and Kennet; Penn Wood which was part of the North Wessex Downs AONB
(Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
); the English Heritage
registered battlefield site of the first Battle of Newbury
during the English Civil War
in 1643; and The Chase, a National Trust
nature reserve. It was also found that areas of the proposed bypass route were home to a rare snail
, known as the Desmoulin's whorl snail
.
A public inquiry
into the plans was held in 1988, which found in favour of the road. Opponents argued that the decision was flawed and possibly illegal as there was no Environmental Impact Assessment
— a legal requirement incorporated into British law two weeks after the start of the 1988 public enquiry. However, the inquiry decision was made in accordance with legislation at the time. The plans were passed in a closed session of Parliament
, after a pro forma
hearing, a procedure which many considered to be undemocratic.
The road was originally approved for construction to begin in 1994. However, the then Secretary of State for Transport, Brian Mawhinney
, announced that it would be delayed pending a further review. On 5 July 1995 the Brian Mawhinney announced that the building of the road was to proceed and then resigned half an hour later.
protests over the building of the M3 motorway. Others were students, unemployed people, part time workers and people taking time off from work to protest. In 1994, a local comprehensive school teacher, Helen Anscombe, founded "The Third Battle of Newbury", an umbrella group of organisations against the bypass.
Although the majority of local residents were in favour of building the bypass, a sizeable minority were against it. A protest group of local businesses opposed to the building of the road was formed, which named itself 'CAMBUS'. The split of opinion in and around Newbury concerning the building of the road was regularly demonstrated in the lively debate seen in the letters page of the local newspaper
, the Newbury Weekly News .
Clearance work began on 2 August 1995 when bulldozers demolished six empty buildings in the path of the bypass — three houses, a railway signal box, a lodge at Mary Hare Grammar School
for deaf children and a prefabricated church near Snelsmore Common
.
From July 1995 protesters began to occupy the land that was scheduled for clearance, a tactic known as Tree sitting
, in an effort to stop the felling of trees. Many lived in tree houses
, which were also known as 'twigloos', while others occupied home-made tents on the ground made from hazel
branches covered with tarpaulin
known as 'benders'.
The first camp was at Snelsmore Common. Around September 1995 a further encampment grew up alongside the Kennet and Avon Canal
and the River Kennet
. Around October 1995 protesters set up a third encampment at Reddings Copse. By December 1995 there were three further camps at The Chase, Elmore Plantation and Rack Marsh on the River Lambourn
. Protesters in many of the camps claimed squatters rights through use of a Section 6 notice and some camps even had letters delivered to them by the Royal Mail
. Musician and activist Julian Cope
was a frequent visitor to the camps and would document many of the protesters struggles in his album Interpreter
.
Another method used by protesters to stop the clearance work was the digging of underground tunnels, a tactic borrowed from the Viet Cong. A network of tunnels 10 feet (3 m) down was dug at Snelsmore Common in the belief that heavy machinery would not drive over them in case they collapsed, burying the protesters inside.
Evictions of the protest camps, tree felling and undergrowth clearance work begin on 9 January 1996 and conflicts between security guards and protesters were widely reported in the British media. By the following month the number of protesters had increased and there were more than 20 camps along the route of the bypass, with names such as 'Skyward', 'Rickety Bridge', 'Granny Ash', 'Quercus Circus', 'Sea View', 'Babble Brook', 'Radical Fluff', 'Pixie Village' and 'Heartbreak Hotel'.
Richard Turner Ltd of Chesterfield
, a firm specialising in industrial rope access, was hired to provide climbers to evict protesters from the trees. The UK climbing community condemned the actions of the climbers from Richard Turner Ltd., questioning the safety of the procedures they were using, and presenting the company with a special 'downside' award at the first British Mountain Festival held at Llandudno
on 17 February 1996. Andy MacNae of The British Mountaineering Council said "Climbers have an enviable environmental record, and the vast majority will be outraged at being associated with actions of this kind." Climber and writer Jim Perrin
said "If we, as a community, do not disown and ostracise these mercenaries and renegades, we are undermining the reason for our own existence and helping accelerate the destruction of places we hold most dear".
On Monday 29 January there was a public meeting at the Waterside Centre in Newbury organized jointly by Friends of the Earth
and The Green Party
to promote the Road Traffic Reduction Bill. At the meeting, environmentalist and broadcaster Dr David Bellamy
addressed the crowd of around 400 people and voiced his opposition to the building of the bypass.
On 11 February 1996 around 5,000 people from around the UK marched for 2 miles (3 km) along the route from the largest camp at Snelsmore Common to Bagnor
in objection to the road. Environmentalists claimed that this was the largest ever single demonstration against road-building in Britain. Two of the marchers were the well-known television presenters Johnny Morris
and Maggie Philbin
, who lived nearby. The protest was peaceful and there were no arrests.
A national poll published in the Newbury Weekly News
(10 March 1996) found that 53% of respondents thought that "work should stop immediately to allow time for alternatives to be tried".
To continue building the road extra security measures were employed. The two police forces in the area; Thames Valley Police
, led by the Assistant Chief Constable
Ian Blair
, the Hampshire Constabulary
and also private security firms which were drafted in. The total cost of the security operation was £24 million, whilst the road cost over £100 million.
However, in spite of the protests the road was eventually finished after 34 months in November 1998 and now provides a high speed section of the A34.
The English band New Model Army
commemorated the conflict in its song "Snelsmore Woods".
. The runway, once one of the largest in Europe was broken up and removed (except for one centre section) as part of the effort to return the common to its former state.
The concrete structures on the bypass received the Concrete Society's Overall Award for Outstanding Structures in 1999.
Following the extensive protests over the construction of the road, environmental concerns became much more of an important issue to civil engineers. The Newbury bypass itself was built with extra environmental features in an attempt to reduce the impact of the road.
The Desmoulin's whorl snail
colony, previously located at Rack Marsh in Bagnor
, was moved to another location to allow construction of the road to go ahead. However, in July 2006 it was reported that the species had become locally extinct at the new site.
The same report concluded that the levels of traffic on the old road had not fallen as much as might have been expected, possibly because of traffic being able to use it for other reasons. In 2006, the Highways Agency
defended the scheme from allegations by the Campaign to Protect Rural England that traffic had returned to previous levels: the Highways Agency's rejoinder being that the road had reduced traffic problems in the town.
There are now proposals to widen a section of the A34 to three lanes all the way up to the intersection with the M4 motorway at Chievely.
Dual carriageway
A dual carriageway is a class of highway with two carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation...
road
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
which bypasses the town of Newbury
Newbury, Berkshire
Newbury is a civil parish and the principal town in the west of the county of Berkshire in England. It is situated on the River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal, and has a town centre containing many 17th century buildings. Newbury is best known for its racecourse and the adjoining former USAF...
in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is located to the west of the town and forms part of the A34 road.
Between January 1996 and April 1996 the clearance of approximately 360 acres (145.7 ha) of land, including 120 acres (48.6 ha) of woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
and the felling of nearly 10,000 mature trees including oak, ash, & beech, to make way for the building of the road, led to some of the largest anti-road protests in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an history, with around 7,000 people having directly demonstrated on the site of the bypass route in some way and over 800 arrests being made. The cost of policing the protest, known as 'Operation Prospect' and run jointly by Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police, formerly known as Thames Valley Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley area covered by the ceremonial counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire....
and Hampshire Constabulary
Hampshire Constabulary
Hampshire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in southern England.The force area includes the cities of Winchester, Southampton and Portsmouth...
, had reached approximately £5 million by December 1996. In addition to this, the total cost of hiring private security guards to protect the contractors clearing the land (including security fencing and lighting) and building the road was approximately £23.7 million.
The protest was popularly known as the Third Battle of Newbury, a name which was also adopted by one of the main protest groups. The name was chosen in reference to the Civil War battles
Battle of Newbury
Battle of Newbury may refer to:*First Battle of Newbury, 20 September 1643*Second Battle of Newbury, 27 October 1644*Third Battle of Newbury...
that took place close to the town in 1643 and 1644.
Proposals
The first Newbury bypass was built in 1963; however by the 1980s this proved insufficient to cope with the huge volume of traffic travelling through the Newbury area. In 1981 a new road to be built to the west of Newbury, mainly following the path of the disused Didcot, Newbury and Southampton RailwayDidcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway was a cross-country railway running north-south between Didcot, Newbury and Southampton although it actually reached the latter by running over the London and South Western Railway tracks from Shawford Junction, south of Winchester...
railway line, was proposed to bypass the town centre. This route was very controversial because it ran through three Sites of Special Scientific Interest — Snelsmore Common plus the Rivers Lambourn and Kennet; Penn Wood which was part of the North Wessex Downs AONB
North Wessex Downs AONB
The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire...
(Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
); the English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
registered battlefield site of the first Battle of Newbury
First Battle of Newbury
The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army, under the personal command of King Charles, and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex...
during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
in 1643; and The Chase, a National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
nature reserve. It was also found that areas of the proposed bypass route were home to a rare snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
, known as the Desmoulin's whorl snail
Desmoulin's whorl snail
Desmoulin's whorl snail, scientific name Vertigo moulinsiana, is a species of minute air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc or micromollusc in the family Vertiginidae, the vertigo snails....
.
A public inquiry
Public inquiry
A Tribunal of Inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body in Common Law countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland or Canada. Such a public inquiry differs from a Royal Commission in that a public inquiry accepts evidence and conducts its hearings in a more...
into the plans was held in 1988, which found in favour of the road. Opponents argued that the decision was flawed and possibly illegal as there was no Environmental Impact Assessment
Environmental impact assessment
An environmental impact assessment is an assessment of the possible positive or negative impact that a proposed project may have on the environment, together consisting of the natural, social and economic aspects....
— a legal requirement incorporated into British law two weeks after the start of the 1988 public enquiry. However, the inquiry decision was made in accordance with legislation at the time. The plans were passed in a closed session of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, after a pro forma
Pro forma
The term pro forma is a term applied to practices or documents that are done as a pure formality, perfunctory, or seek to satisfy the minimum requirements or to conform to a convention or doctrine...
hearing, a procedure which many considered to be undemocratic.
The road was originally approved for construction to begin in 1994. However, the then Secretary of State for Transport, Brian Mawhinney
Brian Mawhinney
Brian Stanley Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney PC is a British Conservative Party politician. He was a member of the Cabinet from 1994 until 1997 and a Member of Parliament from 1979 until 2005.-Early life:...
, announced that it would be delayed pending a further review. On 5 July 1995 the Brian Mawhinney announced that the building of the road was to proceed and then resigned half an hour later.
Conflict
The bypass led to immense protests in an attempt to halt the felling of trees and the commencement of building work. A number of protesters were veterans from the Twyford DownTwyford Down
Twyford Down is a small area of ancient chalk downland lying directly to the southeast of Winchester, Hampshire, England. The down's summit, known as Deacon Hill, is towards the north-eastern edge of the area which is renowned for its dramatic rolling scenery, ecologically rich grassland and as a...
protests over the building of the M3 motorway. Others were students, unemployed people, part time workers and people taking time off from work to protest. In 1994, a local comprehensive school teacher, Helen Anscombe, founded "The Third Battle of Newbury", an umbrella group of organisations against the bypass.
Although the majority of local residents were in favour of building the bypass, a sizeable minority were against it. A protest group of local businesses opposed to the building of the road was formed, which named itself 'CAMBUS'. The split of opinion in and around Newbury concerning the building of the road was regularly demonstrated in the lively debate seen in the letters page of the local newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
, the Newbury Weekly News .
Clearance work began on 2 August 1995 when bulldozers demolished six empty buildings in the path of the bypass — three houses, a railway signal box, a lodge at Mary Hare Grammar School
Mary Hare Grammar School
Mary Hare School is a residential co-educational community special school for deaf pupils in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It consists of around 230 pupils from year 7 to year 13 . It was established in 1916 as Dene Hollow School for the Deaf in Burgess Hill, West Sussex...
for deaf children and a prefabricated church near Snelsmore Common
Snelsmore Common
Snelsmore Common is a common and country park in the English county of Berkshire, within the civil parish of Chieveley.It lies near to the M4 and A34 roads, and is located approximately north of Newbury. It consists of lowland heathland of heather, gorse, wet bog and small trees and broadleaved...
.
From July 1995 protesters began to occupy the land that was scheduled for clearance, a tactic known as Tree sitting
Tree sitting
Tree sitting is a form of environmentalist civil disobedience in which a protester sits in a tree, usually on a small platform built for the purpose, to protect it from being cut down...
, in an effort to stop the felling of trees. Many lived in tree houses
Tree sitting
Tree sitting is a form of environmentalist civil disobedience in which a protester sits in a tree, usually on a small platform built for the purpose, to protect it from being cut down...
, which were also known as 'twigloos', while others occupied home-made tents on the ground made from hazel
Hazel
The hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...
branches covered with tarpaulin
Tarpaulin
A tarpaulin, colloquially tarp, is a large sheet of strong, flexible, water-resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas or polyester coated with urethane, or made of plastics such as polyethylene. In some places such as Australia, and in military slang, a tarp may be known as a...
known as 'benders'.
The first camp was at Snelsmore Common. Around September 1995 a further encampment grew up alongside the Kennet and Avon Canal
Kennet and Avon Canal
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is commonly used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section...
and the River Kennet
River Kennet
The Kennet is a river in the south of England, and a tributary of the River Thames. The lower reaches of the river are navigable to river craft and are known as the Kennet Navigation, which, together with the Avon Navigation, the Kennet and Avon Canal and the Thames, links the cities of Bristol...
. Around October 1995 protesters set up a third encampment at Reddings Copse. By December 1995 there were three further camps at The Chase, Elmore Plantation and Rack Marsh on the River Lambourn
River Lambourn
The River Lambourn is a chalk stream in the English county of Berkshire. It rises in the Berkshire Downs near its namesake village of Lambourn and is a tributary of the River Kennet, which is itself a tributary of the River Thames.-Perennial River:...
. Protesters in many of the camps claimed squatters rights through use of a Section 6 notice and some camps even had letters delivered to them by the Royal Mail
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
. Musician and activist Julian Cope
Julian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...
was a frequent visitor to the camps and would document many of the protesters struggles in his album Interpreter
Interpreter (album)
Interpreter is a 1996 album by Julian Cope, particularly inspired by Cope's involvement and observations at the 1995-96 Newbury bypass protest.-Track listing:#"I Come from Another Planet, Baby" - 3:29#"I've Got My TV & My Pills" - 2:22...
.
Another method used by protesters to stop the clearance work was the digging of underground tunnels, a tactic borrowed from the Viet Cong. A network of tunnels 10 feet (3 m) down was dug at Snelsmore Common in the belief that heavy machinery would not drive over them in case they collapsed, burying the protesters inside.
Evictions of the protest camps, tree felling and undergrowth clearance work begin on 9 January 1996 and conflicts between security guards and protesters were widely reported in the British media. By the following month the number of protesters had increased and there were more than 20 camps along the route of the bypass, with names such as 'Skyward', 'Rickety Bridge', 'Granny Ash', 'Quercus Circus', 'Sea View', 'Babble Brook', 'Radical Fluff', 'Pixie Village' and 'Heartbreak Hotel'.
Richard Turner Ltd of Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...
, a firm specialising in industrial rope access, was hired to provide climbers to evict protesters from the trees. The UK climbing community condemned the actions of the climbers from Richard Turner Ltd., questioning the safety of the procedures they were using, and presenting the company with a special 'downside' award at the first British Mountain Festival held at Llandudno
Llandudno
Llandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy County Borough, Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community...
on 17 February 1996. Andy MacNae of The British Mountaineering Council said "Climbers have an enviable environmental record, and the vast majority will be outraged at being associated with actions of this kind." Climber and writer Jim Perrin
Jim Perrin
Jim Perrin is an English rock climber and travel writer.Born in Manchester, Perrin has lived in Wales since the age of 17. Before turning to writing, he worked in Cwm Pennant as a shepherd. As a writer, he has made regular contributions to a number of newspapers and climbing magazines...
said "If we, as a community, do not disown and ostracise these mercenaries and renegades, we are undermining the reason for our own existence and helping accelerate the destruction of places we hold most dear".
On Monday 29 January there was a public meeting at the Waterside Centre in Newbury organized jointly by Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...
and The Green Party
Green Party of England and Wales
The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...
to promote the Road Traffic Reduction Bill. At the meeting, environmentalist and broadcaster Dr David Bellamy
David Bellamy
David James Bellamy OBE is a British author, broadcaster, environmental campaigner and botanist. He has lived in County Durham since 1960.-Career:...
addressed the crowd of around 400 people and voiced his opposition to the building of the bypass.
On 11 February 1996 around 5,000 people from around the UK marched for 2 miles (3 km) along the route from the largest camp at Snelsmore Common to Bagnor
Bagnor
Bagnor is a hamlet close to the town of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire and on the banks of the River Lambourn. It is best known as the home of the nationally famous Watermill Theatre. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as Bagenore....
in objection to the road. Environmentalists claimed that this was the largest ever single demonstration against road-building in Britain. Two of the marchers were the well-known television presenters Johnny Morris
Johnny Morris
Ernest John "Johnny" Morris OBE ) was a Welsh television presenter. He is best known for narrating the imported, Canadian-produced Tales of the Riverbank series of stories about Hammy the Hamster, Roderick the Rat, GP the Guinea Pig, and their assorted animal friends along a riverbank and...
and Maggie Philbin
Maggie Philbin
Maggie Philbin is an English radio and television presenter whose credits include Tomorrow's World and Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.As a child she became interested in science through wanting to become a vet....
, who lived nearby. The protest was peaceful and there were no arrests.
A national poll published in the Newbury Weekly News
Newbury Weekly News
The Newbury Weekly News is an award-winning English local weekly newspaper, covering Newbury and West Berkshire. The paper's website is known as Newbury Today. It is published by the Newbury Weekly News Group.- History :...
(10 March 1996) found that 53% of respondents thought that "work should stop immediately to allow time for alternatives to be tried".
To continue building the road extra security measures were employed. The two police forces in the area; Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police, formerly known as Thames Valley Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley area covered by the ceremonial counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire....
, led by the Assistant Chief Constable
Chief Constable
Chief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry...
Ian Blair
Ian Blair
Ian Warwick Blair, Baron Blair of Boughton, QPM is a retired British Police officer who held the position of commissioner of police of the metropolis from 2005 to 2008 and was the highest ranking officer within the Metropolitan Police Service.On 2 October 2008 Blair announced that he would...
, the Hampshire Constabulary
Hampshire Constabulary
Hampshire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in southern England.The force area includes the cities of Winchester, Southampton and Portsmouth...
and also private security firms which were drafted in. The total cost of the security operation was £24 million, whilst the road cost over £100 million.
However, in spite of the protests the road was eventually finished after 34 months in November 1998 and now provides a high speed section of the A34.
The English band New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
commemorated the conflict in its song "Snelsmore Woods".
Construction
Much of the aggregate used in the by-pass was from the decommissioned RAF Greenham CommonRAF Greenham Common
RAF Station Greenham Common is a former military airfield in Berkshire, England. The airfield is located approximately south-southwest of Thatcham; about west of London....
. The runway, once one of the largest in Europe was broken up and removed (except for one centre section) as part of the effort to return the common to its former state.
The concrete structures on the bypass received the Concrete Society's Overall Award for Outstanding Structures in 1999.
Following the extensive protests over the construction of the road, environmental concerns became much more of an important issue to civil engineers. The Newbury bypass itself was built with extra environmental features in an attempt to reduce the impact of the road.
The Desmoulin's whorl snail
Desmoulin's whorl snail
Desmoulin's whorl snail, scientific name Vertigo moulinsiana, is a species of minute air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc or micromollusc in the family Vertiginidae, the vertigo snails....
colony, previously located at Rack Marsh in Bagnor
Bagnor
Bagnor is a hamlet close to the town of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire and on the banks of the River Lambourn. It is best known as the home of the nationally famous Watermill Theatre. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as Bagenore....
, was moved to another location to allow construction of the road to go ahead. However, in July 2006 it was reported that the species had become locally extinct at the new site.
Results
Analysis since the construction of the bypass has shown that instead of the predicted 47% reduction in road deaths due to the new road, there was a 67% increase (from 6 to 10) in the five years after it opened. However, the total number of casualties fell by 32% (from 455 to 311).The same report concluded that the levels of traffic on the old road had not fallen as much as might have been expected, possibly because of traffic being able to use it for other reasons. In 2006, the Highways Agency
Highways Agency
The Highways Agency is an executive agency, part of the Department for Transport in England. It has responsibility for managing the core road network in England...
defended the scheme from allegations by the Campaign to Protect Rural England that traffic had returned to previous levels: the Highways Agency's rejoinder being that the road had reduced traffic problems in the town.
There are now proposals to widen a section of the A34 to three lanes all the way up to the intersection with the M4 motorway at Chievely.
See also
- A34 road (England)
- Newbury, BerkshireNewbury, BerkshireNewbury is a civil parish and the principal town in the west of the county of Berkshire in England. It is situated on the River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal, and has a town centre containing many 17th century buildings. Newbury is best known for its racecourse and the adjoining former USAF...
- Similar protests:
- Twyford DownTwyford DownTwyford Down is a small area of ancient chalk downland lying directly to the southeast of Winchester, Hampshire, England. The down's summit, known as Deacon Hill, is towards the north-eastern edge of the area which is renowned for its dramatic rolling scenery, ecologically rich grassland and as a...
— M3 - A30A30 roadThe 284 miles A30 road from London to Land's End, historically known as the Great South West Road used to provide the most direct route from London to the south west; more recently the M3 motorway and A303 road performs this function for much of the route and only parts of A30 now retain trunk...
- Twyford Down
- SwampySwampyDaniel Hooper is an environmental activist, sometimes characterised as an environmental protester or eco-warrior, from the United Kingdom...
Reading
- Evans, Kate, (1998), Copse: The Cartoon Book of Tree Protesting. Orange Dog Productions. ISBN 0-9532674-0-7
- Hindle, Jim, (2006) Nine Miles: Two Winters of Anti-Road Protest. See the associated web site
- Merrick (1996), Battle for the Trees. Godhaven Ink. ISBN 0-9529975-0-9
- Road Alert! (1997), Road Raging: Top Tips for Wrecking Roadbuilding. This is available online at Road Alert's web site
- Styles, Peter, (2008) Birds, Booze & Bulldozers. [ISBN 978 0-9554634-5-7]
External links
- Newbury Bypass Factfile
- Newbury Bypass video archive
- BBC On This Day: 1996: Green groups join bypass battle
- Newbury bypass opens (from SchNEWSSchNEWSSchNEWS is a free weekly publication from Brighton, England, which has been running since November 1994. The main focus is environmental and social issues/struggles in the UK – but also internationally – with an emphasis on direct action protest, and autonomous political struggles...
) - Third Battle of Newbury in the press