ABC Of Anti-‘Development’ Resistance

Ashingdon Trial

The trial of the Ashingdon anti-roads protesters' is set for November, pencilled in for 8 days. The 10 protesters on trial may well be used as an example to others who oppose further development.

Protesters have been on at least two sites, either Rettendon or Hockley and Ashingdon. Local residents are now taking the case to high courts to try and stop the development with the restrictive covenants. Full details: 0831 717815.

Blackpool Destruction

The residents trying to save their green public space in Blackpool were evicted this summer, only to move to another piece of the same site which was still in the hands of the Blackpool council (less well-off than Barratts).

Police were finally persuaded to investigate the wildlife genocide 5 weeks after the original criminal activity. The destruction of the site has been a harrowing experience.

Contact: sandgrown@cybermail.uk.com

Burnage Victory

Burnage residents who took direct action earlier this year to stop a mobile phone mast being erected near their homes are celebrating as Orange have been refused a request for planning permission.

People living near the site were concerned about possible health risks and had threatened to climb onto the mast should Orange have tried to put it up. However, Orange were given planning permission to use a site a mere 5 metres away back in 1997. Local residents have vowed to remain vigilant and to stop any attempt by Orange to use this site instead.

Birmingham Delays

Midland Expressway Ltd. (MEL), the company behind the first toll-motorway in Britain, are three and a half years behind schedule - thanks to site occupations by protestors and the doubling of construction costs. Despite the original construction firm pulling out, MEL -bolstered by new banking loans - still plans to build a whopping 3 lane, 27 mile long bypass on greenbelt land just north of Birmingham. As well as devastating the local countryside and communities, it will also do little to ease congestion in the long term and will certainly lead the way for further greenbelt expansion.

Contact: Action against the Toll Motorway (ATOM), 7818 687742