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Security Convoy heads toward battle of Newbury
8 January 1996
Nine coach loads of security guards carrying over 400 employees of the security firm Reliance set off from London this morning and have been deployed near to where work is expected to start on the route of the controversial Newbury Bypass. The security guards are now stationed in a large warehouse at Didcot and are expected to go into action at 7.00 am tomorrow morning.
The movement of hundreds of security personnel near to the construction area is the first sign that clearance work along the route of the 13km road is about to start in earnest. Local campaigners are preparing to meet security workers tomorrow and hope that some of those being paid to uphold the destruction of protected countryside can be persuaded to change sides.
Susan Milllington of Newbury Friends of the Earth said:
"We're looking forward to meeting the security people tomorrow to put our side of the story. I am sure that many of them will see that the construction of this road amounts to politically motivated madness and that lots of them will realise that 3.50 per hour is not sufficient reason to play an active role in such large scale environmental destruction".
The 1.5m contract for clearance work was concluded before Christmas with the Colchester based firm CA Blackwell's. However contracts for the main construction of the 101m road have not yet been signed. Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to urgently reconsider its decision to go ahead with construction.
Tony Juniper, Deputy Campaigns Director at Friends of the Earth said:
"The Government can see local political benefit from building this road but has misjudged the national picture. The public does not want the countryside to be bulldozed to make way for yet more cars and more pollution. The cabinet should place a block on this DoT road building crusade before final contracts are signed and road construction begins".
ENDS
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Sep 2008
