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Protesters fighting the construction of the Newbury Bypass have alerted thousands of national supporters around the country that the Third Battle of Newbury has started. The call for the mass mobilisation of the public against the road follows the arrival of hundreds of security guards in the Newbury area and the announcement by the police of the start of Prospect', the name given to the operation at Newbury to preserve the Queen's Peace'.

Protesters successfully delayed the departure of some security workers from their overnight base but trucks carrying equipment, guarded by police and security, are present at several points along the route of the proposed road.

Andrew Wood of Newbury Friends of the Earth said:

"The construction of this road amounts to politically motivated madness. The temporary relief it will provide in Newbury does not justify the vast environmental destruction it will cause. We need real solutions to Newbury's traffic problems, not more roads. We need to cut the traffic not the trees".

The o1.5 million contract for clearance work was concluded before Christmas with the Colchester based firm of CA Blackwells. However, the main contract for the construction of the o101 milllion Highway has not yet been signed. Friends of the Earth and local campaigners are 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 is convinced of the local political benefit from building this road but has misjudged the national picture. The public does not want protected countryside to be bulldozed to make way for yet more cars and more pollution. Only 11 per cent of the population believe that road building is the best solution to our transport problems and the Government should take account of that in the run up to a General Election". ENDS