Archived press release

Newbury: Top environmentalists visit bypass route

18 January 1996

PHOTO AND INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITY Thursday, 18th January 1996 10.00 River Kennet at Enborne Bridge 11.00 River Lambourn at Bagnor (location details overleaf)

Leaders of six top organizations concerned with environmental protection - and with a combined membership of around 2 million people - will be visiting key sites threatened by the route of the Newbury Bypass.

Chief Executives from Friends of the Earth, the Council for British Archaeology, Greenpeace UK, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Wildlife Trusts and the World Wide Fund for Nature [1] will be available for comment and photographs between 10.00 and 12.00 as they visit sites along the as yet unspoilt Rivers Kennet and Lambourn which lie on the route of the proposed road.

The Kennet is one of England's most biologically diverse rivers, and the Lambourn is widely known for its purity and ecological quality. Building the road will cause serious damage to both, as well as Snelsmore Common SSSI and a local nature reserve at Rack Marsh.

The Chief Executives issued a joint statement saying: "We know full well that Newbury has a serious traffic problem and that a solution is needed. But the proposed bypass route is not the answer. According to Government forecasts, traffic on the A34 in Newbury will be back to the intolerable' levels of today within 5-10 years of the bypass opening.

"The decision by the Department of Transport to proceed with the road makes a nonsense of the report of the Biodiversity Steering Group, received only last month with great enthusiasm by the Secretary of State for Environment, John Gummer."

The bypass is opposed, in its current proposed form, by all Britain's leading conservation organizations as well as statutory agencies such as the National Rivers Authority.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] The participants are: Charles Secrett, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth Richard Morris, Director of the Council for British Archaeology Peter Melchett, Executive Director of Greenpeace UK Barbara Young, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Simon Lister, Director General of the Wildlife Trusts Robin Pellew, Director of the World Wide Fund for Nature

LOCATION DETAILS

PHOTOCALL 10.00 River Kennet at Enborne Bridge

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust