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New Road Threat to Devon Countryside Announced as A30 Protesters Break Eviction Record
29 January 1997
The Highways Agency has today given the go-ahead for the next stage in construction of the A30/A303 trunk road - which links up with the eastern end of the A30 Honiton to Exeter link where protesters are currently being evicted. Further destruction of the Devon and Somerset countryside, including the beautiful Blackdown Hills, is inevitable.
The new road, (which includes the 'A303 Illminster-Marsh' and 'A30/A303 Marsh-Honiton and Honiton Eastern Bypass') will form a £60 million new dual-carriageway through open countryside. The road scheme will:
- Run for much of its length through the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty;
- Pass through ancient bluebell woodlands;
- Destroy part of the Longlie Hill potential site of special scientific interest, (home to the bog-bush cricket);
- Require the relocation of badger setts and dormice;
- Run close to nine listed buildings and affect over 34 farms;
- Severely damage at least two wildlife sites of local importance.
The announcement comes on the day that protesters in tunnels under the route of the A30 trunk road claim to have broken the record for the longest eviction in post-war Britain. The A30 protectors have generated considerable support for their cause to protect the countryside through peaceful resistance.
Simon Festing, Transport Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:
"It is appalling arrogance of the Government to give the go-ahead for yet more destructive road schemes while protesters are braving their lives in nearby tunnels to defend the countryside and generating considerable public sympathy for their cause".
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Dec 2008
