Church groups join protests against new road in 1066 country

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The ecumenical campaign group Christian Ecology Link (CEL) has joined national environmental NGOs and local residents to condemn plans to build a road through an area of exceptional natural beauty and historic interest in rural Sussex.

East Sussex County Council have already begun work on the £94 million Bexhill/Hastings Link Road - that will cut through the picturesque Coombe Haven Valley - in spite of hundreds of objections from historians, naturalists and community groups.

Campaigners at the site have now formed three camps and are also climbing ancient trees to protect them from being chopped down. Among the activists are a group of grandmothers who say they want to save the Coombe Haven Valley for future generations.

A council spokesperson said the 5.4km road will bring jobs, business and reduce congestion. But campaigners say it is not needed and will cause pollution and destruction of the environment.

Local resident and secretary of Christian Ecology Link Barbara Echin said: “The obstinate and flawed decision by our local authorities to go ahead with this unnecessary road shows a sad lack of vision for the future. The long painstaking efforts of the Hastings Alliance proved conclusively that this is a very expensive poor value for money project. The alternatives of improved public transport were ignored."

Local resident and member of Bexhill Link Road Resistance (BLINKRR) Mike Bernard has sought a court injunction to stop the progress of the road on the basis of a claim from a local historian that the area is actually where the battle of Hastings took place in 1066.

Historian Nick Austen claims that the valley is part of the site of the battle and should as such be registered as a battle site by English Heritage. “The significance of the new evidence cannot be under estimated and the consequences of the development will be profound and irrevocable,” said Mr Bernard. “The proposed link road will cut right across one of the key Battle of Hastings sites, the Norman encampment at Upper Wilting, and any value in the significant historic or heritage site will be permanently lost or destroyed.”

It is in order that EH can do its review that Mr Bernard has sought a court injunction on further work being done on the road. The court initially turned down the request, but the matter will be reviewed on 1 February.

Barbara Echlin told ICN: "Christian Ecology Link, along with large national environmental NGOs, is supporting peaceful protests against the damaging and discredited Bexhill-Hastings link road through the beautiful Combe Haven Valley in East Sussex. The eviction of the third anti-road camp started this morning, 28 January. The courage and devotion of a few wonderful people, both young and old, who are bravely resisting the building of this ‘zombie’ road is inspiring."

For a petition and latest news from Bexhill Link Road Resistance see: www.blinkrr.org/

To read more about Christian Ecology Link see: www.greenchristian.org.uk/