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From: Jo Makepeace
Subject: SchNEWS 463, Friday 23rd July, 2004
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 00:47:12 +0100

Weymouth Relief Road - new protest camp - July 2004

A protest camp has been set up against the Weymouth relief road; a 6km long - £25m scheme that threatens to destroy one of the area's only remaining ancient woodlands. Celebrating government approval for the road, Dorset Council reckons that the development of a 'green park' in the Lodmoor Valley (an old landfill site) will help offset any environmental damage caused by the scheme.

But, aware of the difficulty justifying the road-building project on environmental grounds, Council bosses have chosen to promote the economic value of the scheme. They say that without the road many local businesses will leave Weymouth, putting workers on the dole. But spending £750,000 justifying the scheme didn't stop the council's own consultants admitting that the companies they surveyed said that any plans to close or expand would not be influenced by the building of the road.

One of the UK's rarest species, a Barbastelle bat, is known to live in the woods. The animal is on the government's Biodiversity Action Plan, which means there is already official concern about its potential extinction. 25,000 vehicle trips are made in the area each day, 24% more than the national average and the council has spent naff all time looking into traffic calming alternatives.

The camp needs URGENT support NOW
telephone 07800760257
weymouth@roadalert.org.uk
http://www.roadalert.org.uk



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