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Socialist Review, February 1994

Kate Lord

Notes of the Month

Roads

Dead end street

From Socialist Review, No. 172, February 1994.
Copyright © Socialist Review.
Copied with thanks from the Socialist Review Archive.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.

Scenes of police smashing up a demonstration to save a 200-year-old chestnut tree were flashed across our television screens in early December. They brutally illustrated the determination of the Tories to stop the ‘No M11 Link’ campaign in its tracks.

Roads have been high on the political agenda in London for many years. The plan for London published in 1969 envisaged a network of motorways leading to a Paris style ‘peripherique’, or ‘motorway box’. One section was completed – the A40(M) Westway – but the campaign made sure most of the roads were never built. It became the key issue which led the Tories to lose control of the GLC in 1973.

More recently, protests have sprung up round London in response to the ‘Red Routes’ which prohibit cars from parking in shopping areas and encourage traffic to race through areas, leaving shops desolated and increasing the dangers to local people.

Passion about the plans exists for a number of reasons. Every new road involves the compulsory purchase and demolition of large numbers of houses. The M11 link will destroy 350–400 houses, with over a thousand people being made homeless.

Environmentally new roads are a nightmare, destroying wildlife habitats and increasing pollution. And for anyone who lives in or visits London the problems experienced travelling around underline the fact that we don’t need more roads and congestion but a safe, cheap and environmentally friendly public transport system.

The campaign against the M11 is a broad based pressure group, attracting activists from the local area and from established anti-road and environment campaigns. It describes itself as a ‘direct action’ campaign aiming to hold up and stop progress at every inch of the route.

I spoke to Ray and Pookie, two campaign activists, who described some of the recent activities: the protest to save the tree, occupation of houses earmarked for demolition and building of tree houses in threatened trees along the proposed route. They gave graphic descriptions of police brutality and harassment. People were beaten and attacked. One protester’s arm was broken, another protester was thrown into a fire and a 13 year old school student was punched in the face.

On the day I visited, a group of protesters were occupying the roof of a condemned house which was repeatedly hit by a bulldozer. As one commented, ‘There’s just a death waiting to happen here’.

The site where the tree used to be is now surrounded by barbed wire with surveillance towers and a private army of security guards on 24-hour patrol. The cost of this exercise must be phenomenal, with over 100 security guards employed. The official figure for the police operation in December alone is £97,000.

The campaign is popular locally, with gifts of food and offers of help for the squatters. Even the normally hostile local press has written several sympathetic articles.

But there are weaknesses in its strategy. Very little has been done to link up with local workers. Local support is seen as enough. In some ways this leads to a fatalism – despite the bravery and commitment of the direct action group the emphasis is on holding up, rather than stopping, the road.

But it is possible to stop the road even at this stage. There have already been some important victories – recently the contractors lost the court case to evict squatters from a group of houses on the next part of the route. Every week that work has to stop costs an estimated £27,500 per site. Demonstrations have been called which can help to link up with the anger of local people over other issues.


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