TWYFORD DOWN

'Twyford Down' is a small area of ancient chalk downland lying directly to the southeast of Winchester, Hampshire, United Kingdom. The down's summit, known as Deacon Hill (144 m), is towards the north-eastern edge of the area which is renowned for its dramatic rolling scenery, ecologically rich grassland and as a Site of Special Scientific Interest - SSSI. In 1994 a highly controversial road building project was - despite vigorous objection from many quarters - completed and a new 2 mile (approx) stretch of the M3 motorway was created, running through a significant section of the down which was excavated and removed to create a deep cutting.

Contents

The M3 extension

Protest

Outcome

References

Further reading

See also

External links

The M3 extension

The Ministry of Transport ("MoT", now the ''Department for Transport'') had trouble purchasing the land required to build a road to bypass the town of Winchester. The land required, east of the city on Twyford Down, was owned by Winchester College, who refused to sell the land to the government because it was a water meadow. The desired route, however, had been chosen to avoid St. Catharine's Hill, an ancient hill fort. Proposals were made for a tunnel through Twyford Down, but the estimated cost for this was £75 million more than the estimated cost for a cutting, and the government dismissed the plans. The final route chosen ran through important chalk grassland habitat, and 1.91 hectare of a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) were lost. ^[1] In 1990 a link between Southampton and the southern end of Twyford Down was completed and soon afterwards work began on clearing the route across the down.

Protest

From late 1991 Twyford Down was the site of the UK's first road protest camp, protesting against the building of new motorway and the destruction of important habitat. Environmentalists gathered on the down, making a camp to hinder work. Two of the groups involved in the camp were the Dongas and Earth First!. ^[2]
A coalition, involving local people – led by businessman David Croker, and continuing a twenty year tradition ^[3] – and environmental organisations including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, took the by-now renamed Department for Transport to the High Court, stating that the road was against the Government's own environmental protection laws. The case failed, but European Union Commissioner for the Environment, Carlo Ripa de Meana looked into the case and ordered the project be stopped because he found that it did violate British and European laws.
The first protest camp was evicted in December 1992 on ''Yellow Wednesday'', named after the uniforms of the Group4 security guards who performed the eviction. Resistance to the road intensified. Earth First! set up a new protest camp down in nearby Plague Pits Valley, and continued to obstruct the work both on the water meadows and up on the Down itself. As well as many actions, big and small, there was an injunction-defying mass trespass, which resulted in six people spending some weeks in jail. Perhaps the most unusual arrest was for "criminal damage to a piece of string". It is claimed that 5000 people attended the protests and occupations. ^[3]

Outcome

The motorway section which was eventually constructed through the Twyford Down cutting successfully removed a major bottleneck in the southeast's busy motorway network. Prior to its completion, traffic travelling from nearby Southampton and Portsmouth (major ferry ports) and from farther west to London and the north had to exit the truncated M3 and travel on the heavily congested 1930s Winchester Bypass. Once round this bypass, traffic could either rejoin the M3 in order to proceed toward London or join the A34 road. Completion of the link in 1994 removed the traffic from the existing Winchester Bypass allowing its closure and significantly reduced heavy traffic volumes from the village of Twyford. To redress the loss of 1.91 hectares of SSSI land, the old route of the A33 road was planted with 7.2 hectares of species-rich grassland under the supervision and monitoring of The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology. ^[1]

References

1. Academic article, "Taming The Tarmac: The Lesson of Twyford Down", Cambridge University
2. Ten year retrospective on Twyford Down, from SchNEWS newspaper
3. 1997 article by George Monbiot
4. 1997 article by George Monbiot
5. Academic article, "Taming The Tarmac: The Lesson of Twyford Down", Cambridge University

Further reading

★ B. Bryant, M. Denton-Thompson, ''Twyford Down: Roads, Campaigning and Environmental Law'', Spon Press, 1995. ISBN 0-419-20270-6

See also

★ Environmental direct action in the United Kingdom

★ Newbury bypass

External links

★ Photo gallery of mass tresspass from Urban75.

★ BBC Hampshire webpage containing summary of Twyford Down's historical and contemporary significance.

★ British Library page with short relevant section under heading of Dreamers and Dissenters - Treehouse and Tunnels.

★ Twyford Parish Council Traffic Committee's background on traffic situation in the town of Twyford..