A Second Battle of Hastings

In a quiet corner of southern England a fight is brewing. Almost a thousand years after the Norman invasion, the prospect of a second battle of Hastings looms as protesters face off the government and East Sussex County Council over plans to build the 5km, £100m Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR).

The environmentally disastrous BHLR is one of over forty ‘zombie roads’ that were declared dead years ago but have now been resuscitated as part of Britain’s largest road-building programme in 20 years. This programme, trumpeted by George Osborne and the Treasury as the economic jump-start that the country needs, comprises 191 road projects conservatively estimated to cost £30bn.

The BHLR is the first and the worst of these proposed new roads: the worst in terms of carbon emissions of the 45 transport schemes approved in the 2012 budget; and near the bottom in terms of value for money. If it goes ahead, it will destroy the beautiful Combe Haven Valley, part of the ‘theatre’ of the Battle of Hastings, and a haven of accessible tranquillity for the 150,000 people who live within walking distance.

In a recent report by the Campaign for Better Transport analysing the government’s new road building plans, Steven Norris – Tory Minister for Transport in London in 1992 – writes that “Experience tells us clearly that a massive programme of road building won’t solve [the problems of economic inertia, congested roads and housing shortages] … Investing in effective, affordable and easy to use public transport is part of the solution. So is planning new developments so that they do not rely on cars. Most of all, now is the time for brave and creative decision-making, not a return to the past.”

Despite a public enquiry and numerous legal challenges by stalwart local campaigners from the Hastings Alliance, those in power have chosen not to make such “brave and creative” decisions. The BHLR appears on track for building work to commence early in 2013, and preparations have already started.

Against this background, in July 2012 local people decided to form a new group, Combe Haven Defenders, believing that the exhaustion of the legal process and the imminent prospect of bulldozers in the valley argued for fresh energy and tactics. Members of the group all live locally and many have been involved in activism, principally in the environmental and peace movements. The Defenders have organised walks, exhibitions, street stalls, local press work, an online pledge of resistance, training and strategy sessions, a weekend camp, and both local and national demos. An aim from the outset was to celebrate and promote non-violent direct action (NVDA) as a legitimate campaigning tactic, and to build up the capacity, both locally and nationally, to take effective action when required. In coming weeks, more site walks, public meetings and NVDA training sessions will be taking place; all are welcome.

In the 1990s, a road protest movement exploded across the UK, with key campaigns fought at Twyford Down, the M11 link road, Solsbury Hill and Newbury. Although it failed to win all its battles, this movement succeeded in winning the bigger arguments and ended up derailing the Tories’ Roads to Prosperity programme with the cancellation of over 300 road schemes in November 1995. But it did even more: It spawned a new culture of protest, epitomised by Reclaim the Streets, that helped shape the anti-globalisation, anti-capitalist, radical environmental and Occupy movements of the last 20 years.

The Bexhill-Hastings Link Road, as the spearhead of Osborne’s plans to tarmac our way out of recession, is the clarion call for a new generation of road protests. Opposing this folly is vitally important: strong resistance to the new road programme at Hastings may save a unique valley, but, more than that, it will be a demonstration of popular opposition that may protect countless other special places from destruction, and a line in the sand against the pathological trajectory of 21st century capitalism.

By Patrick Nicholson. Sign the Pledge to resist the BHLR, follow the campaign and get involved at: www.combehavendefenders.wordpress.com