road protests 2001
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From: worthing@eco-action.org
To: porkbolter@excite.co.uk
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 12:21:56 +0000
Subject: december issue [Pork-Bolter No 41]
URL: http://www.eco-action.org/porkbolter
Save our woodland!
Durrington residents are ready to fight horrific Titnore Lane proposals
A MASSIVE battle is shaping up to save unique ancient woodland in Durrington which is under serious threat from property developers and road builders.
Angry residents are determined to save the countryside around Titnore Lane, but London-imposed housing "quotas" mean it will be an uphill struggle to stop the tide of concrete and tarmac. Disillusioned with the gutless local authorities, who are too scared to stand up to Whitehall and prevent the rape of our countryside, some locals are already talking about a direct action campaign to stop the bulldozers moving in to one of the last remaining green spaces in the Worthing borough.
The horrific plans before Worthing Borough Council at the moment involve 875 new homes, a 9.1 acre industrial development and a new dual carriageway version of Titnore Lane scarring the landscape to connect the A27 with the Northbrook College roundabout on the A259 Littlehampton road.
The proposed road would plough through rare ancient semi-natural woodland that has been thriving there since the last Ice Age. It has been designated a Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI) and is completely irreplaceable. Several hundred trees would have to be felled, many over 150 years old and comprising oak, ash, birch and willow. The woods are home to many species of wildlife, including dormice.
Titnore Lane itself is a historical droveway, reaching back at least to the Anglo-Saxon period and most probably way beyond that. It was part of a longer track that reached northwards across the Downs and is rich in archaeological remains. The woods below Highdown, the important iron age hillfort, are an important amenity for local people and their quality of life would be severely affected by the proposed massive housing estate - and by the increase in traffic that would be generated in the area.
As a first response, residents can write to - Head of Planning, Portland House, Richmond Road, Worthing
or e-mail planning@worthing.gov.uk to object to the bid for planning permission
(quoting reference number WB/01/01041/FULL
).
They might also like to pop in for a chat with landowner Clement Somerset, who lives at Holt Farm off the A27 Arundel Road opposite Castle Goring, and ask him politely why he is so enthusiastic about this massive multi-million pound scheme.
And they might like to start to think now about what they are actually going to DO when all their protests and petitions are ignored and the big machines move in to destroy the woodlands and their wildlife for ever.
If anyone wants to get in touch with like-minded people over this issue, drop us a line at -
PO Box 4144, Worthing BN14 7NZ
road protests 2001
| road protests (current)
| movement links