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Twyford Down/Dongas Tribe

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Chris Hutchison

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Feb 17, 1993, 7:26:03 AM2/17/93

[I'm posting this for a friend, Katy Andrews. If you want further information
about how you can help, Katy can be reached by email via me, or by smail at
the address at the bottom of her appeal.]

16th February 1993
Communication from Friends Of Twyford Down/Dongas Tribe.

URGENT APPEAL FOR IMMEDIATE HELP!!!!

THE U.K. GOVERNMENT IS DESTROYING RURAL ENGLAND!

WE MUST STOP THIS VANDALISM -
OUR WHOLE COUNTRY IS UNDER THREAT!

THEY HAVE BEGUN WITH TWYFORD DOWN -
YOU CAN HELP OUR FIGHT TO SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENT!

PLEASE READ ON - WE'LL EXPLAIN WHAT IS HAPPENING AND HOW YOU CAN
HELP SAVE A BEAUTIFUL, ECOLOGICALLY PRECIOUS AND HISTORICALLY
UNIQUE AREA OF ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE.

We need letter-writers (addresses follow), networkers,
journalists, funds!

TWYFORD DOWN: THE BACKGROUND:
Twyford Down is a peaceful upland area in the rolling chalk hill
landscape of the South Downs in Hampshire. It is the site of an
early Bronze Age settlement which became the capital of the
Saxon kingdom of Wessex under King Alfred the Great, and later
of all England. According to "English Heritage," Twyford Down
is the MOST IMPORTANT ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE IN SOUTHERN
ENGLAND.

Before the Government began its campaign of wanton trashing last
year, it was also probably the most protected area of southern
England too, with TWO SITES OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC INTEREST
(ancient water meadows at one end of the Down, and a unique
series of ancient "hollow-ways" known as "the dongas" at the
other), two SCHEDULED ANCIENT MONUMENTS, several unscheduled
Ancient Monuments (archaeological sites and mediaeval dew-ponds)
and a RICH DIVERSITY OF WILDLIFE including TWELVE RARE ORCHID
SPECIES, WILD DEER and SEVERAL SPECIES OF BUTTERFLY, TWO OF
WHICH ARE EXTREMELY RARE. The Down is also within a DESIGNATED
AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY.

The Government (run by the Conservative Party, twelve of whose
largest financial backers are construction companies), is
currently forcing through an accelerated nationwide road-
building programme which threatens thousands such sites,
although few so important as Twyford Down. Our rulers want to
slice through the middle of the Down, which in 1925 was
purchased - to save it from housing development - for the
public to enjoy freely, turning this irreplaceable local beauty-
spot and valued amenity into a huge motorway cutting. There are
alternatives, and the scheme the Government have adopted - using
lies and doctored "maps" of the effects of their proposals in
dealings with the public and their elected representatives on
Hampshire County Council - is the most destructive of the
environment. This is deliberate. The Government are using the
Down as a test case in order to force through forty other
schemes in the UK "pipeline."

Work has already begun at either end of the Down. The dongas,
the water meadows, part of the Itchen Navigation canal and much
of the once-splendid view have been destroyed, some
irretrievably. The Down, however, is still 98% intact, and
there is still time to save what is left and force restoration
where possible of what has been damaged. A recent independent
civil engineering assessment states that temporary measures to
relieve traffic congestion pending re-assessment of the options
are still viable. In particular, tunnelling under the Down is
now cheaper due to advances in technology and changes in
forecasts.

TWYFORD DOWN - THE PROTEST:
For over twenty years, the citizens of Winchester have
consistently opposed the scheme to put the M3 motorway through
the Down, ever since the idea was first mooted as an alternative
to widening the existing bypass. The latter would have brought
noise and pollution closer to the town, and was particularly
opposed by Winchester College, which had been granted the land
at Twyford Down in trust "to preserve it" in the 1950s. College
land at Twyford Down was sold for a vastly over-inflated price
to the Department of Transport (DTp) - at a time when the
Trust's Chairman was also the Vice-Chairman of the Conservative
Party. Local people in Winchester are particularly angry about
this betrayal of trust by the College.

At the local Public Inquiries held in the 1970s and 1980a, the
DTp knowingly withheld vital information from the public and
their elected representatives. The opposition of ordinary local
people was carried out at their own expense, whereas the
Government has unlimited access to public money, taken from our
taxes, with which to fight us and hire full-time professionals.
We thought these legal battles would be successful, as the
Government was acting illegally in direct contravention of a
European Directive requiring a proper Environmental Impact
Assessment Study to be carried out, which had never been done.

Unfortunately, as part of the bargaining at Maastricht to secure
the UK Government's acquiescence in a European Community treaty,
the continental negotiators agreed to drop their objections to
Twyford Down and forty other so-called "pipeline schemes" in the
UK, including ancient Oxleas Wood near London. This will have a
knock-on effect not only in the UK but also in hundreds such
places across the continent. The European Commissioner for the
Environment, Carlo Ripa de Meana, resigned in protest. (He was
replaced by the European Transport Minister!)

Since Spring 1992 a dedicated group of environmental
campaigners, known locally as the "Dongas Tribe," have camped on
the threatened site and non-violently opposed DTp attempts to
wreck the sensitive landscape. Their protest has been the
spearhead of the ongoing campaign and has been widely supported.
The implications of the scheme are far from local, and we now
feel we must widen our protest. The citizens of Winchester say
"Not In My Back Yard" - but we realise that THE WHOLE OF PLANET
EARTH IS OUR BACKYARD! This scheme ultimately affects everyone!

HOW YOU CAN HELP THE CAMPAIGN:

1)
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
The Friends of Twyford Down are continuing to fight this
monstrous threat to the environment and the history of the
English nation. This includes support for non-violent direct
action, including the protest camp set up in February 1992 by
the "Dongas Tribe" (the UK's first "Green" Peace Camp). It also
involves continuing the legal fight in Europe, which costs tens
of thousands of pounds of individuals' money. Funds are
desperately and urgently needed. We believe that the DTp will
try to start trying to carve the Down in half within the next 5-
6 weeks, and we do not yet have funds to bring another case to
the European Court. FTD's Treasurer is Mr. Alan Weeks, at 155
Stanmore Lane, Winchester, Hampshire. Any contribution, in any
form or currency, would be gratefully received.

2)
WRITING LETTERS
If you live in England, then please write in protest to your MP
and MEP and to the National Press. We would also like people to
write and protest to the DTp (2, Marsham Street, London SW1P
3EB) and Tarmac Construction (Construction House, Birch Street,
Wolverhampton, W. Midlands WV1 4HY) the main contractors at the
Down.
If you live abroad then besides contacting the press and local
journals, we would particularly like letters to be written to
the UK Ambassador in your country. (Because of the
peculiarities of the voting system here it is unlikely that the
government - who at the last election received only about a
third of votes - could be removed from office through the so-
called "democratic process", but they are quite sensitive to
opinion overseas - so this would be extremely useful.)
Please make clear your opposition to the destruction not only of
the natural environment and its diversity of wildlife, but also
of archaeological sites important to the history of Britain and
Europe.

3)
SPREADING PUBLICITY AND NETWORKING INFORMATION
Please pull this information down and network it if at all
possible. If you can get anything published in journals or the
press about our fight to save the impending destruction of much
of the English countryside, and particularly the immediate
threat to Twyford Down, this would also be very welcome.

4)
IN ENGLAND - BY COMING TO MEETINGS OR DEMONSTRATIONS
Friends of Twyford Down have several contact numbers. Please
telephone Alan Weeks on 0962 868763 or Stephen Ward on 081 - 527
4896 (London support group) for more information.
We are expecting the main cutting work to begin within the next
month and desperately need several hundred people to demonstrate
to stop this. (The 25-30 people at the Protest Camp last summer
was not a sufficient number, although work was much delayed. We
must be better organised this time.)
ELSEWHERE - BY FORMING SUPPORT GROUPS TO HELP US.
Again, please get in contact. You can also write to Friends of
Twyford Down care of the Chairman, Dr. Chris Gillham, at 16
Upper High Street, Winchester, Hampshire.

Many thanks for any help which you are able to give us. Your
sympathy is welcomed, but time is short and more than thoughts
is urgently needed!

We held a meeting last weekend in Winchester at which over 300
local people attended. One elderly gentleman said that to give
up now would be like saying in 1945 that we had fought Hitler
long enough and we should now give up and allow ourselves to be
occupied. The present Government is threatening more harm to
England and our national heritage than ever the Nazi Luftwaffe
achieved, even in the so-called "Baedecker" raids aimed
specifically at destroying our national heritage. We at
Winchester are fighting for England and our heritage. Please
will you help us. Not only our fight but many other threatened
areas across Britain and the continent depend upon what happens
at Twyford Down.

PLEASE HELP US NOW - WE MUST STOP THIS APPALLING DESTRUCTION
BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!

THIS APPEAL COULD NOT BE MORE SERIOUS OR MORE URGENT!

Katy Andrews, BA (Hons), MSc,
79 Forest Road, LONDON E17 6HF. (081 527 9857)

============================================================
<end of message>

Disclaimer: All ideas and opinions expressed herein are my own and not likely
to be those of my employer -- but I'm more than delighted to share my ideas
and opinions with anyone.

G T Clark

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Feb 18, 1993, 5:45:49 AM2/18/93

In spite of the usual tendency of articles with lots of words IN
CAPITAL LETTERS to be complete rubbish,this one is well worth reading
(and acting on).Also worth charitably overlooking is the way that
"England" has been mistakenly used where it was obviously intended to
say "Britain."
Yours,
Graham,
Edinburgh,
SCOTLAND,
Part of Britain.As is England.

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