I had been involved in the road protests at Twyford Down in the early 90s, but Newbury bypass was the moment when direct action really entered the public consciousness.
At the start, the protests were simply mass resistance – people getting in the way of diggers. It was very successful at first, but the police got wise and sent in hundreds of security. So we set up nine camps and began to “tree-sit” in the woodland around the proposed bypass route. I was arrested on my first day and banned from the site.
The protests became a long game of cat and mouse: lots of drawn-out evictions (getting the protesters out of trees) and arrests. The police cut off branches from below, or sent in climbers, or cherry pickers. Road protests are quite traumatic: you become closely identified with the environment you’re trying to protect, and then it gets destroyed. I’ve seen lots of problems afterwards, with drugs and alcohol. Back then there was no support system; it’s better now.
A few months into the protests, I broke my bail to join the crowds watching an eviction. I was at the base of a tree, outside a police cordon, that was attached to another tree inside the cordon via a pair of rope walkways. I decided to climb it. I’m no climber, so it was scary, but most of the adrenaline came from the fact that I knew I would be arrested. When I got to the top, a cheer went up.
The police sent up a professional climber. In the photograph, I’m struggling because I’m trying to stop him attaching his carabiner clip and rope to me. I spoke to him as we always speak to authorities: “You don’t have to do this. I want you to think again. I wish you no ill will, but I am going to resist.” I think I told him I loved him. But he managed to get the clip on me, and I was whisked to the ground.
Of course our campaign was last-ditch – all road protests are. But it’s always worth resisting because it sends a powerful signal. For the first time, the media were reporting heavily on an environmental campaign, and I think what we were doing started to gain public approval. Very few new roads were built after that, certainly nothing on the previous scale. Newbury sowed the seed for many other campaigns, too, most notably against GM crops, and that led to the growth of the organic sector, so I’m proud of that.
Recently, I decided to stand for the Greens at the election, in Somerton and Frome. I was standing against David Rendel, the Lib Dem who, when he was the MP at the time of the protests, advocated the building of the bypass. So I made a bit of that. He lost to the Tories.
My view now is the same as it was 20 years ago – all road building has to stop. We need a shift to sustainable transport. We’re addicted to cars – I own one, as I have no alternative way of getting around. But this has to change.
Newbury destroyed my fear of arrest – I’ve been arrested 13 times now. I’m currently awaiting trial for blockading the gate to the dock where Trident is being serviced in Plymouth. But if I lose, my neighbour, Michael Eavis, says he’ll pay my costs.
• Interview by Hannah Booth.
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