News / Environment
Tree-top protest continues against MetroBus
Campaigners staging a tree-top protest against plans to fell trees to make way for the new MetroBus route in Stapleton, say they will continue for as long as they can.
Around six protesters spent the night in a tree-top canopy on the Frenchay Park Road site, which is leased from Bristol City Council by Avon Wildlife Trust. The trust runs the Feed Bristol project from the land.
Protesters have now scaled several trees on the land and the trust has closed the allotments for the day.
is needed now More than ever
Bailiffs and police are on site and have erected a steel fence around the perimeter of the land which was due to be cleared this week.
Fishponds resident Nicola Damery was one of the protesters who arrived on site early this morning. She said she came because “this soil is the best, top-grade soil in the country – only three percent of the country has this grade soil and once it’s tarmacked on that is it”.
“It will be a really, really sad day if…that road gets laid because we can’t reclaim it back. We tarmacked over the M32 in the 60’s – it’s all the same land and we haven’t learnt from our mistakes.”
Kirsty Philbrick, a volunteer on the site for the past three years, said around 23,000 people have used the site since it opened and they have managed to “cultivate wildlife and community and health on this bit of land and it feels like to cut down those trees and build the road there would really massively affect the project”.
She added that the MetroBus will cause “irreparable damage to green space which we can’t get back”.
In a statement Bristol City Council confirmed that work has now started on the MetroBus scheme which was granted planning permission last year.
The statement said that new allotments will be provided to replace ones which will be lost and the “works include planting of seven new trees within the reconfigured allotment site”.
The statement added that: “Compensation will be paid to affected plot holders. The National Allotment Society has been consulted and has agreed to the reconfiguration of Stapleton Allotments.
“The bus-only junction will result in dramatic time savings for services heading from the city centre to the University of the West of England.”
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