A320 plan abandoned

Surrey County Council last week abandoned their plans to widen the A320 near Guildford amid funding cut backs and subterranean protests.

The county council had established all the necessary legal powers to conduct the road widening work but a combination of the protesters tunnels and the Department of Transport pulling the plug on the funding led to the abandonment of the scheme.

The road was due to go through an area known as Stringers Common where protesters had dug tunnels as part of their protest to halt the road.

Vicky, one of the protesters, said: "This is a victory not only for all the locals around Stringers Common, but for everyone that has dared to stand up to the ever more powerful car culture, from Twyford Down to M11 to Newbury to the proposed Bingley Bypass."

Another protester, Twig, confirmed that "the camps will be dismantled, the tunnels filled in and the land left as it was found." However, this action would only be taken upon the receipt of written assurances from the council that the compulsory purchase order had been overturned, she added.

A spokesman for Surrey County Council admitted that the council had abandoned the A320 widening and would not now be able to find the œ2.9 million required to construct the scheme. The 10-year project is already believed to have cost tens of thousands of pounds.

When the protesters have removed their equipment and cleared the area, some are set to head off and join the protest in Lyminge Forest in Kent where a Centre parks complex is being developed by Rank.