Environment big guns protest against link road

Top representatives from Friends of the Earth, the Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the Woodland Trust and Transport 2000 marched along a stretch of the proposed route near Crowhurst to show their opposition to the scheme, which would run from Queensway to London Road in Bexhill.

These same groups were the main opponents of the Hastings Western Bypass and convinced the government to reject the plan in 2001.

This week they said the same arguments still stand for the new road scheme. They will be putting huge pressure on the Secretary of State for Transport, Alastair Darling, to refuse the plan put forward by East Sussex County Council before he announces his decision on December 17.

Paul de Zylva, director of Friends of the Earth England, was at the protest at Adams Farm and said: "This is one of the top road schemes we are concerned about in the whole of the UK."

County council transport officer Duncan Jordan said the road was environmentally friendly and would benefit the people of Hastings and Bexhill.