0:00:02 > 0:00:04In the early '90s the Department Of Transport
0:00:04 > 0:00:07began to build a motorway on chalk downland near Winchester.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13I chained myself to quite a few machines.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15Looking back, I don't know how I did it.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19I think it's to do with being 20, and thinking you're invincible!
0:00:19 > 0:00:25- 'Another demonstrator had used a bicycle lock around his neck.' - At that moment, it really became
0:00:25 > 0:00:30apparent to me that, you know, that I was prepared to die for this cause.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33Twyford Down was the catalyst for other protests around the country.
0:00:33 > 0:00:39After 50 years and 2,000 miles, it seemed that our love affair with the motorway was over.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58There was a time in Britain when there were no motorways.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03But, surprisingly, there were already motorway protesters.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08I don't think we'd have been tying ourselves to trees, let's put it like that!
0:01:08 > 0:01:10- It wasn't the done thing back then, was it?- No.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12Eh, it's probably...
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Or standing in front of a bulldozer or anything like that, no.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18- No, it...- It wouldn't have worked in the village!
0:01:18 > 0:01:24We weren't so anarchic, or whatever the word is, in those days!
0:01:26 > 0:01:31The route of the M1 around Leicester was planned in 1957.
0:01:31 > 0:01:37The engineers set out across the country to meet landowners and iron out any problems.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39Motorway construction hadn't started.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41Civil engineers were welcome in the areas.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46I mean, people were nervous about the "not in my back yard" syndrome,
0:01:46 > 0:01:48but in general they appreciated
0:01:48 > 0:01:50the M1 solution.
0:01:50 > 0:01:57Motorway was being heralded as the saviour of the country in those days.
0:01:57 > 0:02:03If you got objections, then, you know, they were to be found a way around them or out of them.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08I looked out of the window in the kitchen
0:02:08 > 0:02:12and I could see these people walking about with sticks with something on,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15and I didn't realise at the time that it was surveyors.
0:02:15 > 0:02:20And then, when we did realise they were surveyors, we thought, "Ooh, dear,
0:02:20 > 0:02:24"I wonder if they're going to build a housing estate at the back of us?"
0:02:24 > 0:02:26And then, when the story broke,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29it was really devastating
0:02:29 > 0:02:32to think that we were going to have a great big motorway
0:02:32 > 0:02:33just above our house.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40The proposed route ran through one of Britain's oldest natural forests
0:02:40 > 0:02:42and alongside Bradgate Park.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45This former home of Lady Jane Grey was now a public park
0:02:45 > 0:02:48owned by the people of Leicester.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53It was a beautiful place with the deer, and to put a motorway through the park
0:02:53 > 0:02:55was a stupid thing to do.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58It spoiled the whole thing.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02Opposition to the route was led by Bob Bown.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06He was a local councillor, and all in favour of the motorway.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11But in an age when holidays abroad were a rarity, he knew how important the park was to local people.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16It was the first time he'd ever campaigned for anything,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20but he just felt so strongly. Particularly after the war years
0:03:20 > 0:03:24people were getting back to normal living,
0:03:24 > 0:03:26and to have something else spoilt...
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Bob Bown organised a petition, didn't he?
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Yeah, and within a short time... How many signatures did they get?
0:03:33 > 0:03:36Er, 33,000, I believe it was.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40It was headlines, because it was such a favourite park
0:03:40 > 0:03:42for all the people in Leicester.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45But it seemed to do the trick, anyway.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Bob Bown took his petition to the Transport Minister,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53who was happy to re-route the motorway.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55Bradgate Park was saved.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01And the M1 opened, to national celebration.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08This motorway starts a new era in road travel.
0:04:08 > 0:04:16It is in keeping with the bold, exciting and scientific age in which we live.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24The first thousand miles of motorway were built across open countryside with little opposition.
0:04:24 > 0:04:30They quickly relieved congestion on Britain's A roads and in its city centres.
0:04:30 > 0:04:36So, flushed with their success, the motorway planners then turned their attention to London's problem.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44Everybody knows that we're being invaded, devoured and practically immobilised by our own machinery.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48We want cars, we need cars. Cars are beginning to destroy our civilisation.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56The rush hour. The twice-daily ordeal by frustration
0:04:56 > 0:05:02which builds up neurosis, causes accidents, and costs millions in wasted time and fuel.
0:05:02 > 0:05:09Rising car ownership meant that the protest against congestion was becoming louder.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11Something needed to be done.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15So the job fell to a new generation of computer-literate engineers.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18We looked to the situation in the United States
0:05:18 > 0:05:22because their car ownership was ahead of ours.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25But there was no reason to think it would be any different.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28'The core of the city has been evacuated.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30'The car is king.'
0:05:30 > 0:05:37We were some of the first British people to study these new approaches to transport planning.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42Our numbers were suggesting massive freeways were necessary.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47They might require dual four lanes, dual five.
0:05:49 > 0:05:55And if there was a flaw in what we were doing, it was too much time
0:05:55 > 0:06:00on making the machine produce numbers, and far too little time
0:06:00 > 0:06:05on serious, deep thinking about interpreting the numbers,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08and what was the reality that they portrayed.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14- Were you worried about the motorway? - Yes, indeed.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17- What worried you most?- That a car would come in the front room
0:06:17 > 0:06:19to us at some time or other!
0:06:23 > 0:06:25Am I all right for Aylesbury on the A41?
0:06:26 > 0:06:28Straight on. You can't miss it!
0:06:30 > 0:06:35Residents were consulted, but the reality was that forcing motorways
0:06:35 > 0:06:41through London's densely-populated streets was always going to destroy someone's back yard.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45# They're going to build a motorway through me back garden
0:06:45 > 0:06:49# No-one can explain why I came to be chosen
0:06:49 > 0:06:54# They're going to build a motorway, they're rippin' up the trees
0:06:54 > 0:06:59# Soon the lorries will be zoomin' through me cabbages and peas. #
0:06:59 > 0:07:04They do profess a facade, as you would put it, of democracy,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08and no doubt they would argue that there are facilities for you to protest
0:07:08 > 0:07:10and have your say on these things.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13But, in practice, it's rubbish.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16# They talked of urban redevelopment
0:07:16 > 0:07:18# Improving the environment
0:07:18 > 0:07:19# They says to ease the traffic flow
0:07:19 > 0:07:24# A bit of my back garden had to go
0:07:24 > 0:07:25# Well, I dunno. #
0:07:25 > 0:07:28- We had quite a wide verge here... - Yes, yes.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31..and it was very pleasant when we first moved in,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35but it's dreadful now. We... We're all very shocked about it.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38And we can't get any satisfaction.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40# They've built an eight-lane motorway
0:07:40 > 0:07:44# They've ripped up all the trees...
0:07:44 > 0:07:48# Now the lorries zoom where once I grew
0:07:48 > 0:07:51# Me cabbages and peas. #
0:07:56 > 0:08:00When a two-and-a-half-mile section of elevated motorway opened in West London,
0:08:00 > 0:08:06residents were faced with six lanes of traffic hurtling past their homes at bedroom level.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08PEOPLE SING PROTESTS
0:08:09 > 0:08:12I have great pleasure in declaring Westway open...
0:08:12 > 0:08:14It's a celebration for you, sir...
0:08:14 > 0:08:18PROTESTERS CLAMOUR
0:08:18 > 0:08:23..and that the whole matter will be the subject of an urgent review by the Government.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26Yes, it's a lovely road but we're living in misery, sir,
0:08:26 > 0:08:27we have to do something...
0:08:27 > 0:08:30- Who else have you got here? - Everybody, sir. Mr Clark!
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Well, the traffic is pouring past here.
0:08:33 > 0:08:38It's light at the moment. By three days, four days, it'll be intensely heavy.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Meanwhile, the families in this road and the 142 children
0:08:41 > 0:08:47like the youngster here will have to sleep in the front room because there's no room at the back.
0:08:47 > 0:08:53We're planning more demonstrations unless they assure us that something is going to be done.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58- All your neighbours are leaving? - Yes.- Do you wish you were going too? - I do.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01I've lived in this street all me life and I want to get out now.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05But the Westway was only the start.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08There was a much more radical plan in the pipeline.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13Inspired by American freeways, it was called the Motorway Box.
0:09:13 > 0:09:1830 miles of elevated motorway forcing its way through Central London.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23'The Motorway Box is perhaps the most controversial of the proposals,
0:09:23 > 0:09:29'since it involves a complete ring of four- and eight-lane highways so close to the heart of London.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34'The Motorway Box will be driven through densely populated parts of London.'
0:09:34 > 0:09:37With the newly-opened Westway there for all to see,
0:09:37 > 0:09:42Londoners realised what the impact of the Motorway Box would be.
0:09:44 > 0:09:51Well, I object to...having things steam-rolled over me without being able to say what I feel,
0:09:51 > 0:09:53and I've found that a great many people felt the same way.
0:09:53 > 0:10:00Homes Before Roads campaign believes things have been got out of perspective by County Hall.
0:10:00 > 0:10:06Homes Before Roads was a new political party, formed to fight the proposed Motorway Box.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11Transport has been boosted up to a position which will dominate London.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15The scale of the proposals was extraordinary.
0:10:15 > 0:10:21The so-called Motorway Box went through Kensington, Battersea,
0:10:21 > 0:10:28Lambeth, Hackney, Camden - tight-built Victorian terraces.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33So it was going to be this huge motorway, in many cases elevated,
0:10:33 > 0:10:37through all the Inner London boroughs.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40How can there be any new roads in London without losing houses?
0:10:40 > 0:10:43Well, I think this is obvious. I mean, you certainly will
0:10:43 > 0:10:46take down somebody's house in building a new road.
0:10:46 > 0:10:52But in fact we're talking here of taking down the houses or the homes of hundreds of thousands of people.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02Homes Before Roads succeeded in putting up over 80 candidates
0:11:02 > 0:11:06in the 1970 Greater London Council Elections.
0:11:06 > 0:11:14This is a borough in which the so-called Motorway Box is expected to cut a swathe through the housing,
0:11:14 > 0:11:20and there has been a very great deal of interest to see how many votes the Homes Before Roads candidates
0:11:20 > 0:11:22take away from the traditional parties.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28The Homes Before Roads people tended to be literary and artistic,
0:11:28 > 0:11:33and that sort of thing. I went to Oxford, I'd read history.
0:11:33 > 0:11:40The opponents were engineers and, I mean, looking back, you can see it as a conflict
0:11:40 > 0:11:48between modernising engineers and reactionary historical and literary people.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53But it wasn't just the engineers who disapproved.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58The established political parties and their candidates were none too keen on Homes Before Roads, either.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01I thoroughly disapprove of the Homes Before Roads.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05I think it wrong when educated people who should know better
0:12:05 > 0:12:09use elections of this sort, which are concerned not only with roads and homes,
0:12:09 > 0:12:13important as they are, but with education, and with the care of old people.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17As a pressure group, it seems to me not to be socially responsible,
0:12:17 > 0:12:18and I take a poor view of it.
0:12:19 > 0:12:25A lot of people have been wondering how the Homes Before Roads candidates were going to do.
0:12:25 > 0:12:31- They're opposed to the...- Well, I'm pleased to say, I'm now going to declare the result of this election.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37We had all the enthusiasm and all the energy, and all the optimism of young people,
0:12:37 > 0:12:42and I think we probably thought somewhere we were going to do well in the polls.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44Cyril Keith Jacker...
0:12:44 > 0:12:47- Homes Before Roads.- ..1,037.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49We didn't, we were thumped.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52- James Anthony Lambkin... - Conservative.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54- ..24,400... - CROWD CHEERS
0:12:57 > 0:13:02The Conservatives won the election, and were committed to building the Motorway Box.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06It was a defeat for Homes Before Roads, but they would have the final victory.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11Day after day, people came to County Hall and explained why
0:13:11 > 0:13:13they didn't like the proposals,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15and eventually it got to the point
0:13:15 > 0:13:17where the Homes Before Roads policy
0:13:17 > 0:13:20had been adopted by the London Labour Party.
0:13:20 > 0:13:28So when Labour regained control of the capital three years later, they immediately dropped the Motorway Box.
0:13:28 > 0:13:29We thought we'd been vindicated
0:13:29 > 0:13:35and we were elated, we were thrilled. We thought, "My goodness, in the end we've won."
0:13:37 > 0:13:42The author of the Motorway Box scheme, who was a chief engineer,
0:13:42 > 0:13:47was sacked from his job, and it was made clear to me that if I tried to resurrect
0:13:47 > 0:13:52any form of major road proposals for London, the same fate would befall me.
0:13:53 > 0:13:59Opinion was changing about building motorways in London.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02Modernism was very destructive.
0:14:02 > 0:14:10It was very narrowly focused on getting modern roads built, getting comprehensive development done,
0:14:10 > 0:14:14and it didn't pay very much attention to the people themselves.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Around the end of the '60s, beginning of the '70s,
0:14:19 > 0:14:24there was a huge flip change in popular attitudes,
0:14:24 > 0:14:29from a belief in reconstruction of cities around the car
0:14:29 > 0:14:31to a belief
0:14:31 > 0:14:35in conservation, preservation of the existing city,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38limiting the impact of the car on the city
0:14:38 > 0:14:40to the maximum extent possible.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42It was one of the biggest
0:14:42 > 0:14:46and most sudden psychological changes I've ever observed,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50and, I think, that ever occcurred in 20th-century history.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05It was clear that building urban motorways was now a non-starter.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10But out in the countryside, government plans were still going ahead.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14In the early '70s the M25 was known as the M16.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18North of London, its planned route ran through Epping Forest.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Upshire was a sleepy little hamlet
0:15:21 > 0:15:23where nothing very much happened.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27It was basically still agricultural,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31and as a result of an enquiry from somebody about a reservoir
0:15:31 > 0:15:35we were told there was a motorway projected to come through Upshire,
0:15:35 > 0:15:37right through the middle of the village.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39People were up in arms.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44We had people standing outside their front doors with guns, saying, "They shall not pass!"
0:15:44 > 0:15:47I think I've got some photographs of it somewhere.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Anyone that comes here, I'll shoot his guts on that floor.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54These are people whose lives were going to be dreadfully disturbed,
0:15:54 > 0:16:00and they were kicking against the bricks. They didn't know what to do.
0:16:00 > 0:16:05We don't stop progress. I've been in roads and sewers all me life,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08but we never went mad like this.
0:16:08 > 0:16:14They don't want to come down here because, I tell you, that old gun of mine will do them.
0:16:14 > 0:16:15I'll do them, honest.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18- With your shotgun?- Yes, I will.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20- I see.- Yes.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Everyone was absolutely devastated,
0:16:23 > 0:16:29because the one thing that you felt in Upshire was secure.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34Because we're in the green belt, and Epping Forest is protected by Act of Parliament.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36And then, all of a sudden, there was the Government
0:16:36 > 0:16:42actually proposing to put a motorway in their own green belts,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45and it was a huge sense of betrayal.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48It's where the people from East London in particular
0:16:48 > 0:16:51used to come out in their breaks and their day off.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54They've loved it, they've always loved it.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59I mean, this is one of the most treasured possessions of the people of this part of the world.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01How could they drive a motorway through it?
0:17:01 > 0:17:06So a protest group was formed.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12I think without Joyce
0:17:12 > 0:17:16we might not have been... quite so brave!
0:17:18 > 0:17:23We decided to send a Christmas card to the Environment Secretary.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Went with a poster, which said...
0:17:26 > 0:17:29"Not Epping Likely"!
0:17:29 > 0:17:31We'd have wanted to do the same things.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34The "F"s were very enlarged!
0:17:34 > 0:17:39We wouldn't have believed ourselves capable of doing a lot of the things that we did do!
0:17:41 > 0:17:42The goat was Vanessa.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45She was photographed all over the place.
0:17:45 > 0:17:50And to a person from a loving, stable, working-class background
0:17:50 > 0:17:53who hadn't really ever had anything to rebel against,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57this was an amazing group of people to be swept into.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02In the summer of 1973, the campaign headed to London
0:18:02 > 0:18:06to deliver a petition to their local MP, Norman Tebbit.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10It was in the national press... got a good press.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13Got a very good press. It's all very well,
0:18:13 > 0:18:17but a good press doesn't impress the people that you want it to!
0:18:20 > 0:18:24Joyce's campaign had no effect on the Government's plans,
0:18:24 > 0:18:30but because the protest was so vociferous, a public inquiry was called.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34Expert witnesses were hired to explain why the motorway should be abandoned.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38We were optimistic,
0:18:38 > 0:18:43and we thought our cause was just, and that we would win.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49It was then that the Upshire protesters discovered a catch
0:18:49 > 0:18:53at the heart of the inquiry system that meant their case was fatally flawed.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57It was a catch that meant the Government would always win.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02Even today, guidance for inspectors makes the limits of their remit clear.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08"The inspector shall be careful to confine his or her consideration
0:19:08 > 0:19:11"to matters within the scope of the Inquiry.
0:19:11 > 0:19:18"The merits and foundations of policies adopted by the Government are not matters for argument."
0:19:18 > 0:19:25In other words, whether the motorway should, or should not, be built could never be questioned.
0:19:25 > 0:19:31There seemed to be this basic assumption that they were right, and we were just going through a process,
0:19:31 > 0:19:37and the further the Inquiry went, the more one felt that.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42It felt as if you were playing with a loaded dice.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46We were never going to win. It wouldn't matter what arguments we had put forward,
0:19:46 > 0:19:48the department had got their plan,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51and the department were going to stick to it.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54And they weren't going to listen.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57We didn't stand a dog's chance in hell.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01A key section of the M25 motorway around London was opened today
0:20:01 > 0:20:05through Epping Forest. It means traffic from the north...
0:20:05 > 0:20:12When that road opened I felt as if something had gone that wasn't ever going to come back.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17That was the last time that you would have complete quiet.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19It was the last time you would have complete dark.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23TRAFFIC ROARS
0:20:25 > 0:20:28I was brought up in a very law-abiding family.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30I'm also a magistrate.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35And I did think that right would out, and I really did believe it.
0:20:35 > 0:20:36I don't any more.
0:20:36 > 0:20:37I don't.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41MUSIC: "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who
0:20:41 > 0:20:45The defeat at Epping had an effect around the country,
0:20:45 > 0:20:47as Middle England began to realise
0:20:47 > 0:20:50that there was no point playing by the rules.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52..not a road
0:20:52 > 0:20:56that others have decided would fit into a nice, little, neat geographical plan.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02There was a loss of faith in public inquiries.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07Protesters began to voice frustration at a system they no longer believed in.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13..in a call for a motion of No Confidence in the Chair. Thank you.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18- Next witness.- I wish to protest!
0:21:18 > 0:21:20This inquiry is a travesty!
0:21:23 > 0:21:24Silence in court!
0:21:24 > 0:21:27- This is NOT a courtroom. - It IS a courtroom.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31It is not a court, it's an inquiry!
0:21:31 > 0:21:33And you are not fit to conduct it.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37Well, madam. I am conducting it, fit or not. Now, be silent!
0:21:37 > 0:21:39You're a senile old fool!
0:21:50 > 0:21:53At Winchester, where the M3 was due for completion,
0:21:53 > 0:21:55the planned route for the motorway
0:21:55 > 0:21:58ran through some of England's finest countryside.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01CHOIR SINGS
0:22:08 > 0:22:12Well, at that time I was a master at Winchester College
0:22:12 > 0:22:15and the proposed motorway went right across college land.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19The water meadows were extremely important,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22and then you have this meadow
0:22:22 > 0:22:27along which Keats used to walk and wrote the ode, To Autumn.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Conspiring with him how to load and bless
0:22:36 > 0:22:39With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43Suddenly, in all this very best landscape they were proposing to build a road,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45which just seemed to be wrong.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49I couldn't think of any reason, short of warfare, and even then,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52for destroying beauty like that.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54And for such a poor reason as to give
0:22:54 > 0:22:57two or three minutes' saving on a journey to Southampton
0:22:57 > 0:23:01just seemed ludicrous to me. So, it seemed to me it was
0:23:01 > 0:23:02something essential to fight.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10At first, the protesters planned to follow the usual route of presenting their case at the public inquiry.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14But then they heard of a radically different approach.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18- This is like South Africa!- Mr Ridge, my solicitor, is locked outside!
0:23:18 > 0:23:20This approach wouldn't just question
0:23:20 > 0:23:24the need for this particular motorway,
0:23:24 > 0:23:26but the legality of any motorway.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29And it was one man who led the way.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34..but you will allow those people into this inquiry,
0:23:34 > 0:23:36or you will close it down now.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Polytechnic lecturer John Tyme was becoming
0:23:39 > 0:23:42a familiar figure at public inquiries around Britain.
0:23:42 > 0:23:48Their homes are threatened, and they have no...law...to protect them in...this...room.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51- Any member of the public... - He was protesting against all roads,
0:23:51 > 0:23:57but he realised that the constraints on the inspector meant that no protest could ever be successful.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00He knew public inquiries didn't work.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02They have no roads...
0:24:02 > 0:24:06John Tyme was, I would think, an obsessed man,
0:24:06 > 0:24:11and he certainly saw motorway building as part of some great conspiracy.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13To some extent, he probably was right,
0:24:13 > 0:24:21but he was very, very determined and very inspirational.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23Inquiries into motorway proposals,
0:24:23 > 0:24:27which in themselves are monstrously destructive across our countryside,
0:24:27 > 0:24:29are wholly invalid.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33John Tyme was the obvious voice that had started this,
0:24:33 > 0:24:35and I don't know how he came to be invited,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39but it was quite conspiratorial when it happened.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41Do you hate motorways?
0:24:41 > 0:24:42Of course.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44- You hate them?- Of course, yes.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46Your ex-wife died in a car crash.
0:24:46 > 0:24:53Ccould it be that, subconsciously, that is the basis of your hatred of the motor car and road traffic?
0:24:53 > 0:24:57One should never deny the possibility of subconscious roots.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00We don't know the springs of our actions.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03It may very well be the sufferings that my children underwent.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06When I think of the 7,000 people killed on the roads a year,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10I wonder what, in fact, the road lobby...how they manage to sleep at nights.
0:25:10 > 0:25:15Motorways are constructed on the bones of dead children.
0:25:15 > 0:25:23John arrived in Winchester just before the inquiry was about to start, to explain his tactics.
0:25:23 > 0:25:29We had this meeting in my living room, as I was a House Master, and John Tyme was there.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32There were a lot of people there,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35and John explained what he wanted to do.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39And what he wanted to do was to disrupt the inquiry to begin with,
0:25:39 > 0:25:46as long as possible, to prevent the DoE carrying on in its old way.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49So I tell you this, that if you allow this inquiry to open
0:25:49 > 0:25:54you will get your motorway, no matter what or who says what.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58What I suggest you do, is put every single atom of power you have
0:25:58 > 0:26:03to stopping any inquiry being held. Stand on your feet,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07and you will defeat this DoE, you will knock them flat,
0:26:07 > 0:26:08and they will never get up again.
0:26:08 > 0:26:13In essence, John Tyme's approach was to stop the inquiry opening,
0:26:13 > 0:26:17because if it didn't take place, building the motorway would be illegal.
0:26:19 > 0:26:20That had never occurred to me.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25It never occurred to me to act, that the inquiry could actually be stopped.
0:26:25 > 0:26:31Inside the Guildhall, Major General Edge, hoping to pre-empt an outburst, slips on stage early.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35It was full of expectancy, the whole room.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39I don't know whether we really believed we could do it.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41We had all been inspired by John Tyme,
0:26:41 > 0:26:46but I guess none of us really knew whether other people were really going to do this or not.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56He got to, "Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen."
0:26:56 > 0:27:02It's now half past ten. CROWD CLAP AND JEER
0:27:05 > 0:27:08The inquiry is now open.
0:27:09 > 0:27:10I represent, em...
0:27:15 > 0:27:17CHORUS OF VOICES
0:27:20 > 0:27:25...and you also are in breach of the Public Building...
0:27:25 > 0:27:29It just snowballed, and lots and lots of people were taken out -
0:27:29 > 0:27:33eventually, even the Headmaster of Winchester College!
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Here was a sort of pillar of respectability, and he had to go!
0:27:37 > 0:27:43We shall indeed treat you fairly in the civilised Winchester manner.
0:27:43 > 0:27:51But we cannot do that, sir, if we feel uneasy about the roots of our democracy.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01To everyone's surprise, the tactics worked.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04Major General Edge made an extraordinary announcement.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09For the first time, an inspector was prepared to consider whether the motorway was needed at all.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12He told the Ministry to think again.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15The protesters had won.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20The plans were shelved, and Winchester's water meadows were saved.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27Now there was a way of stopping motorways being built.
0:28:29 > 0:28:35Without George, the Archway Road would now be widened, and we would now have
0:28:35 > 0:28:39a great big motorway right through Islington.
0:28:41 > 0:28:48George has a piratical view of life. He doesn't take anything for granted.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52And he comes from Austria, from Vienna,
0:28:52 > 0:28:56so that he wasn't quite as squashed as a lot of English people are,
0:28:56 > 0:29:01surrounded by the walls of thought that they set up for themselves.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04He's a very free-thinking person.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06And he was indefatigable.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11If there ever is something like a Nazi government,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14which I suppose I experienced in my very young days,
0:29:14 > 0:29:19British bureaucrats will carry out that policy far better than the Nazis ever did, and for far longer.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24For people living here, it is a fact that Goering with his bombs
0:29:24 > 0:29:29was less their enemy than the Department of Transport, which is supposed to be working for us.
0:29:29 > 0:29:34In 1976, the Government intended to turn a two-mile section
0:29:34 > 0:29:37of the A1 running through North London into a motorway.
0:29:37 > 0:29:43Houses along the Archway Road were bought up so that they could be demolished.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45The most horrific aspect
0:29:45 > 0:29:50is this destruction of homes and the making of other homes, which are not being destroyed,
0:29:50 > 0:29:53largely untenable because they'll be next to a motorway.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55This is what I find so horrific.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01George and Nina had learned from events at Winchester,
0:30:01 > 0:30:05and knew that civil disobedience could scupper government plans.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10I was thrown out of the '76 inquiry,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13generally speaking, an outsider would say, because I was heckling.
0:30:13 > 0:30:19I would say I was trying to make a reasonable case, and not being allowed to by arbitrary rules.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24And the police were very sweet. They were very, very nice.
0:30:24 > 0:30:30The policeman who took my arm to escort me out, apologised, yes!
0:30:30 > 0:30:34The inspector there was a man with a conscience, and I think it rather weighed on him.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36It wasn't just our heckling of him.
0:30:36 > 0:30:42And as the inquiry went on over only about six days, he came in later and later and later.
0:30:42 > 0:30:47And then, finally, he didn't turn up at all. He just dumped it.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50That was one inspector got rid of.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54The inquiry was abandoned.
0:30:54 > 0:30:59But six months later the Ministry were back...
0:30:59 > 0:31:01with exactly the same scheme.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04The new inquiry was a sell-out.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07Of course, George and Nina were there.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10But this time, GLC Councillor Ken Livingstone was there.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12There's every chance now...
0:31:12 > 0:31:15Red Ted Knight, Leader of Lambeth Council, was there
0:31:15 > 0:31:18along with a host of other protesters.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20And all of them wanted to have their say.
0:31:20 > 0:31:26But they would be confronted by the finest legal mind that the Government could employ.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28Well, I was a barrister at the Planning bar,
0:31:28 > 0:31:32and if you were that sort of barrister you tended to get involved
0:31:32 > 0:31:35in motorway inquiries, one way or another.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38Michael Howard wouldn't get more than a few words out
0:31:38 > 0:31:40before a shout of, "Oily lawyer! ",
0:31:40 > 0:31:45to kind of distract him. Or, you know, I remember reporting him to the Bar Council at some stage.
0:31:45 > 0:31:52George and Nina's awkward squad was so unruly, the inspector couldn't control proceedings.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56So he withdrew to a small room to hear each witness.
0:31:56 > 0:32:02The protesters, frustrated at not being heard themselves, decided to invade.
0:32:02 > 0:32:03And there was a terrific tumult.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06Some people were hammering at the door to break it down,
0:32:06 > 0:32:09and they did, or they broke the locks, I suppose.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12When it seemed absolute mayhem was going to break out,
0:32:12 > 0:32:17the inspector went onto a fire escape outside the main inquiry hall.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19He was a plump little man, you know,
0:32:19 > 0:32:21and he was quite frightened.
0:32:21 > 0:32:27And I actually interposed myself to stop either Ted Knight or Ken Livingstone,
0:32:27 > 0:32:29I'm not sure I can remember which
0:32:29 > 0:32:34at this stage in time, from actually raining blows on this poor defenceless inspector!
0:32:39 > 0:32:43Local press described the inquiry as an Orwellian nightmare.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48But then, astonishingly, the engineers couldn't answer a basic question.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52How would the Archway motorway affect traffic on the surrounding roads?
0:32:52 > 0:32:55Wouldn't it simply move the congestion elsewhere?
0:32:55 > 0:33:03It was a fair point to make, that it didn't make as much sense as the department were arguing.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06Again, the inquiry was abandoned.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11But it would be another 15 years before George and Nina could finally stop protesting.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16It was when the Ministry started selling back the houses,
0:33:16 > 0:33:20in '93-'94 I think it was, that we realised we had really won.
0:33:20 > 0:33:26And, you know, curiously, most people remained unaware that there was anything very much going on.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30They were vaguely aware of the local paper saying there was some row going on,
0:33:30 > 0:33:34but that was about as far as most people's awareness of it goes.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36I always say, "That's what we did."
0:33:36 > 0:33:41And friends who visit me here, I always take them up to the Archway Bridge and show them.
0:33:41 > 0:33:47And I always say, "There should be a statue of George there, going like this."
0:33:53 > 0:33:59Protest against motorways at public inquiries was making a difference.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01The inquiry system
0:34:01 > 0:34:03changed a lot and started to elongate,
0:34:03 > 0:34:07and serious consideration was given to alternatives at that time,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11by both the people in the offices, and by ministers in particular.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15I mean, the change was so marked that, as far as I was concerned,
0:34:15 > 0:34:20where everything was popular in '72 and Ministers were dying to get round and open motorways,
0:34:20 > 0:34:26by 1976 I couldn't find anyone to open either M62 or York Bypass.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29No-one wanted to be associated with motorways.
0:34:31 > 0:34:37By the end of the decade, protest against road-building was merging with green politics.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42People were waking up to the idea of saving the planet.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46..but they're just nice creatures, they're nice.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48They wouldn't harm anyone, really.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50They're just to live.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54# Oh, the Greenpeace is a-sailin', they're crazy as hell
0:34:54 > 0:34:58# They'll be riding a big ocean in a hollowed-out shell
0:34:58 > 0:35:02# They'll probably get seasick or they'll probably go blind
0:35:02 > 0:35:06# They're probably on drugs or at least out of their mind. #
0:35:06 > 0:35:11The early '80s did see a change in the
0:35:11 > 0:35:14level of support for groups like Friends Of The Earth and Greenpeace.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17Greenpeace got lots of publicity
0:35:17 > 0:35:19due to the Save The Whale thing.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23The kind of romanticism of what they did,
0:35:23 > 0:35:28putting themselves on the line between the whalers and the whales,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31it fuelled people's imagination.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34And then people locally,
0:35:34 > 0:35:37involved in small campaigns, could start to see the linkages.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41For Joe Weston and his local Friends Of The Earth group,
0:35:41 > 0:35:46that link was made when the M40 was scheduled to run through an area of fenland called Otmoor,
0:35:46 > 0:35:48just to the west of Oxford.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50One of the local members said,
0:35:50 > 0:35:53"You know the route goes through
0:35:53 > 0:35:55"Britain's best butterfly wood, don't you?"
0:35:55 > 0:35:58And that was it, you know?
0:35:58 > 0:36:02That was something that would get people interested.
0:36:02 > 0:36:07Butterflies and bunny rabbits always do it for people.
0:36:07 > 0:36:0941 of Britain's 53 species have been recorded here,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12and Friends of the Earth campaigner Joe Weston wages
0:36:12 > 0:36:15an uphill struggle to save them from the M40.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17We've got some very, very rare butterflies here -
0:36:17 > 0:36:20the Purple Emperor and the Black Hairstreak -
0:36:20 > 0:36:23fast disappearing from British countryside,
0:36:23 > 0:36:26in danger of disappearing if the motorway's completed.
0:36:26 > 0:36:31But once we'd made those arguments, and we'd had the cameras out and the press out once,
0:36:31 > 0:36:36where do you go from there? What happens next?
0:36:36 > 0:36:39Friends Of The Earth have come up with a new ploy
0:36:39 > 0:36:42for making life difficult for the motorway planners.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45We decided to buy this field, and then
0:36:45 > 0:36:49sell it off in small plots to thousands of people,
0:36:49 > 0:36:52hopefully all over the world,
0:36:52 > 0:36:58- that would then completely- BLEEP- up their compulsory purchase process.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01But Joe needed publicity for his cunning plan.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04Lewis Carroll had been a regular visitor to Otmoor,
0:37:04 > 0:37:09and it was the inspiration for Through The Looking Glass.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11"For some minutes Alice stood without speaking,
0:37:11 > 0:37:14"looking out in all directions over the country.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17"And a most curious country it was.
0:37:17 > 0:37:19"There were a number of tiny little brooks
0:37:19 > 0:37:21"running straight across it from side to side.
0:37:21 > 0:37:26" 'I declare, it's marked out just like a large chessboard,' Alice said at last."
0:37:27 > 0:37:29And so Joe renamed his field,
0:37:29 > 0:37:33"Alice's Meadow".
0:37:33 > 0:37:36This wasn't any longer just wildlife,
0:37:36 > 0:37:40any longer just landscape. This was cultural heritage as well.
0:37:40 > 0:37:45'...home in the summer of many of Britain's rarest butterflies,
0:37:45 > 0:37:50'and a scene which, it's said, inspired Lewis Carroll's chessboard landscape in Alice.
0:37:50 > 0:37:52'The idea of turning all this...'
0:37:52 > 0:37:55'...could frustrate government efforts to complete the motorway.'
0:37:55 > 0:37:58One afternoon we had the BBC...
0:37:58 > 0:38:01The head of the DoT is the Minister of Transport.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04He's a member of a cabinet that can make laws.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06..ITV, Breakfast Television...
0:38:06 > 0:38:11If the route is approved, then notices will have to be served on all the landowners.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14We even had a crew that had flown in from Sidon.
0:38:14 > 0:38:19Israeli tanks had been shelling the hotel that they were in the day before.
0:38:19 > 0:38:24The next day, they'd flown to Otmoor to film this story for NBC.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28This spot of land where I'm standing belongs to Alex Warman
0:38:28 > 0:38:31of Oslo in Norway.
0:38:31 > 0:38:36And this one belongs to Alan Parker of Melbourne.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41This field has been divided into 3,000 separate plots.
0:38:41 > 0:38:46Friends Of The Earth have sold those plots to 3,000 different people from all over the world.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53We even were interviewed by the Tokyo Times. It was just amazing.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55We could have sold England.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57It was incredible!
0:39:00 > 0:39:04When the M40 was finally built, its route avoided Otmoor.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08And today it still remains untouched.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11In the early '80s, Friends of the Earth had 15,000 members.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15By the end of the decade, we had 100,000 supporters.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18That reflected, I think, the enormous increase in awareness
0:39:18 > 0:39:22about environmental issues, about ozone depletion, but also
0:39:22 > 0:39:24the concern there was for the countryside.
0:39:24 > 0:39:30I think it's no coincidence that the opening sequence in Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
0:39:30 > 0:39:36is the destruction of Earth to make way for an inter-space highway.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39Come off it, Mr Dent. You can't win, you know.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42You can't lie in front of the bulldozers indefinitely.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45I'm game. We'll see who rusts first.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49You're gonna have to accept it, you know. This bypass has got to be built,
0:39:49 > 0:39:50and it's gonna be built.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53- Nothing you can say or...- WHY's it got to be built?
0:39:53 > 0:39:56What do you mean, "Why has it got to be built?" It's a bypass.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58You've gotta build bypasses.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07At the start of the '80s, there was a new political agenda.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14And environmental campaigners would find themselves on a collision course
0:40:14 > 0:40:20- with a government committed to car ownership. - I find some people thinking
0:40:20 > 0:40:25of the environment really in quite a kind of airy-fairy way,
0:40:25 > 0:40:27like going back to village life.
0:40:27 > 0:40:34Well, there's some who might like it, but it really is quite impossible to do that.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38For Mrs Thatcher, motorways were crucial to generating wealth for the nation.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42Environmental concerns took a back seat, and for the first time in a decade
0:40:42 > 0:40:46a politician was proud to open a motorway.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50She announced that nothing could stop the great car economy.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53# D-D-Doin' up the house is me bread and butter
0:40:53 > 0:40:55# Me bird's page 3 and me car's a nutter
0:40:55 > 0:40:57# L-L-Loadsamoney is the shout I utter
0:40:57 > 0:40:59# As I wave my wad to the geezers in the gutter. #
0:41:02 > 0:41:08The Government is doubling its spending on building and improving major roads.
0:41:08 > 0:41:14There'll be £12 billion over the next ten years, much of it for widening existing motorways.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18In 1989, the Government published Roads For Prosperity.
0:41:18 > 0:41:23It announced that over 600 miles of motorway were to be widened across the country.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30The Minister Of Transport called it the biggest road-building programme since the Romans.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37It was a great, kind of, lobbying coup because all the roads
0:41:37 > 0:41:41we were calling for improvements, they were all in this list.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43It was a lobbyist's dream.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46You know, we couldn't have written that White Paper.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49So at the time, you know, it was an absolute delight.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53But perhaps we celebrated a bit too soon.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56'There are plans to widen almost all the M25
0:41:56 > 0:41:59and, on the sections between junctions 12 and 15,
0:41:59 > 0:42:03'there are plans for additional three-lane parallel link roads,
0:42:03 > 0:42:05turning it into a gigantic 14-lane highway.'
0:42:06 > 0:42:11And of course it was just one step too far, as far as the public were concerned.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15No-one that I ever talked to socially could ever believe
0:42:15 > 0:42:20that anyone in the department in their right mind could consider building 14 lanes.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26'The Department Of Transport's plan for the M3 extension
0:42:26 > 0:42:31'involves the excavation of a two-mile cutting 100 feet deep and 400 feet wide
0:42:31 > 0:42:35'across Twyford Down, disfiguring a Bronze Age village
0:42:35 > 0:42:39'and slicing through a designated area of outstanding natural beauty,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41'as well as a site of special scientific interest.'
0:42:41 > 0:42:43The destruction was immense.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47And I think what the Ministers didn't realise
0:42:47 > 0:42:49is that they were coming right up against their own constituency.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52The very people that had elected them were turning away,
0:42:52 > 0:42:57and saying, "No, this is not what we want for our country."
0:43:00 > 0:43:02I was a Conservative councillor.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06I used cars in the way that any comparatively modern mum
0:43:06 > 0:43:08would have done in those days.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12I had no view about motorways. They were a convenient method for getting from A to B,
0:43:12 > 0:43:16so I had no prejudices one way or the other about them.
0:43:16 > 0:43:22The prejudice started with the, what seemed to me at that time,
0:43:22 > 0:43:26totally irrational idea of taking the motorway
0:43:26 > 0:43:33straight through a completely undisturbed and extraordinarily special bit of chalk downland.
0:43:33 > 0:43:39The campaign against the M3 in the '70s had saved Winchester's water meadow.
0:43:39 > 0:43:45But when the engineers came back with a different route, to local residents it seemed just as bad.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47A unique resource,
0:43:47 > 0:43:54- absolutely- BLEEP. Absolutely lost forever by...
0:43:54 > 0:43:57em...lack of forethought,
0:43:57 > 0:44:02lack of courage, bureaucratic ineptitude, political expediency...
0:44:02 > 0:44:05You name it, it was there.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09Barbara had campaigned against the motorway for years.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11It's absolutely imperative
0:44:11 > 0:44:13that you walk the site.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16The heritage and the landscape backcloth
0:44:16 > 0:44:18of Winchester, which is
0:44:18 > 0:44:19England's ancient capital...
0:44:21 > 0:44:24We have a way to obviate the use of the public purse.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28...not just the M3, it's a range of road schemes,
0:44:28 > 0:44:30and that if the EC doesn't...
0:44:30 > 0:44:32But her campaign had little effect.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Frustrated with all the usual forms of protest, she eventually
0:44:36 > 0:44:40found herself chained to a fence alongside Friends Of The Earth.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43We were quite deep green radicals,
0:44:43 > 0:44:47and it took a while for us to realise that we had a common interest and a common culture,
0:44:47 > 0:44:50and we cared about the same things.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53But we were hopelessly naive about what was going to happen.
0:44:53 > 0:44:59We never realised, of course, all the people of Winchester had jobs to go to!
0:44:59 > 0:45:03They couldn't spend the time needed to actually prevent the road from being built.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07What happened very quickly was, a group of scruffy hippies
0:45:07 > 0:45:10from universities in England suddenly turned up.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12They were the ones with the time, with the passion,
0:45:12 > 0:45:15and could be there every day as was needed
0:45:15 > 0:45:17to make the protest work.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39I was at a Hawkwind gig in Brixton, an all-nighter,
0:45:39 > 0:45:43and I started chatting to the chap dancing next to me.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47And he said, "I've just come back from this place outside Winchester.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51"They're trying to put a road through it, there's people there."
0:45:51 > 0:45:54Sounded instantly like somewhere I needed to go.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57We've got graduates and people still at university.
0:45:57 > 0:45:58I left a year ago.
0:45:58 > 0:46:03We've got crafts people, we've got musicians, we've got artists.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06We've got a lot of very, very spiritual people here.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12I'd be in this dry lecture and I'd dash out,
0:46:12 > 0:46:16grab my rucksack, hitchhike down to Twyford Down and arrive at the camp,
0:46:16 > 0:46:19and something would have happened that morning.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26If my house was burning, I wouldn't write a letter
0:46:26 > 0:46:29and lobby my government. I'd bloody do something about it.
0:46:31 > 0:46:37Jason Torrance was a member of direct action group Earth First.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41They proposed a permanent camp directly in the line of the motorway.
0:46:41 > 0:46:43They became known as the Dongas,
0:46:43 > 0:46:47after the Iron Age tracks that ran across the Down.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50Well, how do you live like this?
0:46:50 > 0:46:53How do you really live like this and survive?
0:46:53 > 0:46:56We're cold and wet, it's not a joke, and we've no homes to go to now.
0:46:56 > 0:47:01There were moments where it was desperately grim, really dire.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05A lot of people got very ill from, you know, very poor hygiene.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08We'd be hunched around this little burner pitifully, you know,
0:47:08 > 0:47:14in this huge flapping tent, you know, with a goat in one corner.
0:47:14 > 0:47:21And bad stomach upsets, that kind of thing. It was quite hard to keep yourselves clean.
0:47:21 > 0:47:22I bloody hated the whole thing.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25I hated being in a tent. I hated being cold.
0:47:25 > 0:47:33My remaining memory is being constantly cold, and wet, and damp.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40'Some people might find this way of life rather strange,
0:47:40 > 0:47:43'but the Dongas already have the support of the Canon of Winchester
0:47:43 > 0:47:46'and dozens of well-wishers all over Hampshire.'
0:47:46 > 0:47:52The Bishop of Winchester Cathedral and all the kind of Women's Institute stalwarts came up the hill
0:47:52 > 0:47:56and had a church service on the Sunday, had a Sunday service
0:47:56 > 0:47:59in our camp. And we were all singing Jerusalem,
0:47:59 > 0:48:02this green and pleasant land, you know, dreadlocks waving,
0:48:02 > 0:48:06and there's, like, stout ladies in their tweed skirts, and the bishop.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10We've got our face paints on and he's doing his God thing,
0:48:10 > 0:48:14and it's, there's essentially the Monty Python nature
0:48:14 > 0:48:15of the British psyche, really!
0:48:15 > 0:48:19MUSIC: "Jerusalem" by William Blake
0:48:19 > 0:48:22Just indicates the anger that people
0:48:22 > 0:48:24express over what is being proposed.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26Devastation of this countryside is unacceptable.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34The first time I took direct action, people said, "Right, there's bulldozers.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37"They're right here, right now. Come on, chop-chop."
0:48:37 > 0:48:42And I just grabbed a tambourine and a drum or something and ran down the hill with all the others,
0:48:42 > 0:48:46and thought, "Oh, here we go, here we go, here we GO!" And ran onto this work site.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49And I just saw these incredibly brave people running out
0:48:49 > 0:48:52at these dumper trucks with wheels taller than me.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54And I thought, "I can't do this."
0:48:54 > 0:48:57So I kind of stood at the side drumming for a little while
0:48:57 > 0:48:59but, the next day, walked out in front of a bulldozer,
0:48:59 > 0:49:03looked at the driver, who just gave me a big smile, and that was it.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06Stopped and turned off the engine, and that was that.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11It was all very well standing in front of machines,
0:49:11 > 0:49:16but Earth First were proposing a far more dangerous form of direct action.
0:49:16 > 0:49:21All Jason Torrance needed was a volunteer.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23I suggested the plan,
0:49:23 > 0:49:26held up the the D-Lock and said, "Now, who is going to
0:49:26 > 0:49:28attach themselves to the machinery?"
0:49:31 > 0:49:33Total silence.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35And I just said, "Look, I'll do it."
0:49:35 > 0:49:41'Another demonstrator had used a bicycle lock around his neck and fixed himself to the axle.'
0:49:41 > 0:49:45Now, it's unfortunate that this kind of radical action has to be taken.
0:49:45 > 0:49:50But I feel it's really necessary to save sites of special scientific interest.
0:49:50 > 0:49:55I'd just done an interview on Sky News.
0:49:55 > 0:50:01Everyone was moved away out of the system and they turned the machinery on.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05Turn it off! TURN IT OFF!
0:50:05 > 0:50:10- And just one word entered my head at that time, which was- BLEEP!
0:50:12 > 0:50:16'The onlookers became enraged when the crane suddenly burst into life
0:50:16 > 0:50:18'with a demonstrator still shackled underneath.
0:50:18 > 0:50:23- 'They feared for his life.' - At that moment, it really became apparent to me,
0:50:23 > 0:50:26you know, that I was prepared to die for this cause.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30STUDENTS ARGUE WITH POLICE
0:50:33 > 0:50:36'The police did insist that the vehicle WAS turned off.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40'And they decided to try and find the key to that bicycle lock.
0:50:40 > 0:50:42'So they started to undress the man.
0:50:42 > 0:50:47'And, luck upon luck, they found it on a chain around his neck.'
0:50:47 > 0:50:51Some of the actions taken by the protesters were pretty extreme.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54I remember one particular protester
0:50:54 > 0:50:55holding a very young child,
0:50:55 > 0:50:59standing in front of this extremely large bulldozer.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03And it was an extremely dangerous thing to do.
0:51:04 > 0:51:10I just couldn't contemplate how he would do it.
0:51:10 > 0:51:16That was why extreme actions had to be taken regarding security on-site
0:51:16 > 0:51:18to actually progress the work.
0:51:21 > 0:51:26After nine months of disruption, the government had had enough.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29They decided to take action themselves.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31It was about five, six in the morning.
0:51:31 > 0:51:35I was woken up suddenly by a guy saying, "Quick, quick, out of bed now!
0:51:35 > 0:51:39There's a hundred guys in yellow jackets crawling all over the Dongas!
0:51:39 > 0:51:42"I think they're here to do surveying!"
0:51:42 > 0:51:48You could see this kind of, like, yellow shimmer. And I was, like,
0:51:48 > 0:51:51- "What the- BLEEP- is that?" And it was a- BLEEP- great army.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55It became known as Yellow Wednesday because they all wore yellow jackets.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58And these guys were just all over the place.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02And they were circling the machines, to bring in the machines.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05It was like the Romans were coming, it really was!
0:52:05 > 0:52:07"Oh, my God. This is it, this is it!"
0:52:07 > 0:52:09And then it all just went pear-shaped.
0:52:09 > 0:52:14It was just everyone doing their utmost to defend that land.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18Through passive resistance, through throwing ourselves in front of the machines,
0:52:18 > 0:52:22from climbing on top of the diggers to lying down in front of the security guards -
0:52:22 > 0:52:27anything we could think of to try and slow down the pace of work.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31We were outnumbered, like, three to one, four to one? I don't know.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34Plus they were like three times our size, most of them,
0:52:34 > 0:52:38and it got very, very rough very, very quickly.
0:52:40 > 0:52:45The security guards were almost going out of their way to hurt us as much as possible.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48They would grab you by your hair - I had long hair at the time -
0:52:48 > 0:52:55grab you by clumps of hair, and drag you over flints, through hawthorn, through brambles, you know.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59Throw you onto metal, that kind of thing. Just deliberate violence.
0:52:59 > 0:53:06The media-savvy Dongas quickly alerted the press, and by lunchtime Yellow Wednesday was news.
0:53:06 > 0:53:12'50 private security guards and around 30 members of the so-called Dongas tribe fought over land.'
0:53:12 > 0:53:14I can't believe I'm in England.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18I mean, if you showed pictures like this from Romania or Russia
0:53:18 > 0:53:24you'd say, "Oh, terrible." But those are John Major's bullyboys,
0:53:24 > 0:53:27that's the only thing you would say.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31The camp was destroyed.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34Rebecca and Jason were banned from entering the site.
0:53:38 > 0:53:44But the following May they returned to the Down to protest again.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46By this time, the site looked completely different.
0:53:46 > 0:53:51The cutting for the motorway had been done, leaving white chalk exposed.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54Rebecca and Jason were soon arrested, and ended up in court.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01One by one, we all stood up and made our statements, and I don't think it made
0:54:01 > 0:54:02much impression on the judge!
0:54:02 > 0:54:07And he said, "You have been quick to snatch the martyr's crown.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10"I think you'll find it uncomfortable headgear."
0:54:10 > 0:54:14And promptly sent us all to prison for 28 days.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18I was staggered, I was absolutely staggered.
0:54:18 > 0:54:23All we did was dance on Twyford Down and take part in a peaceful demonstration,
0:54:23 > 0:54:27and we were sent to prison.
0:54:33 > 0:54:39The M3 through Twyford Down was eventually built, but it opened with little fanfare.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42I try and go there as little as possible.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46I'd certainly never drive through it, just on principle.
0:54:46 > 0:54:52I remember taking a train journey once with Rebecca,
0:54:52 > 0:54:56and it was almost like the first time we'd seen it.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58We couldn't really bear to look at it.
0:54:58 > 0:55:04It was a scar in the landscape, and in us.
0:55:06 > 0:55:12Twyford Down had become national news, inspiring a wave of direct action.
0:55:16 > 0:55:21It seemed every major road scheme now had its own protest.
0:55:21 > 0:55:26'Government road plans have infuriated and united the environmental movement.'
0:55:26 > 0:55:29Homes not roads! Homes not roads!
0:55:29 > 0:55:32About a dozen people have been arrested in an operation
0:55:32 > 0:55:35to move anti-road protesters from the Newbury Bypass.
0:55:35 > 0:55:41A 250-year-old chestnut tree in East London which had stood in the way of a motorway extension
0:55:41 > 0:55:45has been cut down. In the end, it took 200 policemen and 20 arrests...
0:55:45 > 0:55:49Other environmental protests blocked the road to stop a crane reaching the site.
0:55:49 > 0:55:55As the morning progressed... The police have been struggling to evict nearly 300 protesters from houses
0:55:55 > 0:55:59in East London due to be demolished for a link road to the M11 motorway.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02Several demonstrators were arrested.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05The operation has cost more than £150,000.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08Swampy has been underground for more than 160 hours,
0:56:08 > 0:56:12the longest time a road protester has ever spent in a tunnel.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14I feel it's the only way to get a voice these days.
0:56:14 > 0:56:19I mean, if I wrote a letter to my MP would I have achieved all this?
0:56:19 > 0:56:21Would you lot be here now?
0:56:22 > 0:56:27After Twyford Down, things did change.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30I lived in liberal leftie Islington,
0:56:30 > 0:56:32so you didn't really want to say
0:56:32 > 0:56:36down the pub or at a dinner party, "Yes, I work for the road lobby."
0:56:36 > 0:56:39"Oh, I work in transport." Or something like that.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43There's no doubt the road protests have had an influence,
0:56:43 > 0:56:47and kind of turned people against motorway building.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58When Labour came to power in 1997, it was immediately apparent
0:56:58 > 0:57:02that the new government had no appetite for motorways.
0:57:02 > 0:57:07Public transport requires a greater priority.
0:57:07 > 0:57:12I demand, the public demands, that you provide a public service network
0:57:12 > 0:57:16that people can rely on, and can afford.
0:57:16 > 0:57:21So within four years we've gone from 600 road schemes down to 150,
0:57:21 > 0:57:26and a new government saying, "No more road building." By anyone's standards,
0:57:26 > 0:57:28that's a very successful campaign.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34Rebecca Lush now works for the campaign group Transport 2000.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37This is my job, this is my life at the moment.
0:57:37 > 0:57:42Doctor Alex Plows is now an academic specialising in Environmental Politics.
0:57:42 > 0:57:47George Stern and Nina Tuckman have continued to campaign against various road schemes.
0:57:47 > 0:57:53Joyce, Sue, John, and Betty didn't protest again.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57I was young and angry and chaining myself to anything that moved.
0:57:57 > 0:58:03I am now Campaigns Director of Transport 2000.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06You know, one of those professional experts.
0:58:06 > 0:58:10Jason's organisation Transport 2000 agree with the Government
0:58:10 > 0:58:15that motorway charging could be the way forward to reduce traffic.
0:58:15 > 0:58:19But when this was recently debated there was a huge outcry,
0:58:19 > 0:58:26and Tony Blair ended up having to reply to over 1.7 million individuals that had protested.
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0:58:31 > 0:58:34E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk