High drama as tree lovers rooted out

In scenes reminiscent of the environmental roads protests of the 1990s, dozens of police and trained eviction officials swarmed at first light on to the woodland site of the proposed A68 Dalkeith northern bypass on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

More than a decade after the drawn-out battles over the infamous Newbury bypass, the flashpoint this time was parkland which campaigners say will be lost if the road scheme, already approved, goes ahead.

There was no Swampy this time, but his spirit was present among those who were eventually brought to ground yesterday by climbing experts wearing hard hats and using cranes.

It was nearly nine hours before the last of four entrenched protesters was safely removed from a series of perches and boltholes.

The protesters had been living in the trees since October.

Last night, work to fell the occupied trees in the line of the bypass was being carried out, with the task expected to continue today.

Further similar evictions at three other nearby sites where about 16 more protesters are holding out are expected to be carried over the coming weeks.

Officials who carried out the eviction operation at Langside, just outside Dalkeith Park, said the day's task had gone according to plan and without major incident.

"The last of the four protesters was taken away from the site at 4:50pm and now work to fell the trees can begin," a spokeswoman for Transport Scotland, the new national transport agency dealing with the A68 project, said.

"No-one was hurt or injured during the course of the day," she added.

Last night, campaign groups who had supported the protesters, along with opposition politicians, urged the Scottish Executive to reappraise the need for the scheme.

Matters came to a head yesterday morning when police and members of the National Eviction Team - which has dealt with similar protests in other parts of the UK - arrived to serve warrants.

When the warrants were served, one of the four protesters left the site voluntarily. Another was removed from the treetops, while a third man was being brought down.

The fourth protester, who was under a metal plate under the ground, was the last to leave after darkness.

Lothian and Borders Police said last night that four men had been arrested.

Earlier, a 43-year-old protester from Midlothian, who gave his name only as Fudge, said the demonstrators realised that they were about to be evicted when Swansea-registered vans of the National Eviction Team (NET) were spotted in Dalkeith town centre at the weekend.

He said: "We always knew we would get evicted; it's a foregone conclusion. But as long as we have done all that we can do to raise awareness about what's going on, then it's worth it.

"I'm just a local man forced into direct action."

Five oak trees at the Langside site need to be cut down to make way for the bypass.

A spokeswoman for Transport Scotland explained: "The reason this is being done now is environmental. It is outwith the bird-breeding season, so it is the best time to take them down."

But protesters fear that the road will destroy a large part of Dalkeith Park - an area of more than 1,000 acres of woodland and farmland.

They argue that it is a haven for wildlife enthusiasts, cyclists, anglers, horse-riders, walkers and others, and they claim it is visited by as many as 50,000 people every year.

By cutting the park in two, they say that the new Dalkeith northern bypass will endanger the wildlife there.

However, Transport Scotland was stressing yesterday that the bypass would not go through the formal part of the park.

The spokeswoman said: "The bypass has been wanted locally for a number of years. Without it, about 800 heavy goods vehicles a day will continue to go through the centre of Dalkeith, so there are environmental, congestion and noise issues locally.

"A lot of investigation was done before the route was chosen, but the route has to go through the park at some point to give any benefit to Dalkeith."

However, after the evictions there were calls for a rethink over the scheme. Colin Fox, the Lothians MSP and leader of the Scottish Socialist Party, backed the protesters.

He said: "Despite the actions today, the basic demand of the protesters remains - that the proposed route of the bypass should be reassessed in the context of the changing profile of the transport network and the value of Dalkeith Park as a natural and recreational resource."

Mark Ballard, a Green MSP for the Lothians, described the new bypass as a "prime example of the Executive's poor planning and reckless use of public money".

The Langside site was being secured last night to ensure that more protesters do not attempt to climb the trees again.

The protests at Twyford Down and Newbury in the 1990s first brought the actions of so-called eco-warriors to the attention of the public.

The disobedience that marked the "Third Battle of Newbury" in 1996 involved a thousand people living in trees, down holes or in rudimentary camps along the route, while the authorities tried to force them out.

They were evicted dramatically by an army of several thousand police, 2,000 security guards, professional climbers, private detectives, bailiffs, sheriffs and others, who were employed by the then Conservative government at a cost of more than 6 million.