Costain v the Earth: The battle for St David's Wood, Blackwood, Gwent

by Lucy Michaels

What would you do if you had a £54 million regeneration grant to develop a small ex-mining town in South Wales? Give it to a major construction firm to build a road that no one wants, of course.

"I got involved two weeks ago because this road is coming right by my house. But now I realise that its about more than just my house. It's about the system that has allowed this road to be built. It's about capitalism."

"It's not the bailiffs I have a problem with, although they have been pretty rough with the girls, it's Costain, who are consistently breaking the law."

"My nan told me that they were coming to destroy the woods. These are our woods, where we hang out and play."

Quotes from local teenagers

As we arrive on Friday afternoon, there's clearly a stand-off between the kids and the bailifs. The kids, in their baggy jeans and Ozzy Osbourne sweatshirts, are still up the trees or clinging on to the fallen branches. The fat bailiffs in their yellow flouros and white hardhats are standing around a flatbed, mobile phones in hand. In his cab, the man operating the giant Caterpillar 'trash grapple', has put his feet up. The police and local dog walkers are watching from a safe distance.

And then the giant machine swings around towards the compound and rumbles home. Like a dragon, defeated, crawling back to its lair. Again, today, Costain have barely been able to touch the woodland.

For eleven years, environmental campaigners have been fighting the two mile 'feeder road' which passes through five acres of ancient semi-natural woodland and right by residential areas, to provide a new access road to industrial developments at Blackwood. These industrial developments include Nordam, a company which provides military aircraft overhaul and repair. Despite 4500 written objections from locals, Caerphilly County Borough Council pushed ahead with the private finance initiative (PFI) scheme with multinational building contractors, Costain.

After local poet, Patrick Jones, brother of Manic Street Preachers lyricist, Nicky Wire, put out a call for poems to be pinned to the trees in mid-January, some local activists went down to have a look and stumbled upon, and managed to halt the first day of felling. Soon more local people got involved as experienced activists shared their skills at stopping tree felling and building tree defences.

Costain and Caerphilly Borough Council retaliated with a High Court civil injunction against any person entering or remaining in the woodland under the so-called 'Harry Potter ruling'. This is the first time the 'Harry Potter ruling', which does relate to a case involving books about the famous boy-wizard, has been used against protestors. It can be contested in court, and it may well be illegal under the Human Rights Act.

Campaigners, in response, highlighted the presence of hibernating dormice in the woodland. Dormice are
protected by law and should be 'relocated' before work continues. The Welsh Assembly made Costain stop work on site pending an application for granting a licence to move the dormice. In response, Costain fenced off areas where it said the dormice were living, and have continued work around it. As 1000 meters of dormice habitat has already been trashed, criminal proceedings are in the process of being started against whoever signed the order to start work.

The road is also under review at the European Commission - the Enforcement and Implementation of the law for conservation section- over the bat habitats en route. Now the dormice habitat information has been added to this review.

Walking through the beautiful and irreplaceable ancient woodland on the outskirts of Blackwood, it's hard not to be overwhelmed by sadness and rage. This woodland is doomed for woodchip so that privileged commuters can drive their fast cars to the local industrial estate quicker. And the hibernating dormice and the bat colonies and other animals that make their homes here; the kids that camp and play here; the families that walk their dogs here and everyone whose lives are enriched by this beauty and serenity... sacrificed for corporate profit and a few jobs.

After the anti-roads campaigns of the mid-1990's and a war that was so clearly being fought over oil, it may seem disheartening to old-timers that we are still fighting the same battle. But something extraordinary is happening in Blackwood. In two weeks, this camp has sprung out of nowhere and local people have become empowered to take direct action against a proposed road that is so obviously wrong. People are making the connections and starting to take back power, and finding, that in fact, its not difficult to be effective. Costain's budget for dealing with protesters was £30,000. Rough estimates from the protesters themselves are that they've already cost them over £200,000... and counting.

Latest update:

BLACKWOOD COURT CASE:  WEEK'S ADJOURNMENT

VERY TEMPORARY REPRIEVE FROM EVICTION  RED ALERT- LET'S MAKE THE MOST OF IT!!
Hooray, Blackwood (St Davids Woods) has got a temporary reprieve- a week's adjournment on the
possession / eviction case to give us time to get our defence together. The camps, and the ancient woodland they protect are safe for the next few days so we have time to get the treehouses up!!

Long and tangled legal blah, basically we are fronting it out with the section 6 (and the Harry Potter injunction can just disappear up its own Hogwart, or something) and at the moment without legal representation.

Friendly lawyers give us a ring!
 
ENGAGE WITH THE STATE!!
Here, now - come and get em! Despite more machines and manpower being hired, it is still possible, not to say easy, to stop work with a relatively small bunch of activists - SO COME DOWN AND HAVE A GO!!  Work is being stopped daily, if sporadically, by camp dwellers, local kids and visitors though Costain are crashing on and trashing trees on other parts of the route, (and trashing us when they think no-one's looking) including a bat habitat (thanks to local pressure, the police were taking photos of this as evidence of Costain's illegal activity- but what we need is a high court writ to stop them working at all, given that they are patently in breach of just about every guideline / law going.  More legal help needed!!!).
 
ST DAVIDS DAY IN ST DAVID'S WOODS
Monday, March 1st - we are networking this as a rally and general open day up in the camps/ woods for locals - but it can also be a DAY OF ACTION and would probably inspire more locals to get into stopping work.
 
Come and stay for the weekend, build defences, and stop work on Monday morning!
THANKS TO THE POSSES FROM ELSEWHERE WHO HAVE COME DOWN TO HELP SAVE THE WOODS¦XXX
 
Please network this info everyhere- download text and photos to take to work, college- cc it to other lists- etc etc.
 
CONTACT DETAILS: phone 07952 774525/ 07708 420 446
BASIC DIRECTIONS-  Bus to Blackwood from Cardiff or Newport (closer).  St David's Wood visible on skyline on right hand side of valley (if you are coming from Cardiff - on left hand side if coming from the north)

It's a 15 minute walk from Blackwood High Street (see directions below).

Driving - along high street, find the Asda on right hand side of road. Take the back road. Go straight on at a couple of roundabouts - find the Rock and Fountain pub. Take the road up the hill past the pub up to old railway line. Walk left along track. Follow the yellow jackets trail of destruction, camps on the right in lovely trees. Better directions exist on other postings but it's not that hard to find, honest!