The organisers are striving to exploit and improve the Brownfield sites, while respecting and preserving the Greenfield areas.

The Brownfield site (underdeveloped, derelict or contaminated land), in this case the Lower Lea Valley in London, will house the Olympic Village and the area will post-games become the biggest new park in the city.

The Greenfield sites (area which has not been used for non-agricultural development) such as Hackney Marshes and London Fields will be used sympathetically, meaning that nothing permanent or damaging will be built in these areas.

Also 2012 will be ‘car free’ (except for disabled vehicles), construction will minimise pollution, waste and wildlife habitats will be protected.  In addition to this, the organisers are conscious of taking every opportunity to educate Londoners about the importance of sustainable development.

Green Olympics

The road has been heavily contested on the grounds that it will irrevocably scar an area of outstanding natural beauty. Protestors also contend that the road, which is intended to provide better transport links for the UK sailing venue for forthcoming Olympic games, is unnecessary when taking into account the huge carbon footprint it will generate and that Weymouth’s infrastructure will be unable to cope with the extra traffic the road will create.

David Score, project manager for Oxford Archaeology, called the find ‘remarkable’ saying “We have counted 45 skulls so far, these are in one section of the pit, and several torsos and leg bones in separate sections of the pit. It is rare to find a burial site like this one.” 

Experts think that the skulls are predominately those of young men. “At the moment we don’t fully understand how or why the remains have come to be deposited in the pit but it seems highly likely that some kind of catastrophic event such as war, disease or execution has occurred.”

At present it doesn’t look as though this momentous find will impact upon Dorset County Council’s highways project. Mass demonstrations, eco campers living in the trees and continued impassioned pleas from locals and supporters of the campaign Bypass the Bypass have so far been unsuccessful to halt works.

Explaining Natural England’s objections to the Weymouth Relief Roacd scheme, Rebecca Lush pointed out that the organization is a statutory environmental body with a duty to protect Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including investigating proposed road schemes. She emphasized that with a limited budget Natural England could ill afford to object to road schemes unnecessarily.

Natural England contracted out the examination and analysis of the Weymouth Relief Road scheme to the research body Transport Research Laboratory. Their findings were that ‘the traffic case for the scheme did not add up – that the road simply would not work, by dumping more traffic into the town. It would actually increase congestion in Weymouth. They advised Natural England that the scheme was therefore not a justified intrusion into the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.’

The crucial point here is that Natural England’s objection is based upon hard analytic evidence undertaken by a professional and impartial body. The fact remains, that the findings of the TRL clearly state that ‘the road scheme will not work on its own terms.’

As Rebecca Lush very neatly concludes and not without a hint of irony; “The national taxpayer will be paying anywhere between £77m and £100m to destroy nationally important natural assets for a road scheme that won’t even work, and will increase traffic, congestions and CO2 in an era when we must do all we can to move towards a low carbon economy. This is irresponsible and unacceptable.”

I could not agree more – estimated in Dorset County Council’s Environmental Statement that the additional traffic generated will increase CO2 emissions by 2347 tonnes, it seems ludicrous that this scheme even got the go ahead, let alone that as I type this, the above mentioned Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are being destroyed.
 
For more information and to read Rebecca Lush’s speech in full visit:

Bypass The Bypass website at: www.bypassthebypass.org
You can also register your support and/or make a donation at the above address

The road has long been a topic of great contention with protesters desperately trying to make their case heard. Proposed construction by Skanska, is due to commence at the beginning of 2010 and will cut a deep wound in the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs, destroy ancient woodland and of course contribute significantly to rising CO2 levels. The question is – is this damage worth it for a brief stint in the global limelight in the summer of 2012?

The website for The Campaign to Protect Rural England summarized this neatly saying; ‘So much for a “Green Olympics” when the 2012 event is used to justify environmental destruction and increased carbon emissions on this scale.’ For more info visit http://www.cpre.org.uk/news/view/386

The Skanska Construction contract is due to be completed at County Hall on Wednesday 13th June.