Forced Out

Protestors at the Brecon campsite against the gas pipeline being laid across Wales have been evicted following a court order against them about ten days go granting the National Grid immediate possesion of the occupied land and shutting down their protest camp in the pipeline's route. Even the news that an ancient Roman road has been found in the pipeline's path won't appear to halt it any further - the prevailing mood seems to be that we simply have to hope for the best that the National Grid will take care of ecological and archaeological concerns.

The issue of tunnelling across a national park was brought up at last month's Hay-on-Wye festival - the pipeline, of course, coming close to the iconic town on its way to Gloucestershire. Apparently the subject caught Environment Secretary David Miliband off-balance, which goes some way to show how much the issue has registered in London-centric political circles. That said, though, hardly a peep out of the Cardiff-based political junkies either...

UPDATE (19/06): It seems I was slightly premature in remarking on the eviction of the protestors at the Brecon campsite. The last I had heard from them was two weeks ago just after the eviction notice had been served, when they expected to be turfed out in the next day or so, but today the BBC reports that the eviction has finally begun today, with six arrests made. Police, in support of High Court enforcement officers, have moved on to the site to dismantle it and remove protestors on charges of trespass and failing to comply with the court order.