Aberdeen: Landlocked by the Sea
I’ve just got back from a day up in Aberdeen, protesting the ‘window-dressing’ consultation into the Aberdeen Western Periphery Road (AWPR) with some other Greens, Friends of the Earth-ers, and local campaigners. As background for those who mightn’t know what this is, the AWPR was best described to me as a join-the-dots of SSSIs around Aberdeen. The new road is planned to carry north-south traffic around Aberdeen, avoiding the city centre. Unfortunately, while there are plenty of other alternative choices to building a new road, the Scottish Government has decided that the road is necessary, and so the consultation which started today, only has a remit to investigate changes to the route, and the technical aspects of the road, not whether it should exist. Hence the Greens are not taking part, instead, we’re highlighting the way the consultation is just a pretty front to a done deal.
There is hope though. Road Sense, a local campaign group who don’t want to see the road built, are mounting a legal challenge, based on the European Union Habitats directive, which should require that the Government consider alternatives to the road.
Hopefully, sense will prevail, but whatever happens, it was a fun day-trip to Aberdeen, and we certainly got some press interest, with most national outlets of radio, TV and newspapers present. And in case you’re wondering, the title to this post is based on something one of the supporters of the road said in an early morning interview on BBC Radio Scotland: “Aberdeen is landlocked on one side by the sea, and on the other by a hinterland”.
Update
Two Doctors
provided me with this photo of the photographers and us at the
protest.
