Join us on The Walks, under our beautiful limes, at The Embankment from 8am this Thursday. North Northamptonshire Council has urged the contractors to stop the chop until Friday, but haven’t made them. We could lose the lot before they do, let’s ensure that we don’t lose any more…
Wednesday was an emphatic win for local residents. With the heroics of Marly who took his place in the branches of the same tree Paul occupied at 6am; Lilly who rooted herself to the base of another just as officers tried to clear the site, and many others holding the police to their word to wait for the outcome of talks; the protesters held off the contractors again for another day. No one was arrested apart from Marly, who was also un-arrested after he was assured that no work could take place.
Marion Turner-Hawes and our barrister Paul Powesland held talks with Council leader Jason Smithers about the legalities of felling the trees, and the police on site agreed to wait for the outcome of this meeting before arresting people to clear the ‘workspace’. A little unfortunate for them the meeting lasted much longer than expected.
Marion arrived on site at 1:30 to brief police and protesters that NNC are asking the contractors to pause their felling so that the leader and MP can meet on Friday with the developer to assess the legalities of chopping down the historic limes. Click here to read more in the Northants Telegraph
But just as you might think that common sense has prevailed, Northants Police issue a statement to intimidate protesters from the footpath. Police have so far arrested six protesters, click here to read more in the Northants Telegraph.
So Thursday is another day, and almost the only guarantee is surprises. These, if last Thursday is anything to go buy might not bode well for our lovely limes (the contractors felled twelve last Thursday) but this week feels very different and the people are saving our trees! We’ve only lost one this week, join us from 8am on The Walks to ensure that we don’t lose any more.