WALKING THE ROUTE
4th September 2005
TSLM members strode out in the blazing sun last weekend to follow the route the dreaded bypass would take if LCC plans go ahead.
Starting at Broadoak Corner in Torrisholme.... ....in our bright orange T shirts, adults and young people enjoyed a peaceful walk..... ....past Lancaster & Morecambe crematorium, where the road would tower 25 feet above. We walked under the main railway line, and were aghast to see how the road would soar 43 feet high to clear it. We sauntered down quiet Folley lane and along the beautiful Lancaster Canal, past moorhens and herons: the road would fly 21 feet over the quiet water. Continuing through to Slyne, we gathered for a picnic lunch on a hillside beside Beaumont Gate Farm. This beautiful countryside, with views across to Clougha and Lancaster’s Ashton Memorial, will be devastated if the monster road is built.
We formed a circle on farmland where a 65-metre roundabout would be constructed for traffic coming off the proposed link road. The farm is edged by hedges, which would be part of the 11 kilometres of hedgerow to be uprooted for the road. Just yards from where we stood, buzzards are nesting; these birds will be among the wildlife at risk if the planners aren’t stopped.
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TSLM chair David Gate said there were over 1,000 houses within 200 metres of the proposed route. ‘It is a year since Lancashire County Council voted to press ahead with this road. Today we’ve seen for ourselves just what a monstrous road it is,’ he added.
Among the campaigners was a schoolteacher who spoke fondly about the childhood she had enjoyed in the Beaumont area, and how important the fields and country lanes still are to her and her family. They have become active protesters in a desperate attempt to hold onto the landscape they hold dear.
Several walkers spoke about the utter pointlessness of the council’s road plan, which will do little to alleviate traffic flow through Lancaster and Morecambe.
This huge sacrifice of the area’s outstanding natural beauty will, if allowed to happen, be entirely in vein.