28th June, 2006
TONY Cox from West Shoebury made a number of unsubstantiated claims in recent local press, regarding Southend road protest site Camp Bling.
Drawing comparisons to Travellers has no relevance, as, in the main, we are local people who have been a part of the five-year campaign to stop the controversial and hugely unwanted Priory Crescent road widening.
We work hard to keep the impacts from our camp as low as possible. All living structures are removable and, as we have already stated, will be taken down by us when we finally leave the site that we are currently living on to protect.
Meanwhile, road F5 is set to become, quite incredibly, one of the most expensive stretches of tarmac in the world, at up to almost £21million (latest cost) for the 870-metre length of carriageway.
A lot of time, money and effort could be saved if the scheme was dropped, as people repeatedly tell us, when we run public engagement points in the High Street, attend meetings, and talk to visitors at Camp Bling itself.
By inferring that those who support us are encouraging an illegal act is nothing more than scaremongering. If he feels that this will put people off then he should think again, as the visiting public have been amazing - including the hundreds turning up for the recent opening of our dedicated visitor centre - ever since we occupied the site on September 23.
Mr Cox mentions no doubt with ome pride, that courage and conviction are needed to take tough decisions in the best interests of our town. In this case the decision is a simple one: cancel road F5 and preserve the East Saxon king's burial site as the people of Southend demand.
Shaun Qureshi
Campaigner - Parklife
Camp Bling, King's Burial, Priory Crescent,
Southend