Road protestors picket East Sussex County Council offices

On Tuesday morning (February 12), a group of protestors with branches and foliage, gathered at County Hall in Lewes.

They delivered the tree following a demonstration outside.

Gabriel Carlyle, a spokesperson for the Combe Haven Defenders, one of the groups opposed to the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road, said: “Today, the trees of Combe Haven have come back to haunt East Sussex County Council, just as this environmentally-disastrous £100m Road will come back to haunt the Council unless it does an urgent rethink.”

Kathryn Langley, ESCC spokeswoman, said: “We recognise the protesters don’t like these plans, but they need to recognise this has followed the proper democratic process and has been subjected to legal challenge through the courts.

“This road is absolutely vital in terms of regenerating one of the most deprived parts of the south east, and it’s essential for that community, and the rest of East Sussex, that it’s delivered as soon as possible.”

Also on Tuesday, four protestors, including Natalie Hynde, daughter of Pretenders founder Chrissie Hynde and Kinks frontman Ray Davies, appeared before Hastings magistrates charged with aggravated trespass and obstructing an officer engaged to execute a High Court writ.

Hynde, 30, of Hastings, along with other local residents Patrick Nicholson,48, Rosa Canadas, 33, and Simon Medhurst,54, pleaded not guilty, and were given conditional bail pending a case management hearing on March 6, and ordered not to enter the area of the link road.