Letter: Divided by a bypass: the Batheaston-Swainswick protest

Sir: Your article on the Swainswick-Batheaston bypass (21 May) was misleading in that it gave the unfair impression that the majority of protesters were Luddites or were against the scheme. Everyone would agree that the long-

suffering people of Batheaston badly need a bypass. The objection is the unnecessary construction of a four-lane highway destroying the community of Bailbrook and the slopes of Solsbury Hill.

It is not a simple Batheaston bypass that is cause for concern but the 'hidden agenda' of a Euroroute and the construction of a small section of road at vast cost that will do nothing to solve the enormous traffic problems of the city of Bath and its environs.

Until we have the courage to adopt a sane transport policy, I will continue to support the increasing numbers of articulate protesters as they gather at further anti-social road building sites.

Yours sincerely,

ALAN ASHWORTH

Bath,

Avon

21 May