South Downs may be focus for protest

One road scheme which could provoke serious environmental protests is a plan proposes new bypasses at Arundel and Hastings.

This would involve turning the congested A27, running through the protected South Downs national park, into a major dual carriageway. The road is a notorious daily blackspot for commuters.

It is also a serious bottleneck for thousands of tourists who flock to the area in the summer months, reducing a network of connecting roads in the area to a crawl.

Environmentalists, however, are likely to object as the road runs through historic areas of countryside highly prized for their scenic beauty.

The Government will be desperate to avoid clashes with committed activists such as "Swampy" - so-called "king of the eco-warriors".

It is still nervous of provoking the kind of confrontations that created ugly scenes at Twyford Down and the Newbury bypass in the late Nineties.