The police have launched a full eviction attempt at the Bodge House squat in Shipley, Derbyshire. The house is located on the site of a proposed open cast coal mine.
Update Thursday 14th August: The last 2 protestors were evicted from the tunnel at about 2:30am, and have been handed over to the cops. UK Coal has already pulled Prospect Farm down, leaving us with no option but protest day trips to the site!
Update Sunday 10th August: Eviction is still ongoing at Bodge House, in Derbyshire. This is the 4th day of the operation and 4 people were arrested earlier today. The house is very heavily barricaded and 2-3 people are still reported to be inside. 4 vans of police and bailiffs still in attendence.
Update Friday 8th August: – We were there today to give support to those still in the house. We arrived about 11.00am. There were loads of police as would be expected and 3 people were taken out of the house while we were there and taken to Ripley police station. We were not allowed near so could not see who it was. Around 3.00 in the afternoon a chap in a suit and 2 women in inappropriate shoes turned up. We think they were from the bailiff teams. They spoke to the chief inspector in charge and went to the house. All the time the bailiffs on site had been cutting down the trees surrounding the house and trying to get in the front door of the house. They succeeded just before the ‘suits’ arrived. We left around 4pm to run some film to ITN but I heard later that the bailiffs had started up a generator to get air to the people in the tunnel under the house but left the site around 5.30. they are due back tomorrow (Saturday) to get the 2 people in the tunnel out. Anyone who can get there, please get there to give support.
Update Thursday 7th August: Around 7.45am about 60 police and 50 bailliffs arrived at the house. Throughout the day the police have been trying to get through the barricades and defences. Local people and media have been at the scene. So far 3 people have been removed from lockons and a cargo net outside the house and have been arrested. 7 people are still inside and are heavily barricaded in, included being hidden in tunnels under the house. The bailiffs have put up security fences and although they have managed to enter part of the building, the eviction attempt has been stopped for today. It is estimated the eviction will take at least another couple of days.
Background –
On Friday July 18, UK Coal, who own the site, were granted a possession order for the Squatted farmhouse on the planned Lodge House open cast coal mine site. For some time it has been anticipated that an eviction is imminent, particularly as the climbing team used against road protesters has been seen around the site. It is evident that with the Climate Camp happening at Kingsnorth Power Station, the police saw their oppertunity to move in.
Bits from mainstream sources (above from IMC) –
The protesters have been occupying the building at Prospect Farm, in Bell Lane, Smalley, for almost two months in the hope of making it impossible for UK Coal to begin opencast mining at the 334-acre site this autumn.
Bailiffs from the National Eviction Team arrived yesterday, leading to the arrest of three protesters. Three more left voluntarily.
A spokesman for UK Coal said: “We believe up to eight people remain in the house, four of whom could be in a labyrinth of tunnels underneath the house, according to information we have.
We’ve got just over 20 experts from the National Eviction Team, who worked on the site until 6pm last night.
Andy Green, a spokesman for Leave It In The Ground, said: “We’ve built an extensive tunnel network and have tree-structures and suspended cargo nets.
“As bailiffs and police arrived on site, people were chained to barricades defending strategic parts of the property.”
UK Coal has Government clearance to mine for four-and-a-half years from this autumn, despite Derbyshire County Council having refused to grant planning permission.
One of the protesters, who left voluntarily and identified himself only as Ben, said: “We need to find an alternative to coal and time for action is long overdue because climate change has already started happening.”
Eviction starts story and directions
Short audio report from first day – audio/x-wav 716K
A little background: The site was occupied on Tuesday June 18 by climate campaigners from ‘Leave it in the Ground’. They barricaded themselves in a disused farm building and took to the trees on the site of the open cast mine. Under the cover of darkness activists secured themselves in the Prospect Farm building, on the site which is about to be devastated by huge machines. and claimed squatter’s rights.