Islington council homes: Tree felling campaigners dig protest 'tunnel'

The campaigners say they are trying to protect seven trees

Climate protesters opposing plans by a council to cut down trees to make way for homes have dug a 'tunnel' on the site in Islington, north London.

The tunnel was discovered on Tuesday by police officers and bailiffs as they were trying to evict the protesters from the site at Highbury Corner.

Activists have been living on the site for almost four months.

Protesters said the Islington tunnel was not part of the campaign to stop HS2, but was built by the same people.

The entrance had been concealed by pallets and soil.

It is not known how big the tunnel is however Islington Council leader Richard Watts tweeted: "Having seen a photo of the 'tunnel' I can confirm that I dug bigger holes in my back garden when I was a kid."

Islington Council wants to build a six-storey block of housing on the site which would provide 25 "desperately needed" council homes.

Activists said they wanted to save seven mature trees, which were due to be felled in favour of the housing block.

Maria, one of the protesters in the tunnel, said: "Our governments, local and national, are out of touch and not representing the people. They declare a climate and environment emergency and then carry on destroying trees and countryside. It's got to stop."

A spokesperson for the climate group added: "It is in an area of major traffic congestion and air pollution, in the most densely populated London borough with the least green space per head outside of the City."

'Truly disheartening'

Diarmaid Ward, the executive member for housing and development, said the project included plans for 63 new trees and an extra 100 sq m of communal garden space.

He added: "The council has done everything we can to avoid taking legal and enforcement action and had reached an agreement with XR, the initial group of protesters, that they would leave the site voluntarily and the council would use the money we would have spent on legal fees on even more trees - in addition to the 63 we had already planned to replace the six being felled."

"We have given protesters who chose to remain every opportunity to comply with the directions of the court, including additional time."

The council took action with High Court enforcement officers to move protesters off the building site.

Mr Ward said: "It's truly disheartening that people who claim to care about both trees and homes have forced an outcome resulting in fewer trees for the borough, significant costs, and further delays to building much-need council homes for local families in desperate need."

The protest is separate from the 100ft (30m) tunnel in Euston, central London, which was built by HS2 rebellion who are opposed to the £106bn high-speed project.

Correction Tuesday, 9 February, 2020 : A previous version of this story wrongly stated this tunnel was linked to HS2.