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FILM REVIEW PREVIOUS | NEXT | LIST ALL MEDIA Life in the Fast Lane - The NO M11 Story Directed By: Neil Goodwin, Mayyasa Al-Malazi Length: 85 mins A feature length documentary presenting the inside story of the NO M11 protest campaign, featuring the battle for Wanstead's George Green and its 250 year old chestnut tree, the Wanstonia eviction, and the rooftop protests of 1994. After more than thirty years of local opposition, and despite three public enquiries and two high court challenges, work on the construction of the M11 Link Road began in september 1993. But it was to be no easy ride for the Department of Transport, as angry local residents and anti-road protestors from all over the country started a campaign of direct action to fight the road every step of the way. The first major protest of the campaign was the battle for Wanstead's George Green. The George Green had been bequeathed to the people of Wanstead by Queen Victoria in 1882, and on the green stood a beautiful 250 year old chestnut tree, which was to be pulled down during the building of the road. Contractors initially barricaded up the area around the tree, which protestors are seen tearing down to allow local children and families access to the green and tree, both of which are legally theirs to enjoy. The tree is later occupied by two protestors, Dave Green and Tania Bone, who win a High Court injunction to establish the tree house as an official address - The Chestnut Tree, George Green Wanstead - to which the postman delivers over 400 letters of goodwill. However it is not long before the authorities bring in police en masse under cover of darkness to clear the site of protestors and to let the diggers in. Scenes of bleeding and bruised protestors are captured on camera, as are the screams and cries of locals as the tree comes crashing down to the ground. Filming continues in the Independent Free Area of Wanstonia, six houses occupied further on from the green in Cambridge Park. The protestors are made up of local residents and others from farther afield, and are seen rebuilding the houses, making them habitable and ready against any attempts by the authorities to evict them, as well as preparing various means to chain themselves together through chimney stacks and walls to make eviction that bit more difficult. But the music and singing around bonfires was soon to end here, when police and security guards moved in to evacuate the site and pull the houses down, amidst scenes of protestors being pulled off of roofs by security guards in cherry pickers, and footage of one eviction official threatening two female protestors with immense pain to remove them from their lock-in. Covered in equal depth is the next major battle of Claremont Road in Leyton - passengers on the Central Line may remember the row of houses along the track in Leyton, adorned decorative artwork and protest banners. The rooftop protest at the house of the then Transport Secretary, Jon McGregor, is captured on tape, as well as the similar protests at Parliament against the Criminal Justice Bill in 1994.The whole campaign is credited with changing the government's policy of roadbuilding, particularly where schemes have so much local opposition, and in 1995 the government cut its road budget by more than 100 million pounds. For anyone involved in the protests, even those who just turned up to shout their support for Wanstonia or the tree house on the George Green, this film will be a reminder of a very passionate time in Wanstead's history. 1995, 85 minutes, VHS Video. Available from www.activedistribution.org in VHS Video format. See also these other related articles: The M11 Link Road The M11 Link Road 1993-1999