Local green campaigners have an impressive record for delaying developments. Environmentalists have managed to hold up the Northern Gateway park and ride, the Vale of York power line and the Coppergate Phase II projects.

The question that hangs in the air today is: are they delaying the inevitable?

Certainly those opposing the Northern Gateway have been sent reeling by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's decision to give the scheme the go-ahead.

They have campaigned long and hard against moving the park and ride from Clifton Moor to green belt land in Rawcliffe, claiming the new site would cause traffic chaos, increase pollution and harm wildlife.

In giving it the green light, we must assume that Mr Prescott decided the Northern Gateway's potential environmental benefits outweighed its drawbacks.

Park and ride schemes in York have been an irrefutable success at reducing city centre congestion. The council firmly believes that the Rawcliffe site is the best place for a permanent extension to the scheme, and has always argued that it is for the wider good of York residents.

Now the protesters are left to consider their next move. It is difficult to see where they can go from here.

The council also has more work to do. It may have won the battle, but it has not won the argument.

There are still many people who are yet to be convinced that the Northern Gateway scheme will be worth the effort. Fears about its effect on traffic on the already notorious A19 and A1237 junction have yet to be allayed.

The council needs to undertake a public relations offensive to convince residents that the new park and ride is needed, and needed on that site.

Meanwhile REVOLT continues is innovative protest campaign. For years, this pressure group has been waging a war of attrition against National Grid's plan to build pylons through the Vale of York. After two public inquiries, it too has received Government backing.

The power line has no redeeming features. These pylons will desecrate our countryside for no good reason.

REVOLT has refused to give up the fight. It is now setting up "national response teams" to confront contractors as and when they appear. We wish their peaceful protests well.

As our natural environment comes under pressure from all sides, these green groups act as our collective conscience. But, at such a busy time for campaigners, it is a sobering thought to realise that the Newbury bypass, focus of the biggest green protest in a decade, opened today.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.