Eco-protesters at Etheldore Woods in Hockley are under siege conditions imposed by developers, it was claimed yesterday.

It's claimed that security guards for developers Countryside Residential - which has full legal possession of the land on which it wants to build houses - will not allow food to be passed to the protesters from outside.

Maria Tugwell, mother of teenage eco-warrior Christiana Tugwell who is inside the camp, said that she was having to deliver food to her daughter by dodging security guards

She said that open efforts to give food to the protesters inside the camp had been frustrated by the guards.

She said: "I don't want to do it furtively. Is it okay officially to give them food? I don't know.

"They are allowed to come out for water, but they are escorted by the guards."

Mrs Tugwell said that she had contacted Countryside Residential over whether she was allowed to give food but had not had a reply. She said: "I am waiting to see if they will ring me back."

Braintree district councillor and Essex Green Pary Co-ordinator James Abbott said relatives of protesters were becoming increasingly concerned about the welfare of those inside the camp.

He said: "There is so much 'greenspeak' from developers and authorities such as Essex County Council.

"But here we are, yet again, with the reality that it is ordinary people suffering extreme conditions for no financial gain that are prepared to put themselves on the line to defend our vanishing woodlands and countryside.

"Just how extraordinary is it, that a local teenager and colleagues are under siege from a powerful private development company when all they are trying to do is peacefully protect the local woodlands they know and love so well?"

Chris Crook, managing director of Countryside Residential, said: "I have been asked if we are preventing a mother from feeding her child and the answer is definitely not!

"I have children of my own and would be concerned if they were missing meals, so I fully understand if there is a mother who wants to feed her child.

"However, I would suggest she takes her child home and feeds him or her there.

"We have a possession order on our land and intend to exercise our rights to prevent trespassers who clearly intend to cause trouble."

He added: "To limit the potential risk of protesters from the eviction in Rettendon invading our private land at Hockley, we have security staff to contain the existing camp with fencing to prevent protesters moving to other parts of the site.

"These are hardly the over-dramatised 'siege conditions' the protesters are trying to report.

"Countryside is working with all parties to ensure that all concerns are dealt with swiftly and within the law."

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