More than 700 people and a pantomime horse protested against the proposed route for a Westbury bypass.

Following years of debate to divert the A350 from the town centre, Wiltshire County Council chose an eastern route for a bypass across the line of hills alongside the White Horse.

Members of the Westbury Bypass Alliance say that the road would ruin the landscape.  On Sunday morning they were joined by representatives of environmental groups Transport 2000, Friends of the Earth and the Campaign to Protect Rural England, to voice their concern.

Friends of the Earth spokesman Ray Beaty, one of the organisers behind the event, said: "I was delighted by the turn out.  There is obviously very strong public feeling about preventing the bypass from being built.  This is beautiful countryside and the reason why it has remained this way for so long is because we have spent years protecting it.  But now the council wants to put a road through it."

Westbury Bypass Alliance member John Osborne has lived in Westbury for 27 years and believes that building a bypass through the valley would have a huge impact on the town.  He said: "The view of the White Horse would be ruined and the road would go through the valley which is used by many walkers."

Dr Peter Ager, who has lived in Westbury for 30 years, said: "Building a bypass would mess up the landscape in this area of beauty.  I do not think that this bypass would make much difference to transit time."

This is an abbreviated and edited extract of a news-article which originally appeared in the Wiltshire Times of 10 January 2003.