.........lots of nasty corporations and organisations. They are behind the runaway growth that is swallowing up the lives of ordinary people across the South. TVEP are lobbying for the expansion of the transport system which includes the third runway at Heathrow which involves demolishing Sipson village; they are lobbying for the expansion of the M4 which will mean building on flood plains in the Thames Valley; they are lobbying for the expansion of Reading Station which will lead to the loss of allotments, playing fields, local services and will have a detrimental impact on people's homes. TVEP also are encouraging the building of homes which are the familiar rabbit-hutch style, unaffordable exclusive homes that are driving working class people from the area.

TVEP are based in Reading and hosted an Innovations Conference today. Local people who are sick of being pushed out our own town have decided to fight back against this corporate development of our town invited ourselves along to the conference. It was easy to get in and we were greeted by lots of stalls that seemed little to do with innovation but more geared towards development - unsurprisingly.

The CEO of TVEP, Shaun Whittaker, opened the conference. Before he had chance to begin his five-minute speech a group of people unfurled a banner stating: 'Reclaim Thames Valley for People Not profit. And an alternative speech replaced that of the CEO whose main point was:'Stop Screwing Us Over' but in many more words than that, whilst other members gave out leaflets.

Many of the delegates were amused and some were supportive whilst others were confused and negative. After a very short time the banner was surrounded by stewards and we were made to leave. However after we were moved from the main conference area we were able to hang around by the stalls and hand out more leaflets until the stewards found us again and called security - an elderly man with a bulky coat. We were escorted from the building and hung around outside the building before eventually being persuaded to leave.

This is the start of a campaign against TVEP and encourage activists affected by their many developments to find out who they are and how they are affecting your lives.  http://www.businessinberkshire.co.uk/tvep/

Matilda

 rgacollective@hotmail.com