As reported by the Shipley Times & Express
5 Nov 1975
The Airedale trunk road enquiry never even started properly yesterday (Tuesday) morning because the Inspector, Mr Ernest Ridge, was shouted down by objectors who claimed the enquiry could not legally go ahead. More then 200 people crowded into the disused Shipley Church of England school, Kirkgate, and within a minute of Mr Ridge arriving, they were preventing him, from speaking further.
12 Nov 1975
Incredible scenes of uproar and disorder, plus the threat of future disruption and violence, have dogged the Airedale trunk road public inquiry.
The first day of the enquiry was last Tuesday, but the objectors who have filled the former Shipley Church School have succeeded in their primary aims - to prevent the enquiry opening.
The tactics of the objectors, which may well have come close to being illegal, have been the subject of harsh criticism but the fact still remains that the vast majority of people who have attended the enquiry support the disruption.
19 Nov 1975
The disruption of the Airedale trunk road inquiry at Shipley finally reached the point of violence yesterday (Tuesday) as the police moved in to eject noisy demonstrators
26 Nov 1975
The Airedale trunk road objectors claimed victory when the now farcical public inquiry at Shipley was again adjourned on Thursday morning until next Tuesday, December 2. Never can any inquiry have been so disrupted and been the focus of so much national attention as this.
3 Dec 1975
The Airedale trunk road inquiry, which suffered considerable disruption at Shipley, has been further postponed to Feb 3, but objectors clearly are still intent on preventing the inquiry starting because they fear the Department of the Environment will not accept reasoned arguments.
11 Feb 1975
The immense fury of those who carried out a bare-handed attack of almost terrifying force meant the infamous battle of Shipley Town Hall will be a compulsory entry in history books alongside the date February 4, 1976.
The Inspector, Mr Ernest Ridge, took his new seat as punctually as ever, and filling the remainder of the seats were representatives of the Department of the Environment, Bradford Metropolitan Council, West Yorkshire County Council and the Press.
Everyone who spoke had to use a microphone so that they could be heard over the loudspeakers in the school hall opposite, where the objectors were again congregating.
The silence as the hearing resumed at 2.30 p.m. was almost ominous. It seemed quite unbelievable that this unconventional inquiry could ever proceed normally, but Mr. Douglas Sampson, the Department's landscape witness, made a brisk start on reading his 28-page proof of evidence.
However, all was not quiet outside. A Times and Express reporter was observing the objectors and he saw about 100 of them suddenly stream in formation from the school hall only five minutes after the inquiry resumed.
The march across Kirkgate up the Town Hall steps was clearly planned, and the reason for it seemed to be that objectors were less than satisfied with the sound relay system. Apparently people speaking in the Council Chamber were standing too near the microphones, with the result that they were quite inaudible across the road.
On bore the objectors, many waving banners bearing slogans to the effect that Mr Ridge was an executioner. Stewards were again on duty, but they were too few, and their token challenge was swept aside.
Slowly but surely they reached the twin oak doors of the Council Chamber where they first hammered and then heaved in an effort to break in. The stewards' predictions that the doors would be strong enough to prevent a forced entry proved rather wide of the mark.
Another Times and Express reporter was among 50 or so people safely (?) installed inside the inquiry room and his first indication that anything was wrong came about 12 minutes after the start when there was the sound of distant shouting.
It was rather worrying to observe one journalist have a considerable argument before being allowed to leave the room, and when he did finally go the door was locked behind him.
A BBC cameraman who had been filming then requested to leave, but he was not allowed. At that moment, knocking began on one of the doors. It developed into loud banging, and from outside came shouts of "One....two....heave".
Stewards and Department officials rushed to hold the doors shut, and only just succeeded in holding off the first heave. The doors parted as if wood three inches thick and solid locks meant nothing.
About ten men leaned on the doors, which parted time and again, but were held closed.
Minutes later there was a similar sound at the other twin doors, and knocking could be heard on the doors of the upstairs public gallery.
"Please call the police. There is a definite danger of disorder. There is danger to life, limb and property" were the simple words of Mr Ridge.
One set of doors finally gave way, parted by none other than the huge bulk of Bingley pig farmer Mr. John Burnhope. In charged a hoard of protestors, and simultaneously the other doors parted also. The objectors chorused "All things bright and beautiful."
The result of the onrush was that one door was splintered, two splendid chairs were shattered, and one steward, Mr. Walter Tate, of Harlow, Carr Kennels, Cray Lane, Harrogate, was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary with rib injuries.
Amid tense silence, Mr. Burnhope told the Inspector: "You can now see we are not going to have a public inquiry started until you take notice of what has been said, so I advise you to get independent legal advice.
"Get what we have asked for and we will give you the fairest hearing of your life. If you do that, you will have everybody in the valley 100 percent behind you. For the first time there will be an independent Inspector instead of a puppet of the Department of the Environment."
For the first time, there was a sign of a split in the objectors' ranks. They rejected Mr. Burnhope's suggestions that they now leave the Chamber. Mr. George Speller began to play the flute, there was a chorus of "We shall not be moved" and Mr. Graham Carey began reading some fairly prosaic poetry which he obviously believed carried a suitable moral for everyone present.
Unlike the disorder last November, when blue uniforms were everywhere to be seen, there was little evidence of police activity this time. Quietly into the room came the head of Shipley police, Supt. D. Hardy, accompanied by Chief Insp. P. Manders.
After a whispered conversation with them, Mr. Ridge adjourned until the following morning.
Noticeable by his absence from the cohorts of protestors was their general, Mr. John Tyme, who presumably was leading his men from behind. Almost unnoticed he had entered the Council Chamber, and at his urgent request, the room emptied.
As he left Mr. Tyme said there was a danger of people getting hurt and property being damaged if they tried to interrupt the inquiry again.
Questioned about the proposed boycott, he pointed out that anyone who wished to present objections to the inquiry could do so. Nothing they had done or could do would prevent that, and by taking this course of action, they were ensuring the inquiry went ahead.
The only people prevented from objecting were those boycotting the inquiry, and they had always maintained they did not have enough information from the Department on which to make a rational objection.
Later that day, the Minister for planning and local government, Mr. John Silkin issued a statement saying there was no excuse for the tactics employed to wreck the local inquiry system.
He said the inquiry was a time for reasoned argument, and its essential purpose was to protect the rights of individuals. Democracy was not best served by the breaking down of doors, he said.
Unfortunately, that advice came rather too late.
11 Feb 1976
What the objectors had failed to do was finally achieved by the West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council representative when he succeeded in persuading the Inspector to adjourn the Airedale trunk road inquiry.
When the inquiry resumed in Shipley Council Chamber on Thursday morning, Mr. Jeremy Burford, of Counsel, told the Inspector, Mr. Ernest Ridge that the County Council did not want the inquiry to proceed because all those objectors who wanted to participate in a law-abiding manner could not do so.