DENHAM: MEET THE NEW BOSS, SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

March 31st, 2026: Thousands of people passed through these woodlands, hundreds spent the night and many called it home for a short while or a long while. After years of sustained occupation and direct action, almost all of Denham Ford Protection Camp was salvaged despite surrounding woodlands being decimated. Amongst the salvaged patch was a huge ancient willow tree, referred to as “Bradley”. Eventually, after many years, HS2 pulled out their temporary access road and ceased works in the vicinity. They handed the land, which is disputably actually public land, to Buckinghamshire Golf Course along with a purpose built anti-trespasser fence. Without consulting or seeking permission from the council, the forestry commission or Natural England, Buck’s Golf Course, which has undergone a 10+ million pound renovation and is owned by the Arora group has claimed and felled every tree that was once salvaged from the hands of HS2. The purpose being to extend the driving range in order to be eligible for the hosting of international tournaments. While there is still a dispute regarding wether this is public or private land, there is no dispute that what they have done is a crime but a crime that will have no consequence because they are rich private land owners who are able to buy their way out of consequence. 

This is a reminder that the struggle does not end, many many people may have risked their freedom and their sanity for this place but once it was saved from one money grabbing project, it was destroyed for another. It serves as a reminder to me and I’m sure many others who passed through or called this place home that compromise is never an option because compromise is appeasement dressed up in a different coat. The interactions had today, with the so-called private land owners mirrored the exact conversations we had daily back in the days of HS2 using this place as their stomping ground. Though I am now an adult, each time I step back into this place, I am transported back to my teenage years spent clambering up the trees that once stood and singing anti-bailiff songs around the campfire while cooking huge pots of communal food. This is place where I met my best friends and my worst enemies, where I made the most magical memories and acquired the strangest of traumas, this place is what cemented the pathway of the rest of my life. It is devastating to see it gone but it was a privilege to have ever called this place home.