Local environmental politics in England: Environmental activism in South East London and East Kent compared

In order to gain an understanding of the varied character of local environmental activism in England, this paper compares the character of local environmentalism in inner south east London with that in two adjacent less-urbanised / semi-rural districts in Kent (Canterbury and Ashford). These areas have been chosen so that we may examine the ways in which the nature of local environmental activism varies according to the degree and character of urbanisation of its context. In this very preliminary presentation of the results of our research, we present descriptive accounts of each area and of the character of environmentalism therein before focusing on the local campaigns against the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. We conclude by venturing some generalisations about the reasons for

the different character of environmental activism in each location.