A small group of activists have been evicted from HS2 land after chaining themselves to trees to prevent them being chopped down.

The STOP HS2 activists tied themselves up on land owned by HS2 Limited in Harvil Road, Harefield , on Tuesday (October 10).

The protest followed a three-day occupation of a digger on the same site the week before.

Activists and the company are locked in a dispute over the felling of trees of the land, which is being cleared to make way for a high-speed rail link between London and the West Midlands.

Sarah Green, who led both protests, told getwestlondon that she was evicted from the land at around 10.30pm by bailiffs who forcibly carried her off the land.

"There are protected species including bats and badgers living in the trees here and they are uprooting them illegally without a licence or any planning permission," she said.

Activists had chained themselves to trees shortly after midday on Tuesday (October 10)

"HS2 limited think that the hybrid bill means they can do whatever they like on all the land they now own but this makes a mockery of all the planning permission laws.

One activist used a bicycle lock to attach himself to the tree

"We were reassured in the House of Lords that HS2 Ltd would need to ask for individual planning permission at each individual site they worked on."

A spokesman for HS2 Ltd argued that all necessary planning permissions were in place and told getwestlondon: “HS2 will rebalance the economy by connecting eight out of our 10 biggest cities, increase rail capacity on the current system and reduce journey times, while also creating thousands of jobs across the UK.

HS2 Ltd contractors fenced in the protesters and shielded them with black tarpaulin

“We understand that people feel strongly about the impact the project will have on their community.

"Reducing these impacts are at the heart of our designs, and we’ll continue to work with communities to try and address their concerns.

“A small number of people have been escorted, under police supervision, from HS2 land in Hillingdon .

"They were not in an active working area. The safety of all involved remained our top priority throughout and no-one was injured.”

Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.

You can set up your app to see all the latest news and events from your area, plus receive push notifications for breaking news.

Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android .