POLICE and protesters clashed for the first time yesterday as building work on the £2.46m extension to Winchester's park-and-ride scheme on a meadow at Bar End continued.

Up to 25 protesters who have been camping alongside the site for the last few nights were woken to the sound of police officers evicting them from their squat on Wednesday morning.

Although the campaigners grudgingly moved off the site after being threatened with arrest if they stayed, one man who did refuse to budge was handcuffed and taken away.

However, a new camp has now been established with the environmentalists promising they won't budge until work on the controversial 420 space extension ceases.

The 6.5-acre plot at Bar End was converted into meadow after the M3 motorway extension was driven through Twyford Down - a move which sparked a massive environmental battle ten years ago.

After the motorway build was forced through, the land at Bar End was given over to the people of Winchester as recompense for the destruction of Twyford Down.

It was supposed to last forever, but as those protesting outside the now fenced-off meadow reiterated, it has actually survived less than ten years.

However, Hampshire County Council see the park-and-ride extension as vital to the future of Winchester.

They also say that new compensation land at Magdalen Hill just outside the city has been earmarked to be turned into meadow, and that the new meadow will be more than 22 acres in size - almost three times the area at Bar End. Yesterday, those protesting were also voicing concerns over the police action that saw them turfed off their squat.

Many said they had displayed notices around their camp declaring it to be their home under Section Six of the Criminal Law Act, which allows squatters to take possession of vacant land, providing various clauses are met.

Protester Dan Jenkinson, 21, of Chilbolton Avenue, Winchester, said: "This morning we hung a copy of Section Six of the Criminal Law Act on a nearby gate but the police tore it down. It says we are perfectly within our rights as squatters to be here but the police claim we are trespassing."

l A Winchester teenager was arrested today after alleged criminal damage at the park-and-ride construction site.

Oliver Tate, 18, was detained by police in the early hours at Bar End.

Tate, of Brassey Road, Fulflood, has been charged with criminal damage to perimeter fencing.

Insp Chris May said Tate was released on conditional bail and told to attend Basingstoke Magistrates' Court on July 8.