Wanstead and Leytonstone residents protested extension to M11 motorway

But the protest against the plans had previously garnered national media attention, and became centred on two unsuspecting individuals, 93-year-old Dolly Watson and lollipop lady Jean Gosling.

By late 1993 opposition to the M11 link road that would run through George Green, Wanstead had been exhausted and residents were becoming largely resigned to the road being built.

Geoff Horsnell, committee member of the Wanstead Society formed two years after the protests, said: “People were polarised over the initial plans for they realised it would change the face of Wanstead forever and the disruption would last for years.”

The movement was triggered by lollipop lady Mrs Gosling, who took children to protect a 250-year-old sweet chestnut tree on George Green.

She was later fired for wearing her uniform during the protest, but the act got local parents involved in the future of the tree.

On November 6, due to attend an annual ‘tree dressing’ ceremony, residents found their way to the tree barred by seven-foot high security fencing.

With support from the protesters, people flattened the fencing and used some of the panels to build a tree house to prevent its destruction.

On the morning of December 7, several hundred police arrived to evict the protesters from the tree protest in what became known locally as the 'Battle of George Green'.

It took the police four hours to get through the crowds to the base of the tree and cut loose seven people who had tied themselves to the trunk. The tree was then bulldozed.

Plans to turn the chestnut tree stump into a memorial bench in 2011 never materialised but it has been preserved by the City of London.

Further down the route, properties in Claremont Road, Leytonstone had already been compulsorily purchased as they lay in the route of the Central line.

This row of terraced houses ran next to the Central line and would need to be demolished for the plans, however 92-year-old Dolly Watson refused to move.

Mrs Watson, who was born at number 32 Claremont Road,  became a ‘cult hero’ amongst more seasoned protesters and squatters who had also barricaded themselves into the abandoned street.

She became friends with the anti-road protesters, and was quoted in papers as saying, "They're not dirty hippy squatters, they're the grandchildren I never had."

Garnering respect from the other protesters, they named a watchtower, built at the site out of scaffold poles, “Dolly’s Tower”.

In November 1994, the eviction of Claremont Road eventually took place, bringing an end to the M11 link road resistance as a major physical protest.

Several hundred police and bailiffs carried out the eviction over several days and the street was demolished immediately afterwards.

Mrs Watson, having been reluctantly moved on, died months before her 100th birthday in 2001.

The M11 extension project cost in excess of £100m and took nearly 34 months to complete, finally opening in November 1998.

In total more than 1,000 people were arrested over the Claremont protests, with £1 million spent on policing and forced evictions.