WORK on Blackwood's controversial Sirhowy Enterprise Way was halted yesterday when protesters taking direct action handcuffed themselves to a bulldozer.

And opponents of the planned road are pledging to do "all it takes" to disrupt the scheme, which officially started last week.

Yesterday afternoon two Cardiff-based protesters handcuffed themselves to a bulldozer.

One of the protesters, pictured, who gave his name only as Nick, said: "We will be here as long as it takes." They disrupted work for several hours.

The protest comes just a week after residents staged a symbolic protest when they pinned poems to the trees in the Dingle - part of St David's Wood - which is to be demolished to make way for the new two-mile road.

Caerphilly council says the road is vital to help create 5,000 new jobs at Oakdale business park.

But resident Carl Taylor, who has been one of the most prominent campaigners against the new road, said: "The protesters who have come today heard about the poetry protest on the Internet after the publicity it received.

"They are hoping that other people from across the country will also be coming down to join them."

The contract to begin work on the road was signed last week by a company known as Sirhowy Enterprise Ltd, with Costain Engineering and Construction Ltd and Laing Roads Ltd as equal partners.