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Save Camphill Campaign
In the early years of the new millennium, two special needs communities in Aberdeen – Newton Dee and Camphill School Aberdeen - lived under the threat of Aberdeen's bypass road, the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR), splitting two 300-strong communities apart.

If this routing had been selected, the AWPR would have gone through the grounds of the Murtle campus of the school and the neighbouring fields of the Newton Dee community. There were concerns about the impact of the road on 130 children and adults with a variety of complex special needs.

The Save Camphill campaign was launched in February 2004. It has been described as the one of the largest and most successful community campaigns seen in Scotland.

With Aberdeen being the birthplace of the Camphill Movement, the Save Camphill campaign received support, not just the local area, but nationally and internationally. The campaign also gained a number of celebrity supporters including Jeremy Paxman, Timmy Mallett, Rolf Harris, Lorraine Kelly, Neil Fox, Trudie Goodwin, Michaela Strachan and Ian Rankin OBE.

In December 2005, after almost two years of intensive campaigning and lobbying, Scotland's Transport Minister at the time, Tavish Scott chose an alternative route for the AWPR that avoided the contentious Murtle route in Aberdeen's Bieldside area.