Updates to August timeline

23/8/13

Costs reach £2.3m Sussex Police says the cost of policing protests at Balcombe has risen to £2.3m and is likely to reach £3.7m. It says the cost of the six-day Reclaim the Power camp, which ended on Wednesday August 21st, were £1.5m, including help from ten other police forces. http://www.sussex.police.uk/pressline/2013/08/23/balcombe-policing-costs-soar

National help Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, Katy Bourne, confirms she will be applying to the Home Office to meet the additional costs of the policing operation. http://www.sussex.police.uk/pressline/2013/08/23/balcombe-policing-costs-soar

21/8/2013

Camp disbands Reclaim the Power camp ends but original roadside camp remains.

Policing reduced Sussex Police says it is scaling down its policing operation in Balcombe. It says it used powers Section 61 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act to remove people from a smaller camp in a plantation north of the Cuadrilla site. http://www.sussex.police.uk/pressline/2013/08/21/police-scale-down-operation-at-balcombe

Drilling resumes Cuadrilla tells the BBC drilling and deliveries to the Balcombe site have resumed. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-23791160

Court appearance 10 campaigners appear at Crawley Magistrates Court. All deny the charges and the cases were adjourned until October 2nd for a pre-trial review.

Staying put Charles Metcalfe, campaigner and Balcombe resident, tells the BBC campaigners who have been outside the site for nearly a month will be staying put. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-23778323

19/8/13

All other means exhausted Caroline Lucas MP tells the BBC “People today, myself included, took peaceful non-violent direct action only after exhausting every other means of protest available to us. I’m in the privileged position of being able to put questions to the government directly and arrange debates in parliament, but still ministers have refused to listen. Despite the opposition to fracking being abundantly clear, the government has completely ignored the views of those they are supposed to represent. When the democratic deficit is so enormous, people are left with very little option but to take peaceful, non-violent direct action.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23753750

10/8/2013

Thanks for campaign support The Crawley and Horley Observer publishes a letter from Kathryn McWhirter, Balcombe resident and member of NoFiBS (No Fracking in Balcombe Society), which responds to “the distorted portrayal of what is happening in Balcombe”. Ms McWhirter says “We are hugely grateful to those who have so kindly come to support our cause, from towns and villages around Sussex, and places such as Lancashire and Wales – areas equally under threat of oil and gas drilling.” http://www.crawleyobserver.co.uk/news/letters/letter-distorted-portrayal-of-balcombe-fracking-1-5362698

Updates to Fracking the truth – Does fracking bring down gas prices?

Derek Lickorish, chairman of the government’s Fuel Poverty Advisory Group, told The Times “Extracting natural gas from shale has the potential to reduce the cost of gas for heating and generating electricity.” 21/8/13