Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, 2 May 2017. Photo: Ros Wills
In this update of protests about fracking and the onshore oil and gas industry:
- Security guards remove anti-fracking campaigners from business park in Lancashire
- Ten people join Greenpeace UK protest to block entrance to Preston New Road
- Two women block the Bolton depot of Cuadrilla’s site contractor, A E Yates
- Eight people take part in lock-on protests outside Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road shale gas site
- Anti-fracking campaigners join Chesterfield May Day parade
- Anti-drilling May Pole in Dorking
- Protests in Bristol, Oxford and Stroud against Barclays’s funding of Third Energy
- Lancashire Nanas head south to Dorking
This post will be updated throughout the week with any new activities and events.
7 May 2017
Leith Hill Protection Camp, 7 May 2017. Photo: Jon O’Houston
Lancashire Nanas and campaigners opposing Cuadrilla’s operations at Preston New Road visited the Leith Hill Protection Camp, at Coldharbour Lane, where Europa has permission to drill for oil.
6 May 2017
Anti-fracking campaigners spray painted graffiti at Barclays Bank in Stroud in opposition to the company’s support for fracking by Third Energy. Photo: Rising Up
5 May 2017
Hillhouse Business Park, Thornton Cleveleys, Lancashire
Anti-fracking campaigners climbed onto a pile of rubble at Hillhouse Business Park in Thornton to protest about the storage of material for Cuadrilla’s site at Preston New Road. Security staff were filmed dragging them from the rubble. Photos: Ros Wills. Video: Eddie Thornton
Barclays Bank, Queens Road, Bristol
Barclays Bank, Queens Road, Bristol, 5 May 2017. Photo: Rising Up
One person was arrested after a graffiti protest over Barclays funding of Third Energy at a branch in Queen’s Road, Bristol. Video: Rising Up
Barclays Bank, Cornmarket Street, Oxford
Opponents of Barclays’ ownership of the fracking company Third Energy protest outside a branch of the bank at Cornmarket Street, Oxford.
Barclays Bank, Cornmarket Street, Oxford, 5 May 2017. Photo: Rising Up
4 May 2017
Barclays Bank, Broadmead, Bristol
A man and a woman were arrested after a four-hour rooftop protest at Barclays Bank in Broadmead, Bristol city centre in protest at its funding for fracking. Another woman who used chalk to draw on pavements outside the bank was also arrested. The road and the bank were closed.
Barclays Bank, Broadmead, Bristol, 4 May 2017. Photo: Rising Up
3 May 2017
Preston New Road, Little Plumpton
10 anti-fracking campaigners join Greenpeace UK to block the entrance of Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road shale gas site. Greenpeace said the campaigners, from shale gas areas including Blackpool, Preston and Manchester, linked arms through reinforced yellow blocks, some painted with red Lancashire roses. The group said they intended to delay preparation work at the site by stopping lorries entering the site.
All slideshow photos above by Greenpeace UK
Hannah Martin, Head of Energy at Greenpeace UK, said:
“Greenpeace is standing with the people of Lancashire against the industrialisation of the countryside for shale gas we don’t need. Lancashire said No to fracking, but the government overruled the democratic process and gave Cuadrilla the go ahead to frack for gas. Peaceful protest has caused months of delays and, since beginning work in January, this fracking firm has only really created a muddy field. But if the drill goes in, it will create noise, air and light pollution.
“In order to meet our climate targets, fossil fuels must stay in the ground. We do not need fracked gas and fracking is an unpopular, expensive and risky gamble. Together with campaigners from areas facing fracking, we’ve created a Frack Free Zone, blocking work at this site and asking the government to stop fracking in its tracks, and turn UK energy policy around. Cutting edge technologies, like renewables and battery storage, can drive economic growth and job creation for post-Brexit Britain, and give us plentiful clean power for decades to come”.
Lancashire Police said ten people, aged between 30 and 58, were arrested and charged with obstruction of the highway. Seven are due to appear at Blackpool Magistrates Court on 5 June and another three on 19 June.
A E Yates, Bolton
Two women from Lancashire locked their arms together through a block of concrete at the entrance of the A E Yates depot in Bolton, blocking all vehicle movements at the site.
They left after four hours. There were no arrests.
Photos: Lancaster Climate Action
One of the woman, Sarah Shore, said they were taking the action to let all businesses in the fracking supply chain know that they should expect to be disrupted.
Rose White, of Lancaster Climate Action, said:
“There is a strong, sustainable and swelling campaign against the fracking industry. Campaigners have a thorough analysis of both the industry itself and the political context around it and are hitting hard at weak spots and bottle necks. Both yesterday and today saw blockades at the fracking site itself (near Blackpool) resulting in all work being halted. That, along with actions like today’s targeting of the supply chain in Bolton, is making investors very nervous.
“At a time when they should have been rocketing upwards, shares in the fracking companies main source of funding (AJ Lucas) are crashing down, dropping 73% of their value! [1] Fracking companies might have a central government supporting them at the moment, but with only 19% of the U.K being pro fracking [2], they don’t have the support of the people and very soon they won’t have the support from investors either.”
Roger Wilkinson, also at the depot today, said
“A E Yates is facing regular blockades by local people from Bolton, Lancashire residents like ourselves and even national organisations like Reclaim the Power. This is resulting in severe disruption and loss of income for A E Yates. We will continue building on these actions until they terminate their contract with Caudrillia Resources. We faced a lot of aggression from the workers this morning and the woman fixed in the entrance were in a very dangerous situation, but they have calmed down now.”
2 May 2017
Preston New Road, Little Plumpton
Eight people have been arrested after several lock-on protests outside Cuadrilla’s shale gas site at Preston New Road this morning. The protests, which began at about 6.20am, closed the road at Little Plumpton for several hours. One lane of the road has now opened. The protesters were alleged to have wilfully obstructed the highway.
All the above slideshow photos by Ros Wills
Cuadrilla issued this statement:
“Cuadrilla unreservedly condemns the unlawful and irresponsible actions of those activists who completely blocked the busy A583 Preston New Road with absolutely no regard for local people going about their daily business. This lead to severe delays causing heavy congestion on the nearby M55 motorway where a very serious collision ensued. This kind of behaviour exposes the utterly selfish, attention seeking and reckless actions of a thoughtless minority.”
1 May 2017
Dorking
Opponents of drilling at Leith Hill celebrated May Day with a maypole on the Cock Roundabout on the edge of Dorking Town Centre. Photos: Ackroyd and Harvey and Martin Salter
Chesterfield
Opponents of fracking join the Chesterfield May Day parade.
Chesterfield May Day parade, 1 May 2017. Photo: Linda Cocker
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Categories: Opposition
DRILL OR DROP? 
“Eight people take part in lock-on protests outside Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road shale gas site”
Should read “eight selfish law breakers”
Still they may get a mention in dispatches in the next Darwin Awards, attempting to improve the human gene pool by putting themselves at risk of being removed from the Human Race…..
Frack me Paul, have you been reading your copy of Neo Fascist Eugenicist Monthly again? You lot should understand all about sacrifice, sacrifice the water, sacrifice the land, sacrifice the air, sacrifice the children, sacrifice humanity, sacrifice the future, sacrifice intelligent progress?
I think you will find that the really evolved human beings are the ones who give a damn, and have a conscience and want save us all from the Industry sacrifice zones, perhaps its the Differently Evolved failures that are causing all this sacrifice in the first place?
Obstructionists nd Vandalists are these activist protesters.
According to an article on Birth Defect Research for Children (BDRC) website, the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project has opened a public health registry aimed at tracking and eventually analyzing the impacts of shale gas development on people living near wells, impoundments, compressor stations and pipelines. This registry of collected data from physicians and researchers will offer a better understanding of the impacts of shale gas development.