Reporting the prosecutions of campaigners arrested at protests against the exploitation of unconventional oil and gas
Update to Timeline – October 2013 2/10/13 The former chair of Lewes District Council and model, Marina Baker, is not to face charges following the protest at Cuadrilla’s site at Balcombe. A district judge, sitting at Crawley Magistrates Court, reviewed about 60 cases arising from the anti-fracking campaign […]
Dates have been set for the first trials of anti-fracking campaigners, arrested following protests outside Cuadrilla’s exploration site at Balcombe during the summer. A hearing at Crawley Magistrates Court today (2/10/2013) reviewed the cases of about 60 campaigners. All deny the charges against them. The court set 12 […]
Update to Timeline – September 2013 27/9/13 Cuadrilla leaves Balcombe Cuadrilla’s exploratory drilling site at Balcombe is cleared and Sussex Police scales down its operation. Superintendent Lawrence Hobbs says a few officers will remain in the area, mostly to ensure road safety. He acknowledges the policing operation will affect […]
Update to Timeline – September 2013 25/9/2013 Green MP Caroline Lucas is charged following demonstrations against fracking at the Cuadrilla drilling site in Balcombe last month. A statement from the Crown Prosecution Service says Dr Lucas will face one charge under the Public Order Act 1986 and one charge of […]
Update to Timeline – September 2013 24/9/13 Police help Cuadrilla breach planning permission Sussex Police tells West Sussex County Council that lorries entering and leaving the Cuadrilla site at Balcombe this week will use different routes. This would be a breach of the company’s planning permission. In a […]
A month ago today, on Thursday July 25th, Cuadrilla began moving equipment onto its exploratory drilling site near Balcombe in West Sussex. Anti-fracking campaigners gathered outside the gates and successfully stopped lorries getting into the site. By 11am, campaigners had established a camp on the verge alongside and vowed […]
Superintendent Lawrence Hobbs in response to claims that police allowed protestors to stop drilling operations: “While we are in full support of Cuadrilla’s decision to scale back their activities during this period, it was their decision, which took into account Sussex Police’s assessment of the likely impact of […]
The map below shows the exclusion zone which was a condition of police bail for campaigners arrested at the Cuadrilla site in Balcombe in July. It included the railway line between Brighton and London. The police gave one campaigner arrested on July 26th a travel warrant to travel […]
A group of anti-fracking campaigners arrested at the on-going demonstration outside Cuadrilla’s drilling site in Balcombe can return to the protest after successfully challenging “unlawful” bail conditions imposed by Sussex Police. The eight men and six women had been prevented since their arrest in July from entering an […]
DRILL OR DROP? 