21st February 2014 The trial resumes on Monday (February 24th) of five anti fracking protesters who used locks and superglue to prevent access to Cuadrilla’s oil exploration site at Balcombe. Natalie Hynde (daughter of rock musicians Chrissie Hynde and Ray Davies), Simon Medhurst and Nichola Sanger deny besetting […]
20th February 2014 According to a survey by Bloomberg News, the only company that plans to frack at least one well in the UK this year is IGas Energy Plc. The company has faced protests for the past three months from anti fracking campaigners camped outside its exploratory drilling […]
19/2/14 Seven people were arrested for causing harassment, alarm or distress at the Balcombe anti-fracking protests last summer – but none were convicted. Freedom of Information requests revealed that police used Sections 4a and 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 as the grounds for arrests outside Cuadrilla’s […]
31/1/14 The Crown Prosecution Service reveals that 35 charges arising from the Balcombe anti-fracking protests have been dropped before reaching trial. More
18/2/14 The South Downs National Park Authority is to tell the government that no more oil or gas licences should be sold in protected landscapes. The comment will be part of the authority’s response to a government consultation on the next round of Petroleum Development and Exploration Licences […]
13/2/14 A climate change campaigner locked himself to the top of a water tanker leaving Cuadrilla’s oil exploration site at Balcombe to persuade the media that the anti-fracking protests were not petering out. 66-year old Robert Basto, who has a PhD in physics, told Brighton Magistrates Court that […]
13/2/14 Charges brought under trades union legislation against two anti-fracking campaigners were dropped this morning before they gave evidence in court. Robert Basto, 66, of Reigate, and Jamie Spiers, 29, of no fixed address, had denied besetting Cuadrilla’s staff, contractors and suppliers at its oil exploration site at […]
12/2/14 The use of trades union legislation to prosecute a group of anti-fracking campaigners is under review tonight. District Judge William Ashwort, is considering whether there is a case to answer against five people who took part in the Balcombe protests and were charged under Section 241 of […]
12\2\14 An anti-fracking campaigner padlocked herself to the gate into Cuadrilla’s oil exploration site at Balcombe because “the government wasn’t listening”. Nichola Sanger, on trial for an alleged offence arising from last summer’s Balcombe protests, told the independent video company, You and I Films, that fracking was wrong […]
11/2/14 Cuadrilla’s drilling supervisor at its site at Balcombe told Brighton Magistrates Court this afternoon that delays caused by last summer’s protests cost the oil exploration company £2,500 an hour. James Whitham was giving evidence on the first day of the trial of five environmental campaigners, including Natalie […]
DRILL OR DROP? 