18th March 2014 The former chief constable of Sussex explained this afternoon that he imposed restrictions on anti-fracking protesters at Balcombe because he believed the demonstrations would cause serious disruption to the life of the local community. Martin Richards, who retired from the police a week ago, was […]
18th March 2014 The former Chief Constable of Sussex went into the witness box this morning to defend a notice he signed that required people at the Balcombe anti-fracking demonstrations to use a designated protest area. Martin Richards, who retired a week ago from Sussex Police, was giving […]
A round-up of fracking news from February 2014. 28/2/14A freedom of information request to the Department of Energy and Climate Change confirms that Cuadrilla did not seismic surveys at Balcombe. The most recent surveys, according to DECC, were 2d surveys and were carried out in the 1900s
6/2/14 Sussex police says it hopes an external review of the policing operation at last year’s Balcombe anti-fracking protests will be completed in “the next few weeks”. The review into Operation Mansell is currently being carried out by Hertfordshire Constabulary. The Sussex Chief Constable Martin Richards told the […]
3/2/14 The chief constable of Sussex Police, Martin Richards, has said the nearly £4m cost of policing last year’s anti-fracking protests at Balcombe was “value for money”. In an interview with the Mid Sussex Times, he explained: “The public suffered no real serious injury, protestors were allowed to […]
The Chief Constable of Sussex, Martin Richards, will be called to give evidence at an anti-fracking trial, which could become a test case for the use of the Public Order Act against protestors. The case involves poet Simon Welsh, the first Balcombe resident to be arrested during the […]
DRILL OR DROP? 