Category: South East England

South East Eng­land

Balcombe update days 18 — 19 & 20

Day 18

Day 18 (Sun 11th) Of Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Block­ade In Bal­combe Sus­sex
See The Great Gas Gala Web­site for upcom­ing events and how to get involved.

Day 18

Day 18 (Sun 11th) Of Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Block­ade In Bal­combe Sus­sex
See The Great Gas Gala Web­site for upcom­ing events and how to get involved.

Update (2pm): Day 18 of the com­mu­ni­ty frack­ing block­ade in Bal­combe. Huge num­bers of peo­ple com­ing down to the site to sup­port the block­ade and sing togeth­er.

P1050596

Day 19

Update (4pm): 2 arrests today. High­light of day was home­made piz­za brought down to feed peo­ple at lunch time!

Update (11am): 2nd truck of day took 40mins to get onto site. Come down and help pro­tect Sus­sex.

Update (9:10am): One woman arrest­ed while pro­tect­ing Sus­sex from frack­ing.

Update (9am): Day 19 of the com­mu­ni­ty frack­ing block­ade in Bal­combe. Renewed efforts by Cuadrilla to force frack­ing trucks through the block­ade. Come lend your sup­port!

Day 20

Update (11am): Police have forced 3 frack­ing trucks through the block­ade today

Update (10am): Today the block­ade in Bal­combe goes Dutch. A con­tin­gent of peo­ple from the Nether­lands is on their way to sup­port the fight against frack­ing. They are expect­ed to arrive around 3pm. Arch-frack­ers, Cuadrilla Resources, are also active in the Nether­lands.

Update (9am): Day 20 of the com­mu­ni­ty frack­ing block­ade in Bal­combe. Renewed efforts by Cuadrilla to force frack­ing trucks through the block­ade. Come lend your sup­port!

Balcombe update days 12 & 13

Update (11am): Day 12 and block­ade still going strong. Cuadrilla need to get in a con­stant stream of trucks to keep drilling and the com­mu­ni­ty are mak­ing it as dif­fi­cult for them as pos­si­ble.

 

Update (11am): Day 12 and block­ade still going strong. Cuadrilla need to get in a con­stant stream of trucks to keep drilling and the com­mu­ni­ty are mak­ing it as dif­fi­cult for them as pos­si­ble.

 

Day 13

Update (9am): Day 13 and block­ade still going strong. A lot of peo­ple stayed overnight. Some peo­ple also head­ing down to Craw­ley Mag­is­trates Court for 9:30am to sup­port two Bal­combe Defend­ers charged as a result of block­ade. Come show your sup­port!

Balcombe update days 9–11

Day 11 (Sun 4th) Of Community Fracking Blockade In Balcombe Sussex

Update (12pm): Good weath­er and peo­ple arriv­ing for Tea Par­ty this after­noon. Come on down!

Update (7am): Large num­ber of peo­ple stayed overnight after the great day yes­ter­day.

 

Day 11 (Sun 4th) Of Community Fracking Blockade In Balcombe Sussex

Update (12pm): Good weath­er and peo­ple arriv­ing for Tea Par­ty this after­noon. Come on down!

Update (7am): Large num­ber of peo­ple stayed overnight after the great day yes­ter­day.

 

Day 10 (Sat 3rd) Of Community Fracking Blockade In Balcombe Sussex

Update (12:00pm): Vil­lagers announce result of their own sur­vey of vil­lage: 85 per­cent against, 9 per­cent unde­cid­ed, 6 per­cent for frack­ing.

Update (11:30am): Around 250 more vil­lagers stroll down to the block­ade. Big crowd here.

Update (7am): Som­er­set Sat­ur­day today! Rig Race from Lon­don and Brighton.

Around 400 Peo­ple At The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade In Bal­combe

 

 

Day 9 (Fri 2nd) Of Community Fracking Blockade In Balcombe Sussex

Update (2:00pm): 2 arrests report­ed. Come down and sup­port Bal­combe.

Update (11:00am): Con­fused media rumour that drilling may start soon but drill isn’t mov­ing.

Update (9:15am): Fylde Fri­day at the com­mu­ni­ty block­ade in Bal­combe. Com­mu­ni­ty groups from Lan­cashire are vis­it­ing to show their sup­port. Police con­tin­u­ing to try to push trucks through the block­ade. Weath­er a bit damp but spir­its high.

Appar­ent­ly Ran­dom Attack On Man At Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade By Sus­sex Police

Anoth­er Frack­ing Truck Tries To Force Its Way Through In Bal­combe

Com­mu­ni­ty Groups From “Des­o­late” Lan­cashire Are Sup­port Bal­combe At The Block­ade

There Is Always Anoth­er Frack­ing Truck To Block In Bal­combe

Block­ing Frack­ing Truck In Bal­combe At The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

Police Try­ing To Escort A Frack­ing Truck Through The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

 

Latest News From The Great Gas Gala – Day 8

Update (3:45pm): Two frack­ing trucks forced through block­ade with police escort. Ambu­lance called for lady pushed over by police.

Update (1:00pm): Police tow away fire engine with two frack­fight­ers still lock on inside!

Update (3:45pm): Two frack­ing trucks forced through block­ade with police escort. Ambu­lance called for lady pushed over by police.

Update (1:00pm): Police tow away fire engine with two frack­fight­ers still lock on inside!

Update (11:00am): Police have put up scaf­fold­ing next to fire engine and are try­ing to cut frack­fight­ers off. Dri­ver arrest­ed. Sup­port Bal­combe in its fight against frack­ing!

Update (8:45am): Police try­ing to talk frack-fighers into leav­ing! Will they suc­ceed?

Update (7:30am): A beau­ti­ful day in Bal­combe. Weath­er love­ly and an old fire engine is block­ing the entrance of Cuadrilla’s frack­ing site. How could it get any bet­ter? Sup­port the com­mu­ni­ty in Bal­combe!

Update (6:50am): Bal­combe gets more sup­port. Antique fire engine block­ing entrance of Cuadrilla’s frack­ing site in Bal­combe in Sus­sex

Our Chil­dren Say No To Frack­ing In Bal­combe

Police Try­ing To Tow Fire Engine Away With Frack­fight­ers Still Inside!

Frack­fight­ers Inside The Fire Engine At The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade In Bal­combe

Police Suround Frackfighter’s Fire Engine At Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

Police Suround Frackfighter’s Fire Engine At Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

Good Weath­er For Day 8 Of The Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Block­ade In Bal­combe

Police Cut­ting Team On Roof Of Fire Engine In Bla­combe

Police Have Put Up Scaf­fold­ing Next To Fire Engine In Bal­combe

Police Try­ing To Remove Frack­fight­ers From Cab Of Fire Engine In Bal­combe

Very Sun­ny Day In Bal­combe! Take Sen­si­ble Pre­cau­tions!

Frackfighter’s Twit­ter Account Was Sus­pend­ed Short­ly After The Began Tweet­ing

Police Try­ing To Remove Frack­fight­ers From Roof Of Fire Engine In Bal­combe

Good Start To The Day At Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Bloack­ade Of Cuadrilla’s Site

Frack­ing Emer­gency Crew Block The Entrance To Cuadrilla’s Site In Bal­combe

Frack­ing Emer­gency Crew Block The Entrance To Cuadrilla’s Site In Bal­combe

Com­mu­ni­ty In Bal­combe Gets Sup­port From An Unlike­ly Source. Frack­ing Emer­gency!

The Frack­Fight­ers Set­tle In For The Long Haul At Bal­combe Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing In Bal­combe Get A Hand. Frack­ing Emer­gency!

Com­mu­ni­ty In Bal­combe Gets Sup­port From An Unlike­ly Source. Frack­ing Emer­gency!

The Frack­ing Emer­gency Crew At The Bal­combe Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

Frack­ing Emer­gency Crew Are In Bal­combe! Old Fire Engine Block­ing Entrance To Site

Frack­ing Emer­gency! Old Fire Engine Block­ing Entrance To Frack­ing Site

Latest News From The Great Gas Gala – Day 7

31 July 2013 Frack­ing com­pa­ny Cuadrilla Resources are try­ing to start drilling in Bal­combe, West Sus­sex and the com­mu­ni­ty is try­ing to stop them. Over 250 peo­ple stopped 15 trucks bring on equip­ment on Day 1 (Thurs).

31 July 2013 Frack­ing com­pa­ny Cuadrilla Resources are try­ing to start drilling in Bal­combe, West Sus­sex and the com­mu­ni­ty is try­ing to stop them. Over 250 peo­ple stopped 15 trucks bring on equip­ment on Day 1 (Thurs). On Day 2 more than 100 police were used to break the block­ade and escort trucks onto the frack­ing site. On Day 3 the com­mu­ni­ty con­tin­ued to resist attempts to force trucks through the block­ade but gave up ear­ly after­noon. On Day 4 Cud­rilla did not attempt to bring any trucks onto the site. On Day 5 Cuadrilla con­tin­ued to try to push trucks through the block­ade and the com­mu­ni­ty have con­tin­ued to resist. Camp is still going strong and renewed efforts are being made to defend Bal­combe.

Update (10:00am): Cuadrilla’s frack­ing site closed and trucks being turned away. Go Bal­combe!

Update (9:00am): Two peo­ple super­glue them­selves togeth­er, lock­ing the gate of the Cuadrilla frack­ing site to defend the com­mu­ni­ty of Bal­combe and Sus­sex more gen­er­al­ly from frack­ing

Cuadrilla’s Frack­ing Site In Bal­combe Blocked By Com­mu­ni­ty

Two Peo­ple Glue Around The Gate Of Frack­ing Site In Bal­combe

Two Peo­ple Lock The Gate Of The Cuadrilla Frack­ing Site In Bal­combe

 

The Great Gas Gala Day 6

30 July 2013 Pho­tos from yes­ter­day show that the police are mass­ing to get Cuadrilla vehi­cles onto the site at Bal­combe, so Cuadrilla can begin the dan­ger­ous path to frack­ing.

30 July 2013 Pho­tos from yes­ter­day show that the police are mass­ing to get Cuadrilla vehi­cles onto the site at Bal­combe, so Cuadrilla can begin the dan­ger­ous path to frack­ing.

Update (7:00pm): Rain cleared and more peo­ple com­ing down to show their sup­port.

Update (5:00pm): Very large num­bers of police being used to try to imposed frack­ing on the peo­ple of Bal­combe. Come and sup­port them!

Update (9:40am): Frack­ing truck attempt­ing to force way through block­ade with help of police. Come down and sup­port com­mu­ni­ty!

Update (9:00am): Weath­er not great today but but com­mu­ni­ty stand­ing strong against Cuadrilla’s frack­ing threat. Come sup­port them.

Update (7:00am): Break­fast begin pre­pared at com­mu­ni­ty block­ade in Bal­combe. Come down and sup­port the fight against frack­ing.


Camp is still going strong and renewed efforts are being made to defend Bal­combe. Come down and sup­port the fight against frack­ing.

The Great Gas Gala – Day 5 In Pictures

29 July 2013

Update (11:00pm): Day 6! of the block­ade tomor­row. Come down and sup­port the com­mu­ni­ty tomor­row.

29 July 2013

Update (11:00pm): Day 6! of the block­ade tomor­row. Come down and sup­port the com­mu­ni­ty tomor­row.

Update (3:30pm): Block­ade grow­ing, as is size of police escorts for frack­ing trucks. Come to Bal­combe and lend your sup­port!

Update (3:30pm): 3 more peo­ple arrest­ed defend­ing Sus­sex from frack­ing. Come sup­port Bal­combe!

Update (2:30pm): 4 arrests so far at the com­mu­ni­ty block­ade today. Come down and sup­port the fight against frack­ing!

Update (2:05pm): 8 months preg­nant local moth­er shoved out of way by police. Shame!

Update (2:00pm): Large police pres­ence and get­ting more hos­tile. Come sup­port the comm­ni­ty

Update (1:00pm): Police try­ing to push trucks through the block­ade again

Update (1:00pm): Trucks brought to a halt for the moment. Police dis­cussing what to do. Come on down!

Update (10:30am): One per­son arrest­ed at com­mu­ni­ty frack­ing block­ade in Bal­combe. Come and sup­port the com­mu­ni­ty in the fight against frack­ing.

Update (10:15am): Trucks back­ing up in vil­lage. Wait­ing to try and break the block­ade. Come down now!

Update (10:00am): Police try­ing to escort truck through com­mu­ni­ty frack­ing block­ade. Come sup­port the com­mu­ni­ty fight­ing frack­ing in Sus­sex!

Update (9:55am): Police mass­ing to try to break through the com­mu­ni­ty block­ade. Come down if you can!

Update (9:40am): Trucks expect­ed to start arriv­ing soon. Come on down!

Update (8:00am): No trucks so far. Come down and sup­port the com­mu­ni­ty in the fight against frack­ing!

Update (7:00pm): Police begin arriv­ing for day. 30 peo­ple stayed at the camp overnight. Comes down and sup­port the com­mu­ni­ty.

Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Block­ade Hold­ing Back Truck In Bal­combe

Police Escort For Frack­ing Truck At Bal­combe Block­ade

Size Of Police Escort For Frack­ing Trucks Has Been Dou­bled

Peo­ple Sit In Road Block­ing Frack­ing Truck From Enter­ing Cuadrilla’s Site

Peo­ple Link Arms To Defend Bal­combe From Frack­ing

Block­ing Frack­ing Truck Out­side Cuadrilla’s Site In Bal­combe

8 Months Preg­nant Local Moth­er Being Shoved By Police

Preg­nant Local Moth­er Being Com­fort­ed After Police Attack

Peo­ple Rush Out To Defend Bal­combe From Anoth­er Frack­ing Truck

Com­mu­ni­ty Blocks Truck From Enter­ing Frack­ing Site

Police Try­ing To Break The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade In Bal­combe

Police With­draw To Wait For The Next Frack­ing Truck To Arrive

Large Num­bers Of The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade In Bal­combe

Local Moth­er At The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade In Bal­combe

Large Police Pres­ence At Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Block­ade In Bal­combe

A Quick Break For Lunch At The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade In Bal­combe

Anoth­er Local Bal­combe Fam­i­ly Joins The Block­ade

Police Try­ing To Force Anoth­er Truck Through The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

Camp At The Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Block­ade In Bal­combe

Camp At The Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Block­ade In Bal­combe

Camp At The Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Block­ade In Bal­combe

Camp Well Sup­plied With Bis­cuits Due To Gen­er­ous Dona­tions

Fam­i­lies At The Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Block­ade In Bal­combe

Com­mu­ni­ty Dis­tressed As Cuadrilla Tries To Force Frack­ing On Bal­combe

Truck Out Of Resident’s Bed­room Win­dow This Morn­ing In Bal­combe

Police Attempt­ing To Break Through Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

Police Mass­ing To Attempt To Break Through Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

Dam­age To New­ly Resur­faced Road Out Frack­ing Site Due To Trucks

All Qui­et On The West Sus­sex Front

 

No Names, No Frack Drill.

Day 5 of Bal­combe vil­lage’s strug­gle against Frack Attack (Update)

Update — Day 5 — Mon­day 29th July

Day 5 of Bal­combe vil­lage’s strug­gle against Frack Attack (Update)

Update — Day 5 — Mon­day 29th July

After a rel­a­tive­ly qui­et day on Sun­day, today Mon­day, saw many vehi­cles arriv­ing on site. Each deliv­ery was met with heavy resis­tance. A heav­i­ly preg­nant woman attempt­ed to stop one of the trucks but was forced away as things got dodgy and dan­ger­ous. At the same time a man was arrest­ed and bru­tal­ly wres­tled to the ground with a sus­pect­ed bro­ken arm.

For the rest of the after­noon more deliv­er­ies reg­u­lar­ly turned up but only got through with police march­ing in front of each HGV and clash­ing with pro­test­ers attempt­ing to stop them. A lat­er deliv­ery of office fur­ni­ture saw a sit-down protest that result­ed in a more sig­nif­i­cant delay and yet anoth­er arrest.

Per­haps as a sign of the strug­gle ahead the police have installed a mobile office on site and a casu­al con­ver­sa­tion with one cop made it obvi­ous that the police think they are there for the long haul. Some pro­test­ers thought it might pay to also set up a solic­i­tor’s office and branch of Infin­i­ty Foods along­side.

Last Week

After Thurs­day’s suc­cess­ful stand ‑off, Fri­day saw nine­ty police deployed to force the first of Cuadrilla’s trucks through the human bar­ri­cades in front of the site gates. As pro­tes­tors linked arms the cops began to make the first arrests.

Alto­geth­er six­teen arrests were made – using a sec­tion of the Trade Union and Labour Rela­tions Act 1992 , which was leg­is­la­tion first brought in to tar­get fly­ing pick­ets dur­ing indus­tri­al dis­putes. Two more were arrest­ed on Sat­ur­day morn­ing. Obvi­ous­ly Cuadrilla have now man­aged to start get­ting trucks in – but they’re on a tight sched­ule with their drilling licence over by Octo­ber. Alleged­ly they were sup­posed to get drilling today (Sat­ur­day) but that’s been put back until Mon­day already. Accord­ing to Anna Dark, a com­mu­ni­ty rep­re­sen­ta­tive “They need to get forty days of drilling done before the end of their licence, they’ve lost a day already – we can stop this!”

Cuadrilla’s plan­ning per­mis­sion only allows for vehi­cle move­ments at cer­tain times – they were sup­posed to stop at 1 pm today. Sus­sex cops start­ed off claim­ing that there was an exten­sion but backed down in the face of irate vil­lagers demands to see the paper­work.

Unde­terred by the show of repres­sion a large protest camp has sprung up along the verge and with 90% of Bal­combe vil­lage res­i­dents say­ing they’re in favour of direct action this one could run and run.

SchNEWS has heard that there will be no truck move­ments tomor­row but there will be trans­port head­ing from Brighton up to the drilling site – leav­ing at 9 a.m from out­side RBS on the Old Steine

For con­tin­u­ous updates and how to get involved http://frack-off.org.uk

or phone 07858 614861/07 944 087 421

http://www.schnews.org.uk/stories/No-Names,-No-Frack-Drill/

The Great Gas Gala – Day 4 In Pictures

28 July 2013

28 July 2013

Update (11:30pm): 80 peo­ple stay­ing at the camp tonight. Come down tomor­row bright and ear­ly to sup­port the com­mu­ni­ty against the frack­ing threat.

Update (7:00pm): Green and Black Cross ‘Know Your Rights’ work­shop at camp now. If you’re can’t attend, do your home­work here: http://greatgasgala.org.uk/know-your-rights/

Update (2:50pm): Cops throw­ing their weight around. Try­ing to force peo­ple t move a cou­ple of feet for no par­tic­u­lar rea­son, but noth­ing major.

Update (2:00pm): Block­ade con­tin­u­ing to grow. About 80 peo­ple now. Locals bring down food to feed every­one

Update (12:45pm): Today the camp is most­ly build­ing show­ers & a toi­let – relaxed & enjoy­ing the sun

Update (12:00pm): Com­mu­ni­ty block­ade still going strong. Camp grow­ing with 30 peo­ple stay­ing overnight and more stream­ing in now. Check of the camp wish list if you are com­ing down.

Camp At The Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Block­ade In Bal­combe

Fam­i­ly At The Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Block­ade In Bal­combe

Camp At The Com­mu­ni­ty Frack­ing Block­ade In Bal­combe

Bal­combe Res­i­dent Read­ing Sun­day Papers At The Camp

Anti-Frack­ing Scare­crow Doing Its Job In Bal­combe

 

The Great Gas Gala – Day 3 In Pictures

27 July 2013

Update (4:30pm): Com­mu­ni­ty block­ade now has a pool table. Relaxed atmos­phere now Cau­drilla have been stopped for rest of the day. Join us!

27 July 2013

Update (4:30pm): Com­mu­ni­ty block­ade now has a pool table. Relaxed atmos­phere now Cau­drilla have been stopped for rest of the day. Join us!

Update (3:10pm): Com­mu­ni­ty block­ade still grow­ing with about 200 peo­ple. Police have announced that because of com­mu­ni­ty con­cerns there will be no more deliv­er­ies today! Seems like Cuadrilla have been break­ing con­di­tions of their plan­ning per­mis­sion with the vehi­cle deliv­ery times. Don’t hold your breath for any­one to be arrest­ed and tor­tured over that though.

Update (1:40pm): About 100 peo­ple at the com­mu­ni­ty block­ade. Large num­bers of police in wedge for­ma­tions being used to try to push frack­ing trucks through com­mu­ni­ty resis­tance. Police heli­copter over­head.

Update (1:20pm): West Sus­sex Coun­ty Coun­cil High­ways called to patch up road dam­age caused by the few trucks that have already made it onto site.

Update (1:00pm): Large num­bers of police being used to force through Cuadrilla’s frack­ing trucks against will of com­mu­ni­ty. Come lend your sup­port if you can!

Update (12:40pm): Police try­ing to get anoth­er truck through. The com­mu­ni­ty is resist­ing. Come sup­port them if you can!

Update (12:00pm): Sec­ond arrest of the day! Do come down and sup­port the com­mu­ni­ty if you can!

Update (11:55am): Anoth­er truck is being stopped by the com­mu­ni­ty block­ade

Update (11:15am): Num­bers build­ing at the camp and the weath­er is good. Do come down and join if you can!

Update (10:00am): Rein­force­ments arrive on the bus from Brighton but more need­ed. Come on down!

Update (9:45am): One Sus­sex res­i­dent arrest­ed after sit­ting in front of truck.

Update (9:35am): Road closed and police try­ing to escort truck through com­mu­ni­ty block­ade. Get down to help if you can!

Update (8:55am): Police num­bers increas­ing. Get down to help if you can!

Update (8:45am): Truck turned away from frack­ing site! Come down and join the block­ade!

Update (8:00am): Sus­sex res­i­dents block­ing site entrance again! Come down if you can!

Update (7:30am): Camp still going strong. Come on down!

Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade At Bal­combe Now Has A Pool Table

Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade At Bal­combe Still Grow­ing

Coun­cil Work­ers Patch Road Dam­age After Just a Few Frack­ing Trucks Have Gone In

Large Num­bers Of Police Being Used Force Frack­ing Trucks Through Com­mu­ni­ty Resis­tance

Police Guard Truck Load Of Frack­ing Chem­i­cals

Com­mu­ni­ty Blocks Frack­ing Truck From Enter­ing Site

Police Try To Escort Anoth­er Truck Through The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

Police Try To Escort Anoth­er Truck Through The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

Anoth­er Truck Blocked At Site Entrance

Num­bers Build­ing At The Camp And Weath­er Is Good

Kitchen At The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade In Bal­combe

Tox­ic Cuadrilla Scare­crow At The Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

Bus Load Of Peo­ple From Brighton Arrive To Help Their Neigh­bours

Police Attempt To Escort Truck Through Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade

Five Police Vans Arrive At Frack­ing Site

Attempts To Halt Deliv­er­ies To Frack­ing Site Con­tin­u­ing