Campaigners protest against shale drilling in Balcombe

Protesters have gathered at the Cuadrilla shale oil fracking exploration site in Balcombe, West Sussex to campaign against drilling reportedly due to start at the weekend.

A group of around a dozen protesters succeeded in blocking an equipment lorry headed for the site just south of Balcombe railway station. They wrapped yellow and black crime scene tape around the equipment and carried a banner that read “no more dirty energy”.

Around 100 protesters in total are currently at the site in a demonstration that started at 7am this morning (Thursday). Police are understood to be mediating with the protesters.

Organisers the Extreme Energy Action Network described the event as “a community-led carnival of anti-fracking revelry , with a very serious purpose”, in a statement on its website,

The event is the latest protest against the controversial energy source that received negative publicity last year when test wells were thought to have triggered two minor earthquakes when drilling commenced for shale gas at a Cuadrilla site in the Bowland region of Lancashire.

Protester Alex Griffiths, said “People are realising that if we are going to protect ourselves from this industry we are going to have to do it ourselves. After 5000 signatures on petitions and nearly a thousand objections being sent to the Environment Agency work is still going ahead.

“We have tried other methods. We now have no choice but to take matters into our own hands and protect ourselves from the threat fracking poses to our health and environment.”

A statement from Cuadrilla said: “Cuadrilla plans to drill and take samples of the underground rock in a vertical well drilled to approximately 3,000 feet, with a possible horizontal leg of 2,500 feet. The delivery over the four days is of the rig and associated components.”

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, injects water into the ground at high pressures to fracture shale rocks and release oil or gas trapped inside.