Written by Allan Todd
This recent
statement is an excellent summary of the current situation as regards the
on-going protests against fracking at Preston New Road (PNR). This fracking
site - operated by dirty-energy company Cuadrilla - has seen daily protests
ever since work began in January. As a result, Cuadrilla’s fracking project is
approximately 5 months behind schedule.
Yet there has
been very little national coverage of these protests: consequently, there are still many who have
little understanding of the reasons for them. However, the protesters
themselves are very clear about why they are there. Their main reasons can be
summarised as follows:
• Defending local democracy
• Concerns about local environmental
pollution
• Limiting increased global warming
1. MAIN
ISSUES
Currently,
there are two main issues:
(a) Local
democracy
In June 2015,
Lancashire County Council rejected both of Cuadrilla’s fracking applications.
Yet, in October 2016, this was overturned by the Tory government - despite
‘promises’, before the 2015 general election, to leave such matters to local
councils.
There is,
however, an even greater threat to local democracy: although shelved following
the Tories’ poor performance in this year’s general election, the Tories wish
to place fracking under ‘Permitted Development’. This would grant automatic
approval without any scrutiny by democratically-elected local councils.
In May’s
local elections, Lancashire County Council passed from Labour to Conservative
control. Previously, the planning permissions and regulations imposed on
Cuadrilla included a prohibition on moving heavy lorries, to or from the site,
between 6.30pm and 7.00am. Yet, when Cuadrilla recently broke that prohibition,
by bringing in 30 lorries at 4.15am, the new Conservative-controlled Council’s
response was… to write a letter to Cuadrilla, noting their disappointment!
(b) Nature of
policing
The response
of the police - now drawn, under the Mutual Aid scheme, from several different
forces - to these protests has been varied. When the number of protesters is
high (80 - 100), policing is generally good-natured and proportionate. This was
shown most recently (‘Green Monday’ 21 August) by their reaction to a 5-hour
sit-down, by over 60 people, in front of the site entrance:
The central
part of the peaceful sit-down on Monday 21 Aug. - Gina Dowding (Lancashire
County Councillor) & Tina Rothery (Anti-Fracking Nana) are centre-frame.
The central part of the peaceful sit-down on Monday 21 Aug. - Gina Dowding
(Lancashire County Councillor) & Tina Rothery (Anti-Fracking Nana) are
centre-frame.
Once two polite verbal requests to move had been turned down, the police made no effort to move people physically. As a result of this - and a 5-person lock-on in the morning - only one HGV lorry was able to enter the site all day!
However, when numbers are low, the various protest actions are often met with what can be described as, at best, ‘robust’ policing. At times, this has included violently shoving protesters into hedges/fences, or throwing them to the ground - and even tipping people out of wheelchairs. As a result, there has been a considerable number of official complaints.
2. WHAT’S
HAPPENING
During July,
Reclaim the Power organised an entire month of varied protests, known as
Rolling Resistance. As well as tried-and tested methods like sit-downs and
lay-downs.
There were
also several inventive and successful lock-ons, and some spectacular ‘truck
surfing’ - all of which prevented truck deliveries (in some cases, for several
days!):
‘Green
Mondays’
In order to
maintain the momentum RTP has built up, local Green Parties, and Greenpeace and
FoE groups, have combined together to organise regular ‘Green Mondays’ in an
effort to get high numbers for one day a week, for the next couple of months at
least. On 14 Aug., Natalie Bennett came up to PNR and, on 21 Aug., Jamie Peters
(FoE’s Anti-fracking Organiser) was the main speaker - the latter day
culminating in the successful sit-down. So far, numbers have slowly picked up
on each of these successive ‘Green Mondays’.
At the same
time, NW Labour Parties and Momentum branches have been approached to see if
they can commit to a regular ‘Red Day’. On 15 Aug., as a first step, Yasmin
Qureshi (MP for Bolton SE) came up:
and she and
her Office Manager are currently doing what they can do to promote the idea of a weekly ‘Red
Day’.
Currently,
these are the main ‘Special Events’ organised for the next few weeks:
Tuesday 29 August: Sail Away Day! - because of Bank Holiday Monday, the ‘Green Mondays’ emphasis has been shifted to Tues. 29 Aug. The day has a ‘sailing theme’ - so if you’re coming, it would be great if you wore something vaguely nautical!
Friday 1 September: Mass Action/Funday!! - with family-friendly activities.
Monday 4 September: Amelia Womack (Green Party Deputy Leader) will be the main speaker - and there is the possibility (not yet confirmed) that there will also be a national Greenpeace speaker.
Monday 18
September: Caroline Lucas will be the main speaker; one of the other speakers
will be Stephen Hall - president of Greater Manchester Assoc. of TUs, &
Chair of Unite the Union/GM Area Activists' Cttee - who will be speaking about
the One Million Climate Jobs campaign.
Friday 29
September: Stephen Hall & Ian Hodson (President of the Bakers, Food &
Allied Workers' Union - the first union to come out against fracking) are
organising what should be a 'big NW Trade Unions’ mobilisation'.
3. HOW PEOPLE
CAN HELP
(a) Come
& join us!
The main
thing people can do to help is, quite simply, to come to PNR for these ‘Green
Mondays’ - or other days, if Mondays are difficult - as often as they can!
Ideally, we want to reach that ‘Magic Number of 100’ on as many days as we can.
With numbers
like that, the police often decide that no safe deliveries can be made to the
site at that time!
(b) Share and
publicise widely
Another way
of helping is to share information about these protests, with family, friends
and organisations, as widely as possible.
The more people know what’s happening at PNR, the more likely we are to
get high numbers of protesters.
(c) What you
do is up to you
Potential
protesters need to know that there are many different roles they can play: from
helping to prepare food for the protesters, to simply standing with placards on
the pavement across from the site, to various forms of peaceful civil
disobedience/ non-violent direct action (nvda) - (e.g. sit-down protests, lock-ons, and
'truck surfing').
It is
ENTIRELY up to individuals to decide which type of activity they wish to take
part in.
If nvda is
not for you, that doesn’t matter at all - what DOES matter is getting as many
people as possible attending each and every day. Simply being there gives real
moral support to those who have been protesting since Cuadrilla’s activities on
this site began in January. And passing drivers seeing large numbers standing
on the pavement with placards is a great way of increasing public awareness of
the campaign - sometimes, there are so many drivers ‘honking’ their support
that it gets quite noisy!
Some
practical information:
• For those using public transport, the
nearest station is Kirkham-and-Wesham: from there, cross over the road and
catch the #61 bus, which takes about 15 minutes. There is a bus stop very close
to the fracking site. Alternatively, you could take a bike and cycle from
Kirkham-and-Wesham station, which also takes about 15 minutes.
• For those coming by car, the best
route is as follows:
Come off the
M55 @ Jnc 4, onto the A583, signed Preston/Kirkham.
Free parking
is available at: Maple Farm Nursery Garden, Moss House Lane (off Preston New
Road), PR4 3PE -
Tel: 01772-
685166. The farm is less than a 20-minute walk from the fracking site. The
World of Water Aquatic Centre has also kindly agreed to allow protesters to
park at the very far side of their unmade (& often water-logged!) back car
park. If you are parking there, PLEASE make sure you leave the car park BEFORE
6.00pm.
• For those travelling by car who have
health/mobility issues, it is possible to be dropped off at the fracking site
itself.
• Toilet facilities: there are
portacabin toilet facilities at Maple Farm Nursery Garden - and 'proper'
toilets at the World of Water Aquatic Centre. However, you should be willing to
buy drinks and/or food at Ma Baker's café/restaurant, which serves hot drinks
and food (including 'an amazing selection of cakes'!), rather than just
wandering in and out to use their facilities. They have been very good to us -
despite our protests sometimes causing temporary road closures - so we wouldn't
want protesters to take them for granted.
• For those staying several days, the
owner of Maple Farm has also made space available for camping. In addition,
there are two other campsites. For those who (like me!) prefer more comfort,
there is a Premier Inn on the roundabout as you come off the M55 - and it’s
only a 30-minute walk to the fracking site.
• Free vegan/vegetarian food and drink
are provided for protesters (donations welcomed from those not unemployed or on
benefits).
• There is now a dedicated Facebook
Event page for 'Green Mondays':
Please
indicate on this when you'll be attending, so we get some idea of numbers for
each Monday.
We - and your
planet - need YOU!!
Allan Todd
Allerdale
& Copeland Green Party
(Supporter of
Green Left & the Ecosocialist Network)
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