Fracking not only has a range of serious local environmental impacts, but it also undermines efforts to tackle the climate crisis
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It could be a village fete. There are rugs spread out, bunting, and several green gazebos. People are sitting on folding camp stools, and knowledgeable locals are keeping an eye on the Sussex skies for the first sign of rain. Only the placards and banners strike the wrong note. Because the villagers and visitors gathered together are here not to raise money for the church roof, but to try to stop a plan to drill for fossil fuels under their homes and fields.
That was my first experience of the protest at Balcombe, last summer. It's been a long journey since then, via five hours in the cells of Crawley police station, months of preparing our case, and finally six days at the magistrates court in Brighton.
Balcombe, as one of the first places in the UK to be earmarked as a potential fracking site, has been the frontline in a major struggle over the search and exploitation of yet more fossil fuels – and the stakes could hardly be higher.
