Fracker Cuadrilla: Welcome back to Balcombe

So: fracker #Cuadrilla Resources is returning to #Balcombe. The notorious hydaulic fracturing company was recently given planning permission to explore  oil and gas reserves near the small UK village – again.

Balcombe and Cuadrilla have history. Indeed, Balcombe made the multi-million pound driller famous. In 2013 an epic tussle between Cuadrilla and the Balcombe Community Protection Camp (BCPC) became summer-long front-page news; at its height more than 2,000 people were on station to block Cuadrilla's gate.

The result weighed heavily on the fracker. Five years on and Cuadrilla have not fracked another well. The UK's still-born #fracking industry defines its history as before and after camp that ignited the anti-fracking movement nationwide.

Indeed, Balcombe kicked off a renaissance of environmental activism. Before the BCPC, activity was limited to NGOs like Greenpeace, and a few direct action groupings such as Climate Camp. Back then direct action made national headlines, and the organisations and groupings doing it were easy to spot.

Balcombe made fracker Cuadrilla famous - and ignited a nationwide protest movement

Post-Balcombe environmental activism bloomed, and diversified. Indeed, the word 'environmentalist' is rarely heard these days. They are 'protectors', 'anti-frackers' or more simply 'locals'; normal people that care about the environment within which they live.

And Direct Action - once a rare occurence - now happens almost every day across the country. 

In Sussex, Lancashire and Yorkshire hundreds have been arrested for protesting against fracking, and courts around fracking sites are full of people being charged for their resistance. Local police forces spend millions on policing. And on it goes. 

These days, people who - before fracking - would never have dreamed of participating in direct action are regularly arrested, for example the Lancashire County Councillors arrested outside another of Cuadrilla's gates at Preston New Road near Blackpool in early 2017. 

And – seven years on from where it began - the industry still hasn't fracked any wells.

Balcombe -and anti-fracking in general - catalysled a whole new generation of environmental activism. And now Cuadrilla are to return to where the opposition first consolidated. 

They may be thinking that resistance has waned – indeed, various other drill sites in Sussex have not attracted the huge protests seen at Balcombe. They may be figuring that the opposition has simply gone away.

Yet Balcombe has changed in the years since Cuadrilla's 2013 ignominy.

The Balcombe Parish Council - then weakly supportive of Cuadrilla - is now firmly in the hands of anti-frackers. Many opponents of drilling - having discovered the beauty of the village during the BCPC - have moved into the area. And nationally support for fracking has drained away as surely as a fracked well's production rates. 

Similarly, the entire movement has up-skilled. Anti-fracking camps now litter the country. The infrastructure, skills and networking capabilities that have, for example, delayed the company for more than a year in Lancashire will also be avallable to those in Sussex. 

And that's not to mention the proximity of nearby Brighton, the firmly environmentalist city that re-elected Caroline Lucas (herself arrested in 2013 at Balcombe) with an increased majority in last year's general election.

It is true that - after seven years of struggle – some people have moved on from the anti-fracking fight. But Balcombe resonates for many more. And for the thousands of people who attended the BCMP, Cuadrilla's return is an affront; the company risks re-invigorating those who have stepped off the path.

So Cuadrilla: many thanks for your past efforts in invigorating our movement. And -  of course - a big welcome back to Balcombe, where we look forward to bloodying your nose once again.