Protest held at drilling site over ‘fracking’

Environmental protesters were demonstrating at the gates of a Chesterfield drilling site against the controversial “fracking” technique.

Around 20 people were believed to be involved in the protest at Cuadrilla Resources’ drilling rig in Danesmoor, Chesterfield.

Four of the demonstrators locked themselves to the site’s gate in a bid to prevent the rig moving to its fracking site in Lancashire.

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Fracking is the controversial extraction of gas from shale rock which some environmental campaigners believe is damaging to the environment. While widely practised in the United States, its use is not common in Britain.

Derbyshire Police said they were monitoring the group and that it was a peaceful protest.

Demonstrator Elsie Walker, 27, said: “The scale of development proposed is being completely ignored. They are one company going after one type of gas. There are several companies going after several types of unconventional gas in the UK and all potentially on a similar scale to Cuadrilla.

“If this goes ahead, we will witness the total industrialisation of the British countryside.”

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In a statement, Cuadrilla’s drilling contractor, PR Marriott Drilling Ltd, which owns the site, said: “Despite the best attempts of the environmental protesters to damage this British business, access to the site has been gained and work has all but returned to normal.”

Mark Miller, chief executive of Cuadrilla Resources, said: “We would rather concentrate on continuing to communicate on every aspect of our operations with the local communities we work within, than get involved in arguments with environmental protesters, most of whom don’t live anywhere near where we work.”