Press release from Extinction Rebellion
Climate campaigners are inviting Surrey residents to join a countryside walk of discovery this weekend between two of Surrey’s hidden oil extraction sites.
The 6.5 mile (10km) walk is taking place on Saturday 1st October as part of the national Great Big Green Week which is the UK’s biggest ever celebration of community action to tackle climate change and to protect nature.
Dubbed The Shale Trail, the walk will begin outside UK Oil and Gas Ltd (UKOG)’s Horse Hill site near Horley and then meander through beautiful countryside to Brockham, where Angus Energy has an oil extraction site.
The Horse Hill site was granted permission by Surrey County Council in 2019 to extract oil at the site for 20 years. This could produce an estimated 3.3 million tonnes of oil which, when burned, could result in 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Meanwhile Angus Energy was granted planning permission in April this year to produce oil from the Brockham site until 2036.
Walkers will join members of the Green Party, Climate Action Reigate and Redhill, Dorking Climate Emergency, Dorking, Reigate and Redhill Extinction Rebellion, and the Weald Action Group on the walk, which will end at Brockham Church Hall at 4pm.
Walkers will be invited to have tea and cake at the church hall and hear talks from a panel of speakers about how oil production threatens both the local and the global environment.
Speakers will include Sarah Finch, who will talk about her legal challenge to Surrey County Council’s decision to permit 20 years of oil production at Horse Hill, which will be heard in the Supreme Court.
Climate campaigner the Reverend Helen Burnett, who has helped organise the walk, said: “Walking from Horse Hill to Brockham we will be making a strong link between two active local sites of shale oil extraction which lie within seven miles of each other in south east Surrey.
“Walkers drawn from the local concerned community and from further afield will join together to walk and talk and sing as we pass through beautiful countryside in the shadow of the awful fact that our current government is hell bent on ignoring the direct link between fossil fuel extraction and climate breakdown, and instead of investing in renewables wants to extract every last barrel of oil and gas from our land.
“This policy benefits the oil companies at an appalling cost to our planet which means that the poorest suffer while the richest line their pockets.
Walkers should assemble at 10.30am for an 11pm start at the Horse Hill site entrance on Horse Hill Road (RH6 OHN). Please wear proper footwear and dress for the weather and remember to bring a packed lunch and water for the walk.