Living near an oil or gas site is not without its problems. These range from anxiety that activities at the site are causing serious problems, like earthquakes, or that HGVs aren’t sticking to the agreed route or about harmful emissions to the air or into your drinking water. And that’s just the start. When it comes to climate change we all have an interest in standing against plans that will wreck our climate and cause catastrophic damage to all the species who live on earth.
The South of England is covered with licences for oil and gas exploration and when a developer comes forward with an application for an exploratory licence you will suddenly find yourself becoming an expert on the many environmental and other impacts that flow from their plans. Communities around Surrey, Sussex and the Isle of Wight have worked together, developed expertise and skills in communicating and lobbying to counter the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. Some have resorted to taking direct action when all other options have failed in a system stacked against local communities and a safe environment.
This section highlights the main issues we have encountered on that journey.