More than 60 people from both the local area and the wider south-east gathered for a picnic by the Horse Hill drilling site on Sunday afternoon (5 October).

They came to demonstrate their concerns about the drilling taking place, and in particular about the threat of prospecting for shale gas, which requires the controversial process of fracking (hydraulic fracturing) to extract it.

People who live close to the site talked about the noise, traffic, light pollution and the impacts on animals. And people from further afield in Surrey and Sussex came to show their opposition to new oil drilling and especially the threat of fracking in this area.

Mounting evidence shows that fracking would be a disaster for the environment and the economy. Instead of pouring money into this dinosaur industry, the Government needs to prioritise investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies such as tidal, wind and solar.

Public meeting Monday 13 October

Frack Free Surrey are holding a public meeting on Monday 13 October, 7pm, at the Empire Hall, Victoria Road, Horley RH6 7AW.

This will provide information on what is happening at the Horse Hill Site, the threat of fracking on the area, and alternatives.

Speakers will include Sue Taylor, a Chartered Accountant who lives half a mile from the drill site at Balcombe, and Jonathan Essex, a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist and Green Green County Councillor for Redhill.  More speakers to be confirmed.

Horse Hill Developments Ltd has issued a press release apparently to clear up confusion over the competing messages coming out from its partner Magellan.

The HHDL release, dated 29 September “confirms that this is a conventional drilling project and none of the other partners have any interest in exploring unconventional opportunities. There are no unconventional shale targets.”

As if to underline this, they include a link to the Magellan press release dated 18 September (which mysteriously disappeared from their website but is now viewable again), in which Magellan CEO J. Thomas Wilson is quoted, “Horse Hill Developments has proven to be an able operator. The Weald Basin has yielded conventional oil and gas production for decades, and I expect Horse Hill Developments will be a strong partner to Magellan in unlocking value from the conventional  prospects at Horse Hill and elsewhere in the Weald. Their efforts will complement nicely our own pursuit of the attractive unconventional development opportunities in the Weald.” (our emphasis).

Frack Free Surrey is holding two events to raise awareness of the drilling and the threat of fracking in the wider area, and to give local people a chance to find out more:

• Picnic near the site: Sunday 5 October, 2-4pm at Horse HIll – with cakes, entertainment and information
• Public meeting in Horley: Monday 13 October, 7-9pm, Empire Hall, Victoria Road, Horley RH6 7AW. (Opposite the Air Balloon car park)

Read more

• Horse Hill Developments Ltd release
• Magellan press release

Download a flyer

This summary is written in good faith, based on conversations with local residents, campaigners, the Environment Agency, and others. We at Frack Free Surrey are not oil industry experts. Please do your own research before acting on any information below. We would be very happy to receive corrections and additions to this summary, and will incorporate them as soon as possible.

Exploratory drilling for oil and gas now under way at Horse Hill, west of Horley, is attracting attention from anti-fracking campaigners, although no fracking is currently planned on site.

Why’s this?  It’s because of bullish statements by one of the partners in Horse Hill Developments Ltd (HHDL), the consortium put together to explore this site.

Magellan Petroleum Corporation, who have a 35% stake in HHDL, have made clear their ambitions to frack in the Weald Basin.

In a press release issued on 4 September, said “During drilling, Magellan will have the opportunity to core and log at its own expense several shale and tight formations in the Cretaceous and Jurassic sections, including the Kimmeridge Clay and Liassic formations. The Company expects that the information gained through these activities will provide valuable insights into the technical and economic viability of unconventional development elsewhere in the Weald Basin.”

In other words, they accept they can’t frack at Horse Hill, but hope to use data from Horse Hill to inform their plans to frack elsewhere.

They since issued a second press release, saying “Magellan has decided to defer the opportunity at Horse Hill-1 to run a suite of unconventional logs over the Kimmeridge Clay and Liassic formations.”

However this second release was quickly withdrawn from their site, while the first is still on there, so it is impossible to understand their intentions.

And even while talking of ‘deferring’ (not abandoning) their plans for Horse Hill, J. Thomas Wilson, President and CEO of Magellan, said, “I expect Horse Hill Developments will be a strong partner to Magellan in unlocking value from the conventional prospects at Horse Hill and elsewhere in the Weald. Their efforts will complement nicely our own pursuit of the attractive unconventional development opportunities in the Weald.”

People therefore have understandable concerns that the work at Horse Hill is directly contributing to plans to frack across South East England.

(Many of us, of course, are opposed to any new fossil fuel exploitation, believing that a quick switch to renewable energy is urgently needed to avert the serious threats of climate change.)

Conventional extraction or fracking?

Current seismic data shows that the best prospect is for reserves of conventional oil, with a more marginal prospect of reserves of conventional gas.

HHDL is hoping to discover recoverable reserves of conventional oil or gas.

HHDL is a majority-owned subsidiary of Angus Energy, which operates conventional oil wells at nearby Brockham (Surrey) and Lidsey (West Sussex).

However Magellan, with a 35% stake, is very interested in the potential for ‘unconventional’ oil and gas – as outlined above.

Oil drilling at Horse Hill: some history

In the 1980s, Esso drilled just to the north of the current site. However they are now believed to have drilled on the wrong side of a fault and oil companies remained interested in potential oil finds at this site.

Magellan was granted planning permission for exploratory drilling back in in January 2012. They had hoped to frack at Horse Hill (see this document, which formed part of the planning application documents). However they did not proceed and instead formed a partnership with Horse Hill Development Ltd (HHDL), who now own 65% of the operation, with Magellan retaining just a 35% stake.

We understand that Magellan does not have adequate finance to conduct fracking, nor to guarantee HHDL against damage caused by fracking, and so they are not in control of the current activities.

HHDL then applied for the necessary permits from the Environment Agency to carry out exploratory drilling, which they received.

You can download all the documents submitted to the Environment Agency here – the Environmental Method Statement gives a summary of what will be taking place.

No fracking is permitted at Horse Hill in the exploratory phase and in the event that HHDL did decide to exploit shale targets, they would need to apply for fresh permissions.

What are locals doing?

The Norwood Hill Residents Association is keeping a close eye on activities and liaising with HHDL and the regulatory bodies to ensure the local impacts are minimised.

Campaigners from Frack Free Surrey are holding a picnic at the site on Sunday 5 October, from 2pm til around 4pm. This is to raise awareness of what’s happening and give local people a chance to ask questions and find out more.

Frack Free Surrey is also holding a public meeting in Horley on 13 October at 7pm.  We will add details shortly.

We will continue to report any updates on this site.

Very good news! FrackFreeFernhurst write:

‘FFF is delighted that the SDNPA planning committee have turned down Celtique Energie’s application for exploratory drilling at Nine Acre Copse. In rejecting this application they have not only taken the advice of their own planning officer and accepted the government’s own confirmation that such development should only take place in a national park in exceptional circumstances but also listened to the over five and a half thousand people who have objected to this proposal (as opposed to the eleven who have expressed support of it). Clearly a national park is not the right place for a large-scale “industrial experiment” (Andrew Tyrie MP), and we are relieved to see that the SDNPA have upheld their objectives to protect the national park and the community within it.

Right up until the last minute Celtique demonstrated their lack of respect for our community with their continued attempts to mislead both the public and the planning authorities with disingenuous and incorrect statements and material.

We would like to thank all the organisations and individuals who have tirelessly campaigned for and contributed to our campaign – from Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the National Trust, the Woodland Trust, RSPB, CPRE, the South Downs Society to those who visit and love the national park and of course the residents of Fernhurst, Lynchmere and the surrounding area.

One thing that the last 16 months have shown is that we live in a community which is willing to work together and support each other when faced with a crisis. We hope that our village can now return to being the peaceful and happy place that it was before we faced this unwelcome and inappropriate threat.’

The Chartered Institute for Environmental Health (CIEH), which represents Environmental Health Officers, has urged Local Authorities to oppose fracking until they are fully confident about the health risks to people and the environment.

They’ve said there are “major shortcomings” with the regulation of shale gas and there is currently not enough evidence to be sure that fracking is safe.

The report suggested that shale gas was unlikely to displace coal, and would contribute to, rather than help tackle, climate change.

It concludes: “The combination of weak regulation, diminishing resources within regulatory bodies, inexperience of industry and regulators, lack of an appropriate monitoring framework, poor industry compliance and potential conflicts of interest within the planning regime is disquieting”.

Thanks to Ruth Hayhurst for the information.  Read her full report here.

Tory-controlled West Sussex County Council’s Planning Committee has refused Celtique Energy’s application for planning permission for a temporary well off Kirdford Road near Northup Copse.

This is an important milestone in the campaign against fracking – it’s the first council in England to turn down an application for exploratory shale oil drilling.

Local residents had campaigned hard against this application, in particular highlighting the impacts of the heavy lorries involved in fracking in this rural area.

The committee refused permission on traffic grounds and as it felt Celtique had not demonstrated the location was the best option compared to alternatives.

Read more:

Friends of the Earth report

West Sussex County Times report

Horse Hill Development Ltd has today applied to the Environment Agency for a Mining Waste Environmental Permit for the Horse Hill site.

You can find all the documents here: https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/portal/npsapp/horsehill/horse_hill_developments_limited_1

The consultation runs until 15 July.

Please do share your comments on the documents. We will share reactions and information in due course.

The government has announced it wants to speed up processes to allow onshore drilling and part of this will be to change the law so that companies can drill under your land without permission.

Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace have created a petition to all MPs.

You can sign the petition here

Building the movement

against shale gas exploitation in Surrey

Chilworth Village Hall 

Wednesday 7 May, 7:30pm

Please come to help plan how we build the movement against fracking in Surrey.

We intend to hold regular events to inform local people of the issues concerning the exploration for and exploitation of shale gas and oil in Surrey.

We also intend to establish local village groups, for example Frackfree Shalford, Frackfree Chilworth, etc.

To find out more, contact frackfreesurrey@gmail.com

Nearly one hundred people from Shalford, Chilworth and Albury, and even some from much further afield, attended a meeting at Shalford Village Hall on 12 April to find out more about shale gas and its extraction by hydraulic fracturing.

The event was organised and hosted by Shalford resident Seorais Graham, who was alarmed by how little local people seemed to know about the subject aside from the official government rhetoric.

Seorais said, “The company IGas holds a licence for on shore oil and gas development in this ‘area of outstanding natural beauty’ therefore we can’t afford to ignore the potential risks that any fracking development may bring.”

Dr Damien Short, a senior lecturer in human rights at the University of London, who lives in Chilworth, co-hosted the proceedings. Damien runs The Extreme Energy Initiative, which monitors the human rights impacts of unconventional fossil fuels.

The Truth Behind The Dash for Gas

An edited version of the documentary The Truth Behind The Dash for Gas was shown. This film pulls no punches. It explores our own government’s close ties to the powerful oil and gas industry.[1] It also covers the serious and under-reported consequences of fracking: serious negative effects on health; damage to the environment – in particular water contamination – and major social disruption.

Graham Warren, an independent hydro-geologist from Kent, then gave a detailed presentation, supported by diagrams, about the local geology. He concluded that, “there would appear to be the makings of a case against shale gas extraction as posing a significant threat to the integrity of the local water resource“.The Weald is full of naturally occurring fault lines that could lead to the migration of fracking fluids to aquifers.

Supporting protesters

Kathryn McWhirter, a resident from the West Sussex village of Balcombe, followed with a sincere and moving account of how her life has been transformed since Cuadrilla set up a fracking rig only fifty metres from her house.

She has been forced to become an expert on the oil and gas industry, as well as planning laws, in order to fight for the survival of the village she loves. Her tireless campaigning has become a priority over all her other work.

But she is not alone in her efforts – a ‘wartime spirit’ has united many of the villagers against Cuadrilla; only a minority support its activities. And she has made many more friends since the arrival of the protesters, or ‘protectors’. She encouraged everyone at the meeting to be open-minded about them: academics, students and professionals, who lay down in front of the convoy of Cuadrilla’s HGVs.

Kathryn’s first hand experience and wide-reaching research has convinced her that fracking should be banned throughout Britain. The growing number of communities who are joining together to stand up against the government’s plans to implement shale gas extraction prove the Chinese proverb that she cited, ‘many fleas makes the dog jump’, may be coming true.

Better aware than in the dark

After the presentations, everyone present was invited to join the discussion.

John Brockwell, a councillor from Albury, explained how the parish council was holding monthly meetings with IGas about the Albury well site and its future plans. Seorais asked John about whether he could trust a company that falsely claimed on its website that there have been ‘more than one million wells drilled around the world and in no case has there been a single case of water pollution’.  John said it was at least good to be engaged with them – better to be aware of what is being planned in the local area than not, better to know about fracking and its potential consequences than to stay in the dark.

Thanks to the knowledgeable guest speakers and the content of the film,  people left the meeting not only with a better understanding of the threat of fracking but hopefully inspired to start organising ‘frackfree communities’.

Another meeting to move forward on organising these local groups – open to all – will be held at Chilworth Village Hall on Wednesday May 7th at 7:30pm.

Contact:  frackfreesurrey@gmail.com