‘Don’t drill Leith Hill!’ That was the message loud and clear as I approached the activist camp surrounding fracking sights on the road stretching from Dorking to Coldharbour. Since October 2016 protestors have squatted land around the area large corporate oil and gas companies are now using to dig up fossil fuels, and other natural resources. The resistance has caused quite a stir as businesses attempt to enter the land sights, with activists ‘laying down barbed wire and jumping on the front of trucks’ in order to halt proceedings.
Despite supposedly having the backing of local councils, protestors were evicted from what can only be described as a man-made fort that they were using for shelter in June 2017. However this proved to have little impact as the group simply moved over the road and have existed there ever since. Speaking to one man who claimed his name was ‘Junksy’ due to his elaborate artwork, explained ‘these big corporates don’t understand what they’re doing, all that natural oil and gas which they’re digging up was put there for a reason. Destroying the natural terrain will lead to problems for years to come and it will be the younger generation who will be faced with fixing that problem.’ Plans to carry on the work are in place for the end of the month, and this will likely be met with strong resistance from the environmental activists who proceed to physically protect the natural reserves under threat.
