Balcombe oil drilling: Anti-fracking march planned

The "Reclaim the Power" six-day camp at Balcombe is in addition to a protest running since 25 July

Anti-fracking protesters are to march on a site in West Sussex where test drilling for oil is taking place.

Energy firm Cuadrilla is looking for oil near Balcombe but has not ruled out using fracking to extract shale gas.

Hundreds of people have gathered at a campsite set up by the group No Dash for Gas which is also planning "direct action" at the drilling site.

Demonstrators will march from Balcombe railway station to the drilling site from 15:00 BST on Sunday.

Cuadrilla has scaled back its operations during the latest protest camp which is scheduled to end by Wednesday.

However, its chief executive Francis Egan said drilling would continue at the site as soon as it was safe to do so.

'No mandate'

Cuadrilla is drilling a 3,000ft (900m) vertical well and a 2,500ft (750m) horizontal bore. The firm said fracking for shale gas at Balcombe would require fresh permission.

On Saturday, BBC correspondent Mark Norman said about 200 people were camping at the first protest site, which had been there since 25 July.

He said a further 200 were at the "Reclaim the Power" protest camp set up by No Dash for Gas, with more people arriving by the hour.

Ewa Jasiewicz, from No Dash For Gas, said earlier: "We want to stop Cuadrilla... they have no social licence to operate in Balcombe or anywhere else - they have no democratic mandate.

"This is the mood of the country and the government don't realise that."

Officers from 10 different forces are policing the protest, but so far there has been only one arrest.

A 23-year-old man was being held in custody in connection with threats made to a local landowner who asked a group encamped on land close to the drilling site to leave.

Organisers of the latest protest have said they plan "direct action" on Monday and Tuesday but have not said what form that will take.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique designed to recover gas and oil from shale rock.

A high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside. Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well.

There have been concerns the process can contaminate groundwater and cause earth tremors, while huge amounts of water have to be transported to the fracking site.

But supporters say the process is safe if operated properly and allows access to difficult to reach oil and gas reserves.