Sussex vs shale

Darkness was gathering as the villagers trooped down Church Road to the Red Lion, ducking their heads under the doorframe. Trade was brisk for a Monday. The landlady was busy: pulling pints, cracking jokes and assigning tables. Excitement was in the air. Most customers had come from a packed meeting at the village hall, called to organise opposition to a proposed shale exploration a mile beyond the village. A campaign was afoot, and Fernhurst,West Sussex, was exhilarated by the novelty of defiance.

Fernhurst is a prosperous district in the newly created South Downs National Park, an area of outstanding natural beauty with an important cultural heritage. Alfred Lord Tennyson lived on Black Down Hill above the valley in which Fernhurst rests. He wrote to General Hamley in his prologue to ‘The Charge of the Heavy Brigade’, ‘You came and looked and loved the view, long known and loved by me, Green Sussex fading into blue with one grey glimpse of sea.’ Sir Hubert Parry scored some of the music to Jerusalem in nearby Linchmere. London is 50 minutes away by rail, and the broadband has been upgraded, attracting wealthy commuters and their families. Many stay on into retirement, after the children have fled for the thrills of town.

Linchmere is a mile or so from where Celtique Energie proposes an exploratory drilling operation. Substantial shale fields are believed to lie under the Home Counties. How large is anyone’s guess. Fernhurst is expected to yield oil if Celtique is allowed to drill 8,600 feet down. If tests suggest that the well is commercially viable, then the company ‘may wish to explore these zones further and undertake hydraulic fracturing’ — fracking — subject to another planning application.