Fracking: Life on the frontline of Kirby Misperton protest camp

IT’S bitterly, bitterly cold. I’ve been at the Kirkby Misperton Protection Camp – in a field in North Yorkshire – for only an hour and my hands and feet are already numb.

I’m offered a welcome spot on a hay bale by the camp fire – the heart of the camp – and a cup of homemade soup which has just been made over a stove fashioned from the inner wheel of a truck tyre is thrust into my hands.

It’s warming, but I notice there’s no way of completely throwing off the uncomfortable chill for people staying here. The small tents and caravans dotted around the frozen ground don’t look like they offer much respite from the icy temperature.

STUDIO: Fracking protesters, left, James Studd and Joe Boyd at the Kirby Misperton site. Picture: Nigel Holland

One person tells me that whenever he feels hard done by he thinks of the people at Standing Rock in North Dakota, who are protesting against an underground oil pipeline in -34 degree conditions. “We’re a long way from that,” he adds ruefully.

It’s this foggy field between the A169 and Kirby Misperton where opposition to fracking has now switched its focus, having gone from council meetings across North Yorkshire to the High Court in London, where campaigners lost a judicial review.

Campaigners say they felt their only option was to set up a protest camp, from where they plan to begin direct action when work begins at Third Energy’s site just down the road.

About half the people at the camp have experience of environmental protests in other parts of the country, the rest are new to this world.

Despite the unrelenting cold, everyone seems pretty cheery. They talk passionately about the sense of community and shared purpose they get from the camp.

Throughout the day visitors from the surrounding area pop in to drop off everything from homemade bread to spare wellies. Last week the local bus service made an impromptu stop outside the site and nine passengers got off to see the camp. Every visitor is offered a place by the fire and a cup of tea.

Emma, who was busy making a large pan of soup when I arrived, says the regular visits and beeps from passing cars showing their support helped keep everyone’s spirits high in the winter weather – along with donations of hot water bottles.

“It’s freezing, but it’s the warm food and also the warmth of our neighbours that helps us,” she says. “We feel really, really supported. We’ve had about 1,500 guests through the gates so far. It really keeps our spirits up. People come and drop off some food and stay for three hours.”

It’s fair to say that not everyone in Ryedale has welcomed the arrival of the camp, with some claiming the protest will do more to destroy the local tourism industry than fracking. The road where they plan to disrupt lorries heading to the Third Energy site is also the road to Yorkshire’s most visited paid-for attraction, Flamingo Land.

Third Energy's response the camp is a statement saying it respects people’s “right to lawful and peaceful protest”. It adds: “We trust that those who object to our plans will also respect our rights and the rights of Ryedale residents, to go about our business lawfully and peacefully.”

Eddie Thornton, from Pickering, has been at the camp since before Christmas, giving up his job to join the protest.

“People have come from Lancashire, East Yorkshire; other places that are threatened with fracking,” he says.

Local chefs from Kirbymoorside have volunteered to cook for the camp, but its inhabitants also take it in turns to make hot food on the truck wheel stove. Behind the tented kitchen a large vegetable plot has been dug.

Life on the camp is make-shift, but well-ordered and practical.

The recycling is carefully sorted ready to be taken away by residents. Food is placed in a walk-in food store created from wooden pallets. They have installed their own solar panels and wi-fi connection, allowing them to broadcast updates on Youtube and Facebook from their “rustic TV studio”, assembled mostly from hay bales and plastic awnings with a dark red, leather-effect settee in the middle.

“Everyone just mucks in using their skills,” smiles Emma.

“It has made a beautiful community,” adds another.

Nearby, two people are constructing what will be a “geri-activist motel” from wooden pallets, to provide a warmer, more comfortable environment for “older people who won’t want to camp”. Among the people expected to join the protest when work begins will be a significant number of older protesters who intend to disrupt passing trucks by slow walking in front of them.

“This camp will be won through the geri-activists,” explains Eddie. “Ryedale is acutely aware of fracking; my community has spent close to £250,000 trying to stop it democratically. Every town and district council in this area has objected to it; now everyone is ready to take it to the next step.”