POLICE have charged four people with obstructing a highway near Kirby Misperton where fracking is due to take place.

North Yorkshire Police say they have charged two men, aged 23 and 53, and two women, aged 40 and 54, with obstructing Habton Road yesterday (Wednesday, September 20) .

The road between Kirby Misperton and Great Habton runs past Third Energy's gas well, where vehicles began delivering equipment on Tuesday in preparation for hydraulic fracturing.

The deliveries sparked the start of active protests on the road, with some of the campaigners staging slow walk protests in front of vehicles accessing the site and sit-down protests at the gates to the energy company’s KM8 well. On Tuesday approximately 100 people turned up in protests, which have continued throughout the week.

Work on shale gas extraction at the site has not yet begun, with the company waiting for the Environment Agency and the Oil and Gas Authority to sign off its plan for hydraulic fracturing and subsequent approval from the secretary of state.

The four people will appear at York Magistrates Court next month.