No Fracking in Barnsley – Barnsley Community Support Centre

Category: No Fracking in Barnsley

13
Feb
2016

No Fracking in Barnsley Campaign Update

Here is a campaign update from No Fracking in Barnsley. There are numerous ways to get involved from helping to distribute flyers, to attending events, signing the petition and writing to your councillors. The best way to beat fracking is before it starts. Don’t leave it too late, get involved now!

Leafleting: May Day Green, Barnsley
Saturday 27^th February, 11am.

Following the great turn out to leaflet in Barnsley Town Centre a couple of weeks ago, we will be holding another leafleting and petition signing session on Saturday 27^th February. It is important that we try to raise as much awareness as we possibly can, as a recent poll showed that the more that people understand about fracking, the more likely they are to be against it.

Rumour has it that there will be a big push on exploratory licence applications in the spring, so that just gives us a few short weeks to get as much information as possible out there. There will be no chance of running out of flyers this time, as we have ordered a print run of 5000. Please come and help.

The flyers are due back from print by mid-week, so if you would like some to distribute around your area, please get in touch.

New Campaign Website

During the last few days, we have launched a new campaign website at http://www.nofrackingbarnsley.org. Please visit regularly as we will be building the campaign and on-line resources from here. The old wordpress website will no longer be updated, but will operate for a little while, then divert to the new website.

Voices from the Gasfields: Film Showing
Friday 4^th March, 7pm
Montgomery Hall, Church Street Wath-upon-Dearne S63 7RD

Frack Free Dearne Valley will be showing Ian R Crane’s film, Voices from the Gasfields, followed by a discussion. The film is very thought provoking and should not be missed.

Petition: Keep Barnsley Frack Free

Just three weeks after being launched, our petition to Barnsley Council has passed 2000 signatures (2025 online, 130 paper). If you haven’t already signed, please do so. If you have signed, thank you. Please pass the petition on to your friends and family.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/keep-barnsley-frack-free

Write to your councillor

The only way that we will stand any chance of keeping fracking out of Barnsley is by people power. Our councillors need to be made aware of the scale of public opposition to fracking, so please write to your councillors and make this clear. We have a letter template that you can use, or amend with your own words and a link to find out who your councillors are if you don’t know.

http://nofrackingbarnsley.org/action

The Great Barnsley Wall of Fracking Resistance

Add your #FrackOffSelfie to the wall of resistance and tell the frackers where to go!

Add your frack off message to your selfie (no need to be polite) and send it to us via Twitter @NoFrackBarnsley, post in on our Facebook wall NoFrackingBarnsley or email us nofrackingbarnsley@yahoo.com and we’ll add your selfie to our wall of resistance.

Be as creative as you like, get your friends, family, pets and soft toys involved and help spread the word that fracking isn’t wanted in Barnsley or anywhere.

Coming soon…

Frack Free Dearne Valley – 15 May 2016: Walk & Rally to Manvers Lake.

26
Jan
2016

NO FRACKING WAY – South Yorkshire Day of Action

categories: No Fracking in Barnsley

Fracking is a destructive, polluting, dangerous industry. It has caused real pain for communities in the USA and Australia and it is coming to Barnsley!

Exploratory fracking licences now cover most of the borough. Licences were granted in Dearne Valley last year and just before Christmas, a new round of licences extended coverage over Barnsley itself.

No Fracking in Barnsley will be taking part in the national programme of anti-fracking events, called by No Fracking Way. This is an unmissable opportunity for us to raise awareness locally and to make a noise about fracking at a national level.

No Fracking in Barnsley
Saturday 30^th January 2016
May Day Green (Barnsley Town Centre) at 11.00am

We will be leafleting at May Day Green (near Thorntons) and collecting signatures for our petition to Barnsley Council, calling for the rejection of fracking in Barnsley.

Please come along and help us to spread the word to the people of Barnsley, even if you can only spare half an hour. Everybody’s help is valuable and with a good turn out, we can engage with as many people as possible.

Frack Free Dearne Valley
Saturday 30 January, 10am-12Noon
Wath-upon-Dearne (near the Market)

There are other events planned to take place across the region on the same day in Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham. Visit our event page on Facebook for more details as they are available, or our website.

Tweetathon: Sunday 31^st January 2016

In support of other events happening around the country, we will be sharing their tweets from our account under the hashtag #NoFrackingWay. Please join us, share as many posts as you can and help us to get the argument against fracking trending nationally.

You can sign our petition here.

Please share this message with anyone who you think may be interested in helping.

08
Jan
2016

No Fracking in Barnsley – Open Letter

categories: No Fracking in Barnsley

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Dear friends,

No Fracking in Barnsley is a new non-partisan campaign, established with the aim of bringing together concerned groups and individuals to oppose fracking in Barnsley. Working on the principle that together we are stronger, the campaign will raise the profile of local opposition.

Evidence is mounting that fracking is harmful to the people and communities that live with this industry. In light of the recent round of licences, which cover Barnsley and the surrounding areas, the government has declared that almost the whole of South Yorkshire is open to be fracked.

The time to act is now! We want to build a vibrant campaign to keep the frackers out of Barnsley, forming an anti-fracking network that shares news and resources, supports our campaigns and each other’s events.

We are appealing to groups from across the political spectrum, in the spirit of friendship and solidarity to join with us.

You can find our website and social media feeds here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoFrackingBarnsley

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoFrackBarnsley

Website: https://nofrackingbarnsley.wordpress.com

Please follow us and share our news and we will do the same for you. We have lots of plans for campaigning and events in the pipeline and would be delighted if you could join us.

Yours in solidarity,

No Fracking in Barnsley

21
Dec
2015

Local groups condemn new fracking licences

categories: No Fracking in Barnsley

A day after MPs voted to allow fracking under national parks, new exploratory fracking licences have been released, including one which covers Barnsley.

93 licences to explore 159 blocks of land across the UK were granted on Thursday 17^th December 2015. One of those blocks (SE30b) covers an area that includes Barnsley town centre, Cudworth, Barugh Green, Dodworth, Hood Green, Worsbrough, Birdwell, Ardsley and Elsecar.

Barnsley Green Party have condemned the newly released fracking licences. A spokesperson explained, “This is very bad news for Barnsley and the surrounding areas. Wherever fracking has been practised it has left behind a trail of environmental damage.

“When fracking moves into an area there may be a promise of quick benefits for local communities, but the reality is often that the few local jobs that are created dry up once the fracking is finished and communities are left to live with the consequences.

“Fracking will not even improve our energy security or bring down bills, as any gas produced will be sold on the open market and may not even be offered to British consumers.”

David Burley of Frack Free South Yorkshire joined the condemnation, commenting, “Only one week after signing the international agreement to curb climate change, our UK government seems hell-bent on doing the exact opposite, regardless of local wishes. Shale gas is yet another fossil fuel that scientists around the world say we should leave in the ground. This ‘dash for gas’ is bonkers.

“Fortunately, opposition continues to grow: South Yorkshire MPs Michael Dugher, Dan Jarvis, Ed Miliband and shadow front-bencher Louise Haigh have already called for a moratorium on fracking.

“Frack Free South Yorkshire will be actively supporting the ‘No Fracking in Barnsley’ campaign to give the people of Barnsley the facts about fracking.“

The independent campaign ‘No Fracking in Barnsley’ will hold a meeting on Tuesday 5^th January 2016, from 6.30pm at Barnsley YMCA to discuss the threat of fracking in the area.

09
Dec
2015

Don’t frack with our future

categories: No Fracking in Barnsley

Groups in Barnsley that oppose fracking have been invited to attend a planning meeting on Tuesday 5 January 2016, at the YMCA in Barnsley at 6.30pm, to build a new campaign to stop fracking in our area.

Fracking is coming to Barnsley. This may be a short sentence but it is one loaded with the possibility of dire consequences for the future of our environment. Just five short words that could spell out quick profits for a few investors, but leave communities to deal with the pollution of our water, air and land.

In August, the government announced a new round of exploratory licenses covering the Dearne Valley, to the east of Barnsley. This includes villages such as Darfield, Brampton, Wath, Thurnscoe, Goldthorpe and Mexborough. The next round, currently under consultation will include Barnsley itself.

Fracking is a way of extracting gas or oil which is trapped inside rocks – such as shale. To get the gas or oil out, the rock has to be fractured – this is known as ‘hydraulic fracturing’ or fracking for short. Once the well has been drilled, a charge containing explosives is passed along the well fracturing the rock. A mixture of water, sand and chemicals is pumped down the well at very high pressure. This opens up the fractures in the rock and, when the pressure is released, the gas or oil flows back up the well.

In countries such as the USA and Australia, where the fracking industry is much more established than in the UK, evidence is building for the detrimental effects that fracking can have on communities close to frack pads. This includes the contamination of water by leaking chemicals used during the fracking process and methane leaking through faults in the bedrock, the contamination of the air by well vents and seismic events such as earthquakes and landslides.

In November a joint meeting held by Frack Free South Yorkshire and Barnsley Green Party attracted a crowd from across the political spectrum, all concerned about the dangers that fracking could bring to Barnsley.

The meeting demonstrated that there is a solid base on which to build a local campaign to stop fracking in our area. We would like to bring together people from a wide range of political parties, groups and individuals to create a non-partisan campaign and ensure that fracking does not gain a foothold in Barnsley.

A follow up meeting has been called to discuss how the campaign will be built and aim to serve as a rallying point for local opposition to fracking.

No Fracking in Barnsley Planning Meeting
Tuesday 5 January 2016 @ 6.30pm
YMCA, 1 Blucher Street, Barnsley S70 1AP
Find the Facebook event page here.