Star date: 10th March 2014

`JIBBERING' JUDGE PELLING BACKS PEEL HOLDINGS

"I'm not saying he's been leant on over the weekend, it's not my place to say that is it?" Colin

This morning at the Manchester Civil Justice Centre, a stuttering Judge Pelling found in favour of Peel Holdings, which sought a possession order over land where the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp is currently sited.

Outside the court, Colin, from the Camp said "The judge…seemed a very cool, calm, collected character but at the delivery of the verdict suddenly seemed to turn into a jibbering, very nervous character. I read things into that…" Tomorrow morning lawyers for the Camp will seek leave to appeal the decision before the noon deadline.

Full details here…

`We're gonna roll the protest on…and if Peel Holdings get in the way we're gonna roll right over them, roll right over them, roll right over them…we're gonna roll the protest on…' sung on this afternoon's protest at Barton Moss
 

Yesterday at the Greater Manchester anti-fracking demo, Colin, from the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp told the crowd that what happened in the Manchester Civil Justice Centre today would be of national importance…

"Peel seek to set a precedent; the precedent that the most visible sign of the resistance to fracking can be crushed" he said (see here).

Indeed, this morning, Peel Holdings won its case against two named defendants to get a possession order for its land where the Camp is sited - but some strange things were going down.

On Friday it was kind of accepted that the land where the Camp is situated is actually in a farmer's field which has a long lease from Peel. Thus Peel had no jurisdiction over it. By this morning, Judge Pelling decided that the strip of land had an "absence of agricultural purpose" and therefore didn't count as being part of the farmer's field.

Even weirder was the fact that Judge Pelling stuttered all the way through this morning's verdict, a fact picked up by Colin who was also in court this morning…

"The judge, who we've been with for two days now, seemed a very cool, calm collected character but at the delivery of the verdict suddenly seemed to turn into a jibbering, very nervous character" he told the Salford Star "I read things into that, and I'm sure other people can read their own things into that. I'm not saying he's been leant on over the weekend, it's not my place to say that is it?

"There were no great surprises" he added "We all know the weight of the corporate muscle and the way corporations seem to be able to exert influence. The people who are objecting to fracking on Barton Boss are very strong, very fluid characters and the next step will evolve in due course. One thing we can promise is that the campaign will be heightened rather than be weakened."

Lawyers for the campaigners will be at the Appeal Court in London tomorrow morning seeking leave to appeal the decision – before the noon deadline imposed by Judge Pelling, who wouldn't let the appeal be heard in Manchester. If the appeal bid fails, the Camp can be evicted any time after noon.

"The fact is that the case is a great success for the campaign against fracking because the whole purpose of what we're doing is to highlight that fracking is highly dangerous, so from that sense it's been a success" said Martin Burke, a Green Party candidate for Gorton South at this year's local elections and one of the named defendants in the case alongside Ian R Crane.

When the news broke today that the Camp was now facing eviction, IGas shares rose by almost 2%, some would say proving that the daily protests were having a negative affect on the value of the company.

Indeed, London business publication, City AM, had a comment piece today headlined `Why today's Manchester court decision to move fracking protesters is a boost for shale gas everywhere' – which began with the paragraph…

"Investors in the UK's burgeoning shale gas industry should be delighted with today's decision by a Manchester court… The court's landmark ruling should accelerate progress for any would-be shale gas explorer across the country and boost investor confidence by removing a key hurdle to extracting the resource."

Unfortunately for the `investors', whether the Camp survives an appeal or not, every single anti-fracking campaigner at Barton Moss who the Salford Star spoke to this afternoon said that the daily protests and slow lorry walks will continue.

As the lorries exiting the IGas exploratory drilling site were blockaded this afternoon (with the Greater Manchester Police on its best behaviour due to the increased media presence), defiant protectors burst into a new song…

`We're gonna roll the protest on, roll the protest on, roll the protest on…and if Peel Holdings get in the way we're gonna roll right over them, roll right over them, roll right over them…We're gonna roll the protest on…'
 
Photos by Steven Speed

For more photos of the day click here

* Update: 11th March

JUDGE PELLING `MADE A MISTAKE’ AS CAMP SET FOR APPEAL 

Today the Court of Appeal in London granted barristers representing the Barton Moss Camp defendants stay for an appeal against the verdict, and the case will be heard `urgently’, possibly later this week.

Commenting on the Appeal, defendant Martin Burke, said…

“This is backing up what our barristers are saying which is that something needs to be reviewed. We still think, with respect, that Judge Pelling made a mistake. We believe that we have a case and a right to stay here. I have the right, in my view to shelter beside a public right of way in order to protest the next day."

For full details - click here