Star date: 31st March 2014

BARTON MOSS CAMPAIGNERS HAVE PROTEST PICNIC OPPOSITE IAN STEWART'S HOUSE

Barton Moss anti-fracking campaigners held a picnic opposite Salford Mayor, Ian Stewart's house yesterday in protest at his silence over both fracking issues and Greater Manchester Police brutality… "We are just giving him a very peaceful, very friendly message that `We are going to be in your face all the time until you give us some answers'" said picnic organiser Marie Harvey.

Meanwhile, as exploratory drilling comes to an end at Barton Moss, a survey of local residents shows that 80% don't want fracking in the area.

Full details here…

`For a significant part of the local community, there has been a complete and utter breakdown of trust in both police and politicians…'

Yesterday afternoon, mums, dads, kids and dogs gathered for a picnic on the daffodil strewn grass in the grounds of Irlam Leisure Centre, which also happens to be opposite the house of Salford City Mayor, Ian Stewart.

It was the safest picnic in Salford, as police kept watch while kids ate cakes and Darren Nesbitt sang Bob Marley songs. Indeed, for the two dozen or so, mainly local, families present there were nine police officers coming and going, including teams in unmarked cars, while police vans toured the streets following anyone who strayed from the anti-fracking beano.

At one point officers threatened to arrest anybody who dared to cross the road but later this was clarified to mean anyone knocking on the Mayor's door or entering his path.

This meant that no-one could post the Frack Free Survey Barton leaflet, showing that 80% of people who participated don't want fracking in Barton*. The results followed door-to-door visits to almost 350 houses by local residents, and in some streets the figures from those who opposed fracking hit 100%, 97% and 94%.

"There were very few people who were pro-fracking" Sheila Bannon told the Salford Star "Last week an email was sent to Ian Stewart's office saying that we'd completed a survey of Barton residents. We asked for a meeting with him and a response by last Friday. There was no response, so we now need to go and deliver this report to the Council."

Unfortunately, Sheila couldn't deliver the survey personally to Ian Stewart – or she would have spent the evening in custody, as police teams waited to dive on anyone posting a piece of paper through the Mayor's letterbox.

"I am surprised but, kind of, not surprised at the Mayor's non-response because the local representatives aren't responding" she added "There may be many reasons for that, but it isn't helping the residents decide about what's happening. The Government seems to be pushing for fracking to go ahead but they're not giving the public a chance to say what they think about it. When the Government came to power I don't remember anything being said about fracking, so where did they get the okay to do it? They should be giving the public the chance to say what they think about it. This survey shows that in Barton there is no social licence for fracking."

At the picnic, posters and placards were strewn over the railings and grass but unfortunately Ian Stewart wasn't at home to witness the protest against his silence. Although passing cars beeped their support all afternoon.

"I was asked to put this picnic together for a very peaceful protest here on the park opposite the Mayor's house because he will not talk to us, he will not respond to emails and he will not tell us the full extent of what he stands for" said Marie Harvey "So by being here we are just giving him a very peaceful, very friendly message that we are not going away… `We are going to be in your face all the time until you give us some answers'.

"They won't admit to the full extent of what they are doing down at Barton Moss; people have been woken up by all the thumping machines underground, we think they are doing some trial fracking" she added "This is also about the level of police brutality, because neither the Mayor nor any of the councillors, who we voted for, will come out and talk to us in any way, shape or form. Yet they will attack us in the press and at community meetings. They need to come and talk to us as constituents."

Meanwhile, a couple of miles up the road at Barton Moss, the drill used for exploratory drilling for coal bed methane and shale gas was being dismantled, with trucks stationed at the IGas site ready to remove it.

A statement released by Frack Free Greater Manchester last night hoped that "the continued presence of a protest camp at Barton Moss since November 2013, the three large rallies in opposition to the drilling at the site and the UK's largest ever march against fracking in Manchester City Centre on 9th March 2014, has convinced IGas that they have no social license to frack in Greater Manchester".

The statement added that "Barton Moss Protection camp and local supporters will continue with the daily 'slow walks' in front of the IGas vehicles in order to delay the movement of the rig to a new site".

Sasha Conway, one of the protectors who camped through the winter at Barton Moss said "This has been a long and hard first part of this campaign. If IGas return, we will be back here."

Martin Porter of Frack Free Greater Manchester added: "Our message to IGas is `Good riddance and don't come back'. The daily slow walks have delayed IGas' operation by up to a month, and during that time public opinion on fracking has gone from 43% in favour to 73% against and their share price has collapsed, wiping £80 million off the value of the company.

"This shows that direct action is effective both on a practical and a political level and also that the more people know about fracking the more they fear it" he explained "I don't know where this rig is going next, but I do know that when it gets there it will find exactly the same opposition it found on Barton Moss. IGas have no social license to frack here or anywhere."

This morning twelve trucks went into the IGas site, led by slow walk protests and a banner reading `Humanity v Insanity'.

Meanwhile, as IGas moves on to its next site, Salford is left with the social fall out from its operations – local residents brutalised by Greater Manchester Police for peacefully protesting…a bunch of so-called `elected representatives' who have remained silent while those local residents have been brutalised…And, for a significant part of the local community, there has been a complete and utter breakdown of trust in both police and politicians.

Somewhere in the middle of the social mess, the whole issue of fracking still to be debated properly in Salford before IGas returns to its Barton Moss operations in September...

* The surveys were carried out by a team of volunteers from the Peel Green area between 8 December and 1 February. Fourteen streets were surveyed on the Brookhouse Estate and on Liverpool Road between Wilfred Road and Argosy Drive. Each house was visited twice with a total participation rate of 46% available at home to be surveyed.

** Last week the Court of Appeal agreed to hear the case against Peel Holdings' attempted eviction of the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp during the summer (see previous Salford Star article – click here)