"Our entire community united to win this fight to stop drilling from destroying our Dudleston." — Chris Hesketh, Frack Free Dudleston, Shropshire
When Chris Hesketh heard that IGas wanted to drill for Coal Bed Methane (CBM) in his home village of Dudleston, his initial reaction was, “Oh my god is this really happening?”
Up against a multimillion pound corporation that was working with Shropshire County Council, Chris didn’t know how he could fight back. But he couldn’t just stand by and let it happen.
We helped Chris build his case and inform his local community about CBM’s impacts, including 24/7 noise pollution, heavy traffic, and industrialisation.
“Once people knew more about CBM, they realised we had to fight back.”
It looked like the planning inspectorate was siding in favour of the drilling company. But our planning expert wrote directly to them arguing to get Dudleston’s written appeal upgraded to a full public Inquiry. Daunted by Dudleston’s anti-CBM community now having the chance to speak up, IGas backed out from their plans for the Shropshire area entirely.
A key court victory
Going to court is a costly business, which can make people think twice about bringing a legal challenge. In February 2017 the government removed a cap on the cost of going to court to challenge government environmental decisions. This effectively took away the voice of cash-strapped community groups — who couldn't risk spiralling costs if they lost.
Within the year we had successfully reversed this bad decision. Hundreds of Friends of the Earth supporters chipped in to help pay for our legal work. We won vital changes: a High Court judge decided that the new rules couldn't be used to raise the potential cost once the case had started.
This means that when people challenge the government about decisions that affect the environment – such as plans to build on an important nature site – the maximum cost liability for those bringing the case will have to be fixed early on.
Support fund for environmental law interns
Our legal interns play a big role in our successes while gaining the experience they need to kickstart their careers.
But not everyone can afford to volunteer.
We've created a fund that pays our legal interns a London living wage. The Phil Michaels Legal Interns Scholarship Fund helps talented young people from less-advantaged backgrounds. Can you support the fund?
Friends of the Earth today celebrated a huge legal victory over oil and gas giant INEOS at the Court of Appeal as INEOS’ anti-protest injunction is declared unlawful.
Friends of the Earth has won a historic legal battle to protect the climate from Heathrow expansion and push government to act in accordance with the climate emergency. But what does this mean?