In the early morning of 29 October, 17 climate change protesters climbed up and camped in two 90m chimneys at a gas-fired power station under construction in West Burton, Nottinghamshire. Five further protesters were arrested at the plant during the invasion. The protest group, calling itself No Dash For Gas, said it wanted to see the government focus on renewable energy rather than “expensive and dirty” gas, and was concerned that new gas power stations such as the one in West Burton would leave the UK dependent on increasingly expensive fossil fuel for decades.
The last of the protesters was removed from the site on 5 November, ending what is claimed to be the longest ever occupation of a power plant in the UK. However, the group has indicated that the protest was “only the start of the battle for our future energy”, and promised more protests to come.
The occupation at West Burton is the latest in a long line of environmental protests involving power stations, including a week of protests near the Kingsnorth power station in August 2008, which saw 50 people arrested on various charges, and the “near miss” at Ratcliffe in 2009, where more than 100 people were arrested in advance of a planned protest at the coal plant. It also follows the well-publicised protests in Parliament Square and the Occupy London movement in St Paul’s, London, which saw the eviction of scores of protesters camped in the capital after months of legal battles.
The 17 activists at West Burton were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass, a public order offence involving the obstruction or prevention of the carrying out of lawful activities on land. The involvement of aggravated trespass in protests of this nature means that the police will actively get involved in the apprehension of protesters as and when they can safely be removed from site. It also avoids the delay in obtaining court orders to evict trespassers where no public order offence is being committed.
While this may provide some comfort for the operators of other power stations who may be at risk from future protests, a disruption of as little as a week still comes at significant cost. Prevention is obviously better than cure, and it may be that social media holds the key to the prevention of future protests.
Social media websites are often used in the organisation of large-scale protests. These same websites can provide useful ammunition for operators to stop protests from getting off the ground in the first place. There are a number of digital intelligence companies in the market that can search social media and other websites frequented by activist groups, and report back with evidence of planned protests or other activities that may affect their clients. These companies are becoming increasingly sophisticated in terms of the nature and extent of information they can access. The police are also becoming media savvy, and this sort of information may be exactly the sort of evidence that will persuade them to take action before people arrive on site.
If time permits, this information can be used by operators to assist in obtaining emergency injunctions from the courts, preventing groups from carrying out a planned protest. Long-term injunctions can also now be sought to prevent future protests from specified individuals or action groups across the range of an operator’s portfolio. These are particularly useful for companies faced with the risk of repeated disruption to business from the concerted and co-ordinated campaigns of protester groups such as No Dash for Gas.
Whatever operators choose to do it is clear that, in their attempt to rally the troops, protesters provide a helpful electronic footprint which may ultimately allow operators to stop them.
Will Densham is a partner and head of real estate litigation, and Kate Poole is a senior associate in the real estate litigation team, at Eversheds
This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 23rd November 2012.
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