150 people join climate justice rally near Horley

Halfway through the COP26 Climate Summit, campaigners, families, local residents and people from further afield came to show their support for the campaign against expansion of oil drilling at Horse Hill.

Speakers included activist Deb Mallard, who spoke about the history of campaigning at Horse Hill; campaigner Sarah Finch, whose legal case against Surrey County Council over Horse Hill oil will be heard in the Court of Appeal on November 16-17; Dave Timms, head of political affairs at Friends of the Earth; 16-year-old activist Chloe Pearce, and local resident and parish councillor Lisa Scott. Artist Heather Ackroyd read a poem by writer and campaigner Ben Okri.

Messages of solidarity were played or read out from campaigners fighting the proposed Whitehaven coal mine in Cumbria, the Cambo oil field off the coast of Shetland, and UK funded Liquid Natural Gas sites in Mozambique – all cases, along with Horse Hill, that threaten the UK’s climate reputation.

Dave Timms said: "In just over a week we will be intervening at the Court of Appeal to support Sarah and the Weald Action Group against the High Court' s decision that it was legal for Surrey County Council to ignore the climate implications of using millions of tonnes of oil that will be produced and burned from four new oil wells here in Horse Hill.

"Our view is that the decision of the High Court was wrong in law.

"We are confident of that: that the law does require the Council to examine the full climate impacts of the oil burned from the wells.

"That it is established in case law and there are examples from other jurisdictions around the world which back this up and show that it is perfectly feasible.

“This is one of those cases where the law, common sense and morality are all saying the same thing.

"You cannot declare a Climate Emergency, as the Council did, and then give just months later permission for 20 years’ worth of oil to be produced, emitting over ten million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, without examining the impact of that on the atmosphere."

Chloe Pearce said: "It upsets me that I have to stand here today as a 16-year-old to fight for my future because our leaders refuse to.

"And whilst I talk to you, politicians at COP26 in Glasgow are ignoring my peers and disregarding our concerns whilst handing out empty promises simply to prolong their time in power.

"We are a generation that has grown up with this looming over us, affecting almost every decision we make and making it hard to even imagine where we'll be in 2050.

"Drilling oil is not sustainable and polluting the ocean is not sustainable.”

"This is not the time to be despondent. This is the time for action. Whatever your age it is time to join together to fight for our futures and the futures of our next generation."

The event was part of a Global Day of Action for Climate Justice which saw rallies, marches and direct action in Glasgow, London, and other cities around the world.