Case Study:

Frack Free United

Networking for change

The Challenge: Shifting Government policy

In 2016, after the application to frack for Gas in North Yorkshire had been approved, we developed the Frack Free United network with key regional campaigners and NGOs, such as Friends of the Earth, Talk Fracking and other countryside organisations with the objective of providing a national identity and take the grass roots campaign of opposition to fracking to the heart of all political parties across the country.

Linking up the grassroots campaign and politicians by defining a national message, we took our campaign into the heart of the political debate at a time when we had no choice but to shift all the political parties into a position opposed to ‘fracking’.

For far too long, the issue was deemed as ‘too political’ to get involved in, but strategically, we worked with members of all political parties to remove the controversy from the issue and present it as a problem faced by the community as a whole. Our role was to launch the cross-party Frack Free Candidates election campaign and utilise the election periods to raise awareness within affected communities.

It was necessary to be at the forefront of the anti-fracking campaign and to influence the narrative within the media and in local and national government.

Working within the network, our role was to create the space to give a voice to communities impacted by the threat of fracking.

There is now a moratorium on fracking in the UK.

Our work involved:

Defined and agreed on the strategy and outcome for the Frack Free United project.

Defined and delivered activity to raise fracking on the political agenda of all main parties, ensuring local and national strategies were coordinated.

Worked with communities, NGOs and local groups with a specific focus on building a supporter base, developing a database of thousands of supporters and building a communication network of elected politicians, academics and community groups.

Implemented activities to raise awareness of the impacts of fracking on communities.

Identified and connected with appropriate, credible, and known academics and experts to deliver scientific evidence-based reasoning to policymakers

Defined and delivered activity working through and alongside the parliamentary system that raised fracking onto the agenda in every party, and at every level of the government, including coordinating MPs’ offices together to organise Westminster debates and events at all main party conferences.

Responding to committee inquiries and consultations, such as the National Audit Office (NAO) request for evidence, including a response to the National Audit Office.

Designed and produced materials for every activity and event in the campaign.

Delivering the frack free declaration to Number 10 - Nov 2018
Presenting our case at Conservative Party conference - 2019
Parliamentary meeting - Injunction injustice