Pictured: The Page Three model turned fracking protester, 45, who had six-month affair with Daniel Craig
- Marina Pepper said the action in Balcombe was a ‘wake-up call’
- The 45-year-old one-time Playboy model is now a local councillor
- Police have charged 12 people after fracking protests
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A former Page Three girl was among the protesters who blocked a rural drilling site earmarked for fracking yesterday.
Marina Pepper, 45, said the action in Balcombe was a ‘wake-up call’ to other areas that might be affected by fracking.
Now a local councillor, the one-time Playboy model who had a six-month affair with Bond star Daniel Craig 25 years ago, said: ‘For many people it is their first time coming out to protest.
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Former model: Marina Pepper said the action in Balcombe was a ‘wake-up call’ to other areas that might be affected by fracking. She is pictured during her modelling days, left, and now, right
‘They had early success because they stopped lorries going in, therefore there was a sense that people coming together can actually change the world.
'It’s our environment that’s being affected and our drinking water.’
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ShareMrs Pepper was a Liberal Democrat councillor until 2011 in Telscombe, East Sussex.
She stood (unsuccessfully) in the 2005 General Election for Brighton Kemptown.
Police and demonstrators clash at the protest camp in the Sussex village of Balcombe
Police said the arrests were made to 'ensure public safety' and came after talks failed
Villagers blocking the rural drilling site earmarked for fracking were dragged away by police yesterday as protests turned ugly.
Around a hundred police – including trained riot officers – were brought in to break up the blockade which was in its second day in the West Sussex countryside near Balcombe.
The site, which has been selected for exploratory drilling by fracking company Cuadrilla, has attracted a growing number of protesters all week who until yesterday morning had managed to block all access from the road.
But Sussex Police confirmed that 16 protesters had been arrested after they sat on logs across the entrance and refused to move.
Of those, 12 were charged today and will appear at court next month. Those charged include two teenage boys, a circus worker, a charity worker, a teacher and a writer. Their ages range from 15 to 51 years old.
Anti-fracking campaigners had gathered yesterday for a second day in the village of Balcombe, West Sussex, where Cuadrilla is poised to start test drilling
All those charged have have been dealt with under Section 241 of the Trade Union Labour Relations Act for attempting to stop drivers and other workers from accessing the site.
One 37-year-old protester, Michael Atkins, from Westbury, Wiltshire, was also charged with assault on police.
A further two women were arrested at continuing protests today, one for assault on police and the other under the Trade Union Labour Relations Act.
Some activists described the police response as 'disproportionate' but police insist all the arrests were made peacefully.
Cuadrilla said obstacles blocking the road have now been removed and delivery of equipment has resumed. It hopes to start drilling 'as soon as is reasonably possible'.
The company has said it intends only to conduct exploratory drilling in a temporary operation which will not include hydraulic fracturing.
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