Climate campaigners scale County Hall roof to demand ESCC cuts ties with Big Oil

Activists scaled the roof of County Hall in Lewes on Tuesday 9 July to demand that the East Sussex Pension Fund stops investing in fossil fuels. Gabriel Carlyle reports.

On Tuesday 9 July around forty climate campaigners from across East Sussex, Brighton and Hove gathered outside Lewes station to take part in a bagpiper-led procession to County Hall organised by Divest East Sussex and friends.

Featuring a six-foot pair of scissors and a giant ‘oil monster’, the protest – which was timed to coincide with East Sussex County Council (ESCC)’s Full Council meeting – was being held to demand that ESCC and the East Sussex Pension ‘cut their ties’ with fossil fuels.

A huge cheer went up as they reached the front of County Hall, much to the bemusement of the 40+ security guards who had been paid to completely surround the building.

The reason?

Two activists from Extinction Rebellion South East had just emerged on the roof of the building, unfurling banners reading ‘ESCC: Which side are you on? Fossil fuels or climate action?’ and ‘Cut the ties to fossil fuels’.

Evidently, the massive (and expensive) security detail had had no idea that they were up there – or how they had managed to get up there.

‘We have had enough’

The activists on the roof proceeded to address the crowd using a megaphone, saying:

‘Since 2014, East Sussex residents have called for you to ditch the investments from the East Sussex Pension fund, which covers the local government pension scheme in East Sussex, Brighton and Hove. Many others, including the MPs for Lewes and Brighton Pavilion, other local councils and your own employees, have made the same calls. We have written to you. We have invited you to debate. We’ve peacefully protested. We’ve encouraged you to show leadership. We have begged and pleaded.
Some of us have even starved ourselves. All this has been to no avail. All we’ve seen is procrastination, prevarication, dither and delay.

‘Councillors, we have had enough. Today, Tuesday 9th July, marks an escalation. We demand that you publicly commit to divesting (i.e. fully ditching) these investments … As long as you do not, our actions will continue. They will always be nonviolent, in line with our principles. But they will be designed to inconvenience and embarrass you as much as possible. And they’ll keep coming. We will not go away; we will never give up.’

Tens of millions of pounds

The East Sussex Pension Fund, which covers Brighton & Hove as well as East Sussex, is administered by ESCC. It currently has tens of millions of pounds of local people’s pension monies invested in oil and gas companies like Shell and BP. The Fund’s investments in fossil fuel companies have been the focus of campaigning for over ten years now.

A long list of organisations and individuals have called on the Fund to divest from fossil fuels, including: Bexhill Town Council, Brighton & Hove City Council, Hastings Borough Council, Lewes District and Town Councils, Peacehaven Town Council, Rother District Council, Saleshurst & Robertsbridge Parish Council, the former Conservative MP for Lewes (Maria Caulfield), the former Green MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas and UNISON.

Last month climate campaigners expressed outrage, after it emerged that voting on proposals to divest the Fund from fossil fuels had been delayed yet again, and cannot now take place before September – fully a year after they were originally made.

No arrests made

The crowd on the ground was also addressed by Brighton & Hove City Councillor Raphael Hill (who attended with three other Green Councillors from Brighton & Hove) and East Sussex Pension Fund member Sarah Hazelhurst.

A symbolic mass ‘cutting of the ties’ between the ‘oil monster’ and masked members of the public standing in for the four Conservative Councillors most closely associated with opposition to divestment (Keith Glazier, Paul Redstone, Ian Hollidge and Gerard Fox) also took place.

The roof-top campaigners agreed to be escorted off of the building by police after another couple of hours. There were no arrests, and no-one was charged with any criminal offence (none having been committed).

A potential game changer

Extinction Rebellion South East campaigner and Barcombe resident Mark Engineer said:

‘If ESCC decides to divest it would be a potential game changer. No Tory-run council has divested its pension pot from fossil fuels, so ESCC has the opportunity to be a leader, and we think others would follow. This small handful of councillors could show true leadership on the most vital issue of our times. Isn’t this what people go into politics for?

‘The Council likes to speak “shareholder engagement.” This means they think it’s better to stay invested in fossil fuel companies so they can influence those companies to change their ways. This is naïve at best and profoundly dishonest at worst. There’s been years of such ‘engagement’ by far bigger shareholders than ESCC, and no fossil fuel company has significantly changed its business model.

‘If the Council is really serious, divestment is the only serious option. So I would say to ESCC – keep going, you’re so nearly there! And also that, if you don’t keep going, you are letting yourself in for a lot more trouble.’

XR South East: https://xr-southeast.uk
Divest East Sussex: https://divesteastsussex.wordpress.com

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