I write in response to your recent coverage of the ongoing Balcombe anti-fracking protest. Thank you for continuing to cover such an important issue, one that will affect us all if fracking goes ahead.

However, it was a shame to see your choice of photograph (The Argus, September 11) showing Simon Welsh being arrested.

I feel it was misrepresentative. Simon was standing next to me when he was taken by the police for singing a protest song. He continued singing all the way to the van. In no way was he violent or abusive at any point, before or during his arrest.

Secondly you have misreported that he was the first Balcombe resident to have been arrested over the anti-fracking protest. Two residents have been arrested for exercising their right to protest.

Fracking is an incredibly dangerous, short-sighted way of extracting relatively small amounts of gas or oil, the consequences of which could mean a highly polluted domestic water supply and desecration of our beautiful countryside.

It doesn’t create jobs. There are more jobs available now in renewable energy than there will be over ten years from fracking in the UK.

Each well is only viable for up to three years, the amount of gas extracted falling sharply after the first year. Once chemicals are put into the ground only 30% can ever be recovered, leaving our water table irretrievably polluted. The effects of this could be worse than we can imagine.

There are now plans for fracking sites all over the UK – it is happening fast. I urge everyone to research the issue thoroughly and act on the findings. This is too important to be just another example of protester-police relations, which for the most part have been pretty good.

Anna Oake, Balcombe